Life in the trenches Winter WWI England Winter (bit Graphic)

[Lynn]

Hello

The following is a message I got when I was in England this Summer. I was at a graveyard where there were many WWI soldiers and there was a sign that said that the field accross the road had been the place of a battle and many of the dead came from there. It was a field of Poppies and there were signs saying private property keep out....but I found I had to just wonder in a bit there for a walk. I stayed on the fence line and I did no go far from the Sheep Gate....(those are rather fun to cross).

This is what I got from him.....I am doing Rememberance Day Service Sunday and this is part of what I will be sharing from England.

Life in the trenches Winter WWI England Winter

Conditions in the trenches were horrendous. A good trench was about 7 feet deep and 4-6 feet wide. The one I was in was not the best; lined with a latticework of branches and a few sand (dirt) bags made from the damaged tents. If we were lucky we had some barbwire for a bit more cover. The enemy trench was no more than a mere 50 feet from us.

Inside the trench we had dugouts to try and shelter us from incoming fire. There was little other shelter for us in the snow and rain. The rain would seep in from the sides and fill the trench with water and mud at times well up to our knees. This made movements inside the trench near to impossible and conditions ripe for rats. There was no sanitation and trench foot and other dysentery diseases ran rampant.

We could face no help for weeks on end from the front line support troops or combat supply lines. We did not even need a direct hit from enemy artillery shells to cause a collapse and bury someone alive in a dugout. The nearness of death the fear of death and the worst of all the smell of death at times was all around us. The horrific screams of a friend that’s body had been shattered in half combined with the sounds of constant shelling was enough to drive you mad. I can only imagine that some went quite mad later in life even if they survived the trench.

Conditions in the trench I can say was literally “Hell on Earth”.

Private R. Lamb (Canadian)

[Tobi]

God bless those poor (often young mens') Souls who had to endure such suffering we can only imagine. They fought for their future -our liberty.

I know. My grandfather was one of them. He was a tough man. He came back still able to support his young wife, and within a year, his new family. Neither of them, thankfully, succumbed to the Flu which killed many who survived the battlegrounds.
This sounds pretty real. My grandfather wouldn't speak of many things, but he did tell us of times while in the trenches, they were forced to drink water which had filtered through earth and gravel....above which were dead bodies. He told me the water, having filtered more than 6ft, through this gravel/earth/stones/ was fit to drink, surprisingly, and they did not get sick from it.

The only thing I can't figure out is the location of the battle area....as far as I know there were none in England. The opposing forces, thankfully, did not cross the Channel. My grandfather fought in France, and in Albania, and Greece.

No battles were fought on our soil in WW1.

The soldier was probably one of the 'lucky' ones whose body was found after he was killed and brought back to England to be interred.

[Lynn]

Originally Posted by glenos

No battles were fought on our soil in WW1.

Hello

I know that no battles were fought.

This soldier came from Gaspe Quebec was sent over on October 14th 1914 and encamed in the area immedialy west of the cemetary.

This was a trainning area for deployment so from there he would have been sent ot the battle at Ypres in April. So they would have been depolyed and came back, (well some of them) . There were 33,000 Canadian Troops sent. Many thousands were taken ill with influenza and related dieseases. Many died not in battle and are burried in local cemtetaries around the area.

Those whom made it back to this deployment place might have got to go home.

Lynn

[Belle]

As we approach remembrance Sunday - lest we forget.

Truly horrific. Freedom is not to be taken lightly.

Hello, thanks for the info'. Very enlightening.

G