What were trenches?
On the Western Front, soldiers on both sides lived in trenches.
Trenches were long, narrow ditches dug into the ground.
They were very muddy.
Some soldiers developed a problem called trench foot.
In the middle was no man's land. Soldiers crossed this to attack the other side.
What were the trenches like?
What happened in an average day?
Time | Activity |
---|---|
5am | 'Stand-to' (short for 'Stand-to-Arms', meaning to be prepared for enemy attack) half an hour before daylight |
5.30am | Rum ration |
6am | Stand-down half an hour after daylight |
7am | Breakfast (usually bacon and tea) |
8am onwards | Clean selves and weapons, tidy trench |
Noon | Dinner |
After dinner | Sleep and downtime |
5pm | Tea |
6pm | Stand-to half an hour before dusk |
6.30pm | Stand-down half an hour after dusk |
6.30pm onwards | Work all night with some time for rest (patrols, digging trenches, putting up barbed wire, getting stores) |
Soldiers only got to sleep in the afternoon during daylight and at night for an hour at a time. During rest time they wrote letters and played card games.
What did the soldiers have with them?
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Christmas presents and a football match
During the first Christmas of the war, soldiers from both sides stopped fighting and met in no man's land. They sang carols together and gave each other food as presents.
On Christmas Day, a British soldier kicked a football out of his trench and the Germans joined in. It was said that Germany won the match 3-2.
Activities
Activity 1: What things were in a trench?
Explore our interactive trench scene and click on different objects to find out more about them.
There are ten different objects to find. You can use the question mark button to highlight them all.
Activity 2: Quiz 鈥 Life in a trench
Activity 3: History Explorer game
Play this game to test your knowledge and learn even more facts about World War One.
History Explorer: Secrets through time
History Explorer: Secrets through time: KS2 History
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Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.
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