Living in a two-by-two metre excavation in the ground while being
fired at constantly is enough to make any man beg to return home, and that’s without the horrible conditions that they were forced to endure. Life in the trenches was horrible, terrifying, unhygienic, and overall, dangerous.
Due to the conditions the troops had to endure, many were
extremely sleep deprived for the majority of the time that they were in the trenches. This was because of the constant explosions, shots and attacks made by both the enemy and their own forces. Also, many of them were suffering from shell-shock, which was a mental injury caused by a traumatic experience. This
often caused insomnia, meaning the troops found it difficult to sleep during the little time that they had, if they could ignore all of the noises due to explosions and gunfire.
Many injuries that they troops sustained while in the troops
either crippled or killed. Crippling wounds consisted of things such as bullet wounds to the arms or legs, trench foot and any other injury that wasn’t life threatening, whereas wounds causing death consisted of inhalation of poison gas, bullet wounds to the head or torso, and infected wounds that caused blood poisoning.
During their time in the trenches, the troops were unshaven,
unwashed, and injured. Showers were very rare and often the troops had to walk around with the blood of their fallen comrades on their clothes and skin. Lice were present in the seams of their clothes and were very hard to get out, meaning that many men contracted trench fever. Many of the new troops had to be given the clothes of those who died already, meaning that their clothes were often bloody and covered in dirt.
During the first year of war, the Australian soldiers were
anticipating the chance to make themselves a hero, but quickly realised that fame was not something they would get. Anticipation and excitement were quickly replaced by fear and regret, but the men knew they had a responsibility to their country, so they fought on. If a soldier refused to go on an attack that they were ordered to be in, they were regarded a coward and were killed for refusing. It is likely that the men who refused were just too scared to die, so they refused to go out into ‘no man’s land’with their squad, thinking it would give them a longer chance to live. They quickly found out that it was not the case.
