Trench

Injuries. The main killer in the trenches was artillery fire; around 75 percent of known casualties. Even if a soldier was not hit directly by the artillery, shell fragments and debris had a high chance of wounding those in close proximity to the blast. What caused the most deaths in the trenches? But the majority […]

In many, their illnesses moved rapidly from typical influenza to lethal pneumonia. US military data on this are particularly detailed [15]. Respiratory diseases killed 46,992 soldiers during the war, mostly from pneumonia. What disease killed most people in WW1? The influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people. One […]

The decision to engage at night or continue an engagement at night is usually made by the attacking force. Combat continued at night is aimed at exploiting an advantage gained from an attack during the day or similarly denying the defending force the opportunity to regroup or reinforce. Why does the military attack at night? […]

Night work Construction parties beavered away repairing trenches and fortifications, laying duckboards and wire and preparing artillery positions. To help detect enemy activity along the front, both sides established observation (‘listening’) posts in front of their trenches. What did soldiers do at night in the trenches? Dangerous Nighttime Activity Nighttime in the trenches was both […]

Some zones remain toxic a century later, and others are still littered with unexploded ordnance, closed off to the public. But across France and Belgium, significant battlefields and ruins were preserved as monuments, and farm fields that became battlegrounds ended up as vast cemeteries. Are ww1 bodies still being found? Nine British soldiers who died […]

The war pitted the Central Powers—mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey—against the Allies—mainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and, from 1917, the United States. It ended with the defeat of the Central Powers. Who lost more in ww1? The total number of deaths includes 9.7 million military personnel and about 10 million civilians. The Entente […]

The reconstruction began with the transportation system, roads, canals and railways. The locals struggled to re-establish the industrial base that had been methodically dismantled and shipped off to Germany. It took until the late 1930s to get things back to pre-war conditions. How long did it take to rebuild after ww1? Nobody could have dreamed […]

They would walk, not run, in order to stay in formation. They would not creep forward while their own bombardment was in progress. They were given no instruction in how to rush defended positions. In any case, they were told, all Germans would have been killed or cowed by the shelling. Why did soldiers walk […]

Even after over 100 years tons of ordinance – the “Iron Harvest” – is turned up every year as the fields are ploughed and buildings are constructed. In the fighting areas, farmers can drop these unexploded shells in specific areas where the bomb squad periodically picks them up. What happened to all the trenches after […]

The Allies’ increased use of the tank in 1918 marked the beginning of the end of trench warfare, however, since the tank was invulnerable to the machine gun and rifle fire that were the trenches’ ultimate defense. When did trench warfare start and end? The trench system on the Western Front in World War I—fixed […]

Their senses were soon choked with the smells of wet canvas gear, seawater and acrid clouds of powder from the huge naval guns firing just over their heads. As the landing craft drew close to shore, the deafening roar stopped, quickly replaced by German artillery rounds crashing into the water all around them. Was the […]

There was always the faint smell of wall plaster in the air from the wrecked houses and tumbledown walls, a dry dusty smell in fine weather and a damp more pungent smell after rain. After the major blitz on Coventry in November, fractured gas mains left a smell of gas which pervaded the outside air. […]

The soldier fired into No Man’s Land, the area between the enemy trenches. Soldiers were ordered to keep firing even if they did not see anything. This was called the “morning hate.” The constant fire would keep the enemy from sneaking up on the trench. What was the morning stand to in ww1? “Stand-to” at […]

The British also developed a combination of naphthalene, creosote, and iodoform made into a paste which could be applied to the seams of uniforms with a good result of eliminating lice in just a few hours. What did body lice do in ww1? Soldiers also had to deal with lice, which hid in the seams […]

Soldiers also had to deal with lice, which hid in the seams of their clothes and left blotchy red bites all over their bodies. The lice carried a disease known as trench fever, which could put a soldier out of action for months. Soldiers in the trenches must have dreamt of the day they could […]

Unexpected Erections: Did you know that men, on average, get 11 erections a day? That can be a serious physical liability in an intense combat situation. Do soldiers get erections in battle? Adrenaline elicits the fight or flight response, and in some men, the prospect of violent conflict with another person can spur on an […]

They usually use empty water bottles or ammo boxes. It is not the best solution, because other crew members are not protected from the unpleasant smell or sight, but sometimes it is the only option. Does a tank crew sleep in the tank? Those in the tanks did have the advantage over the infantry, but […]

When the war ended, graves registration soldiers still had work to do—scouring battlefields for hastily buried bodies that had been overlooked. In the European Theater, the bodies were scattered over 1.5 million square miles of territory; in the Pacific, they were scattered across numerous islands and in dense jungles. What did they do with the […]

We’ll give you the TL;DR first: yes, of course, girls poop. Since they have the same number of chromosomes and basically the same digestive system as guys, male and female humans experience the same bowel movements. So, if you count pooping among your bodily functions, you can assume the women around you also poop. How […]

Feet suffered gravely in the waterlogged trenches, as tight boots, wet conditions and cold caused swelling and pain. Prolonged exposure to damp and cold could lead to gangrene and even amputation of the feet in severe cases. Lice and infrequent changes of clothing added to unhygienic battlefield conditions. What were the conditions of trench foot? […]