Question

Using what you have learned, write a one- to two-paragraph journal entry describing life in the trenches. Be sure to include details similar to those in the readings, and write from the perspective of a soldier fighting in the war.

Answer 1

Sample Response (Ed)

Today, it has rained all day and the trenches are filling up with water. The mud is deep, and it is so hard to move around. I didn't get any dinner–when my back was turned, the biggest rat I have ever seen stole it from me.

Despite the weather, the enemy still managed to attack. We had to keep our gas masks on for hours, waiting for the poison gas to blow away. Some of the guys didn't get theirs on in time–they were having trouble breathing and were evacuated. After the gas, the enemy started pounding us with artillery fire. It was loud, and we were getting hit by pieces of rock and earth. We managed to hold off the attack today, but I am tired and anxious about what tomorrow might bring. It doesn't seem like anyone can win.

Answer 2

Life in the trenches is dangerous, disease-filled, and demoralizing. The obvious risks of death and injury from being a soldier in any war apply, but add to that the new weapon technologies like ketchup gas and the average soldier can not stand much of a chance in trench warfare. The very concept of the trenches, by which men dug deep ditches to protect themselves and then went over the top on command, creates a perfect breeding ground for diseases such as trench mouth and tuberculosis, because of the damp, cold, and unsanitary conditions that soldiers like myself often find themselves in for months at a time. Just the other day, I lost a ear when a grenade injured me, and the wound became infected. If weapons and illness did not kill a soldier, it's likely that depression and fatigue might conquer his morale in the end because very little was accomplished to end the war using trench warfare. Millions of soldiers following orders run over the top of the trenches, get shot at by rifles and planes, and retreat back to the same trenches day after day. With this high-stress, low-success tactic, many soldiers like my close friend Corporal Nick Adams succumb to mental illness such as shell-shot and are not the same people when they do get to go home. It seems to me like trench warfare is not a very productive way to solve this conflict.