World War 1 Trench Living
83The Muddy Battle Field
Trench Living
Soldiers fought and Soldiers Died, some lived through World War One, others lived but were disabled for the rest of their lives, everyone who fought in the Trenches and lived had lost close friends or family members.
They all knew death and the smell that followed, that smell would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Life in the trenches was often said to be hell on earth and nobody could ever argue to the contrary.
Death, disease, Mutilated limbs, lice, rats maggots and insects were all around those poor fighting men, who lived minute by minute hoping that the next bullet didn't have their name written on it.
In the muddy battle fields of the Trenches there was plenty of life but there was no real living.
Preparing Food in the Trenches
American soldiers find some time to relax from the fighting
Typical daily rations
Trench Routine
Even with all of the fighting going on every day and every night, there was a daily routine in the trenches, but sometimes due to ongoing battle it was impossible to keep to the routine.
In the heat of battle it would be impossible to have a set meal time for the fighting soldiers, but if there was a lull in the fighting hot meals were able to be delivered from the field kitchens to the front line trenches.
When soldiers were at stand-down, food was easier to acquire and both British and German troops could expect certain food to be available with a degree of regularity.
The soldiers in the trenches ate quite well, and the food was considered to be luxurious, compared to what their families back at home were eating.
A typical days rations for a Brittish Soldier would include:
20 ounces of bread or 16 ounces of flour or 4 ounces of oatmeal instead of bread, 3 ounces of cheese, 5/8 ounces of tea, 4 ounces of jam or 4 ounces of dried fruit ,½ ounce of salt, 1/36 ounce of pepper, 1/20 ounce of mustard, 8 ounces of fresh vegetables or 1/10 gill lime if vegetables not issued, ½ gill of rum or 1 pint of porter , 20 ounces of tobacco, 1/3 ounces of chocolate - optional, 4 ounces of butter/margarine and 2 ounces of dried vegetables.
For a German Soldier the daily rations were:
26 ½ ounces of bread or 17 ½ of field biscuits or 14 ounces of egg biscuit, 53 ounces of potatoes, 4 ½ ounces vegetables and 2 ounces dried vegetables.
There was meat available for both The British and German Soldiers in the trenches, but only when a lull in the battle allowed it to be delivered from the field kitchens
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Trench Living
This is part 4 in a series of pages related to the Trenches of World War 1.
Part One
Describes the living conditions of the soldiers in the trenches during World War One.
Part Two
World War 1 A Day in The Trenches
Talks about the daily routine of the soldiers in the Trenches.
Part Three
Describing the amazing story of the Christmas day truce.
Part Four
World War One Trench Living (This Page)
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Comments
Thanks for your comment, Patty LOL, 53 ounces of potatoes isn't really that much though either 2 small potatoes or one large.....jimmy
You have giant potatoes, or smaller and heavy like mercury! :)
It's about 3 1/2 of the 12" by 5" 1-pound potatoes at my grocery. It's a lot to me, but chunky potato soup with the vegetables is good; better than just potatoes alone. It could get them through the day. Nice Hub.
Scottish potatoes are very heavy lol, thanks Patty i think i will need to learn my weight conversions.....jimmy 80)
Naaaah, you are fine! I THOUGHT Scottish and probably Irish potaotes are more massive! You know how air-headed some of our US products are. :)
A worthy addition to the WW1 series. Grim times, indeed.
Nice daily rations for the British :) Some countries don`t offer that much food in hospitals for every patient these days ... Great Hub I enjoyed reading it
Recently I think a lot about world war one and two. I just don't get it. What were we thinking. Jimmythejock, this is a very interesting view of the trenches. Those photos tell all don't they.
Thank you for your efforts.
Mon.
I have taught American and World History for many years and I really appreciate your writings. Trench warfare was a horrible experience! Have you ever considered comparing the trench fighting used during the Civil War in the United States and the trench fighting during WWI?
Dave
This is a great page, I think its really important to remember what happened to these people, especially as this war has now passed from living memory.
I often wonder what the UK would be like today if that war had not happened, I am sure it would be dramatically different... as would the rest of Europe...
it sound horrific!!!
NICE PAGEE!
Thanks for making this, it's really helping me with my final project.
When you really think about it, soldiers in WW1 had a really hard life, and what they had to go through really was hell.
:/
I enjoyed reading this. I had a great grandfather who died on the loos battlefield, 1915, so it was interesting to see a little insight into their life in the trenches. :))
Hello jimmythejock, this is the first time I've seen your pages about life in the trenches. I'm going to read all of them now I know they are here. My mum tells a story about an uncle of hers that turned up at home when he was supposed to be fighting. He was filthy dirty and covered in lice and confused about where he was. Everyone was concerned he would be shot as a deserter, so they cleaned him up and sent him back. It seems no one had missed him in all the confusion. Have you seen my hub on the subject. Apologies if you have, but here is the link in case you haven't. http://hubpages.com/hub/Were-Here-Because-Were-Her
Paragraph 4 nearly made me toss the potatoes I had for lunch, and I don't mean toss them haphazardly into the garbage. Way to start out graphic, Jimmy. I hope a lot of people view this hub. What an awful way to exist - even for a day - much less months +
Doing a project on ww1, this is a v. helpful page indeed! thnx so much! x :D
this is cool cheers :)
This is a great website it relly helped me with my project at school! thanks! :-)
love the page!!!
thanks...u just helped me with my histroy essay:D
i appreciate your posting this information. wwi was nothing short of horrific, but its important to remember and study and understand every aspect of the war so that we can ensure it never happens again. God bless!
Some of the most concise, well written, and balanced articles on WWI I have read. Have set my RSS to catch any other pages added. Thanks.
This is a good summery of the war, but it does not tell people about the trench life: example, the rats, the winter, christmas, the other enemys an so on.
Cheers My Dears Helped Me With My History :)
Nice Hub Btw
wear were the american soldiers located from the trenches
sounds like hell, thank God for the tea
thanks you help me with homework :D!!!!!
nice
ths hlps a lt wth my rprt 4 hstry. thnxs
bout wolrd war one and this nweb site helped me alot
thank you
xx
f rom alex mizon
hey thanks for this!!!!!!!
it really helps!!
EWWWW!!!!! RATS!!!!! and LICE!!!!!!
Thanksm ate this has really helped me with my history essay
thank you very much!! this helped me so much... i love history and this allowed me to learn a lot about it! :)
I think the muddy battle field picture was a great addition. You see that poor shlep covered in mud with his hands over his face, and you see everything around him all blown to hell, and you get a pretty good idea of what life in those trenches must have been like.
thanks u helped me finish my project
xxx
AWSM
you rock
u made me ace my school assesment!!!!!
you are awsm(not just with this hub, all your hubs are good)
this info is so helpful and those poor sheep++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
awesome page helped me a lot
yay :) this helps me so much with my assignment!
Hi I'm doing a history project on trench warfare and I've been reading your hubs and there amazing! brilliant for jotting down notes, I was really shocked at how diverse the british diet was even then and how most rations on the front were better than homes weird huh? anyway hubs are totally awesome man thanks a million.
ermmm i'm in year nine and we need to know about world war 1 trenches we already know about trench foot but our teacher told us they only really ate corned beef just so you know :) x
yeah help me soamuch with my assignment damn s.s
this helped alot in my history project thanks
this is a very useful document and i wrote 12 pages full of information, thankyou. iloveyou x
Patty Inglish, MS says:
2 years ago
Very interesting kitchen in the trenches. The Germans certainly had a lot of potatoes to eat every day.