Life in the TrenchesDaily Routine

Lesson starter:1) Name and describe one physical effect

of the trenches.2) Do the same for a psychological effect.

Daily Routine in the Trenches

• Understand the daily duties of a soldier in the trenches

• Identify the negative aspects of trench life

• The daily routine we will learn about today is that of a front-line soldier

• Soldiers spent around a week at the front followed by some time ‘behind the lines’

• As we move through the soldier’s itinerary, take notes in your jotter.

• You will write a diary entry at the end, describing a typical day in the trenches

05:00• ‘Stand to’ at

daybreak• Most likely

time for enemy attack – soldiers had to be on guard

• Nicknamed ‘the daily hate’

07:30• ‘Stand down’ –

dangerous time over

• Breakfast time while some remained on guard

08:00• Duties or ‘fatigues’ assigned

• Repairing trenches, cleaning rifles, fetching equipment

• Some did sentry duty

19:00• ‘Stand to’ at dusk

20:00• period of great

activity• Barbed wire

replaced, spying commenced

• Flares went off constantly to light up No-Mans land

21:00 onwards• Those not on

sentry duty ate, wrote letters, sang, smoked, played cards and chatted with friends

A soldier’s rations• Bread• Hard biscuits• Bully (tinned) beef• Tinned jam and

butter• Tea and sugar• Pork fat and beans• Rum or porter• Cigarettes &

tobacco

If you were lucky enough to be near a field kitchen, you could rely on a hot

meal. Usually bacon and eggs.

Many soldiers

asked

for good fr

om home

like to

ffee,

choco

late and

candles.

A field kitchen

A Day in the Trenches• Imagine you were a

soldier on the front line. Write a letter home describing a typical day in the trenches.

• Use the notes from this lesson to describe your day in the trenches.