shitty lil thing mahn!

From: HISTORY THING! NEED TO BE EDITED on Tuesday, September 11th 2007

These are only some of the impacts that affected soldiers living in the trenches during world war one. Troops living in the trenches were supplied with meals from the Field Kitchen, they weren’t very hot nor appetising. During the winter there wasn’t much food available so soldiers soon had to rely on their rations. Rations consisted of hard, dry biscuits, corned beef (nicknamed Bully Beef), jam and tea. Troops had regular cigarette and tobacco rations, this helped to take their mind off of their hunger. Fresh, clean water was also a problem, it was brought up to the trenches and often kept in big tanks, which wasn’t very hygienic. There was a daily allowance of rum for those out in the frontline trench. Troops could not wash themselves daily as there was limited access to running water. Their toilet was just a large bucket in a side trench, this was not the best position for a lavatory as the enemy could sneak up behind an unprepared solider. Troops had to cope with the abysmal weather conditions. The blistering hot weather in the Summer was awful. Troops had heavy equipment weighing them down on their backs and the sun beaming down on them didn’t help. These conditions made soldiers feel dizzy, tired and very light-headed. The bitter cold could lead to frostbite, and heavy rain flooded the trenches and turned the soil into thick, slimy mud. The trenches sometimes filled with water to the waists of the troops. As their feet were damped and cold for a long period of time, these conditions often lead to Trench Foot. Boredom was another thing that irritated the troops. There were many tasks to keep them occupied though. These included filling sandbags, mending barbed wire, repairing the duckboards on the floor of the trench and the draining of trenches. Trenches had to be rebuilt after heavy rainfall or an explosion. Due to the constant bombardments and the sheer effort of trying to stay alive, sleep deprivation was common. This was dangerous because if you fell asleep you could be caught and severely reprimanded by your commanding officer; or, if you were really unlucky, you'd end up dead. Other things to look forward to in order to make the days seem shorter was the regular troop rotation to take you off frontline duty, cleaning of your weapon, daily inspections, patrols and raids into No Man's Land, and mining.With the use of trenches, disease was easily spread. Living in such an environment created many health risks for the soldiers. A common disease was Trench Toot. This was an infection caused by the feet being exposed to long periods of dampness, cold and unsanitary conditions. Before they placed duckboard at the bottom of the trench, soldiers would have to spend hours standing in waterlogged ground. If left untreated, feet would usually discolour and change to an oddly purple colour. If it was really bad their feet may have been removed. Rats loved the trench conditions. They would quickly find food and shelter within dugouts. They vastly multiplied. They were fearless. They scurried for scraps of food and would have retrieved it within seconds. Rats would grow in size as well as abundance. Some, as big as cats. Some troops recall feeling rats crawling all over their body and faces’ whilst they were sleeping. The most repulsing thing was that the rats would’ve ate on the putrid remains of soldiers after being killed trying to attack through No Man’s Land. Rats would usually eat the dead mans eye’s first, then make their way through the rest of the corpse in a vast space of time. It was an offence to shoot rats as it was a waste of ammunition, but soldiers tried attacking them with bayonets. Killing as many rats as they could made no difference to their abundance. In season, a pair of rats were able to produce roughly 800 rats, if not more! Most troops living in the trenches suffered from lice. They were pale and left blotchy, red bite marks all over the body. They left a sour, stale stench after biting. Troops were lucky if they could have a bath at least once a week so getting rid of the lice and eggs wasn’t particularly easy. The body lice also carried disease as well as constant scratching. This disease was known as Trench Fever or sometimes referred to as Pyrexia.Troops used many different types of weapons whilst out fighting on Western Front. Such as, bayonets, flamethrowers, grenades, machine guns, the use of poison gas, tanks and many other weapons, but we will only look at just a few of them. Sir Hiram Maxim (who also invented the Mousetrap!), designed the first automatic portable machine gun, Maxim Machine Gun. By the start of the war, the British forces adopted the Vickers Machine Gun, which was the standard issue weapon of its type during the first world war. Many other models of the machine guns were used, some lighter than others, some heavier than others, some smaller and longer than others. The machine gun was a defensive weapon, weighing heavily at roughly 30kg - 60 kg, rapidly fired ammunition at the attacking enemy. Nicknamed, ‘Little Willy’ the tank which seemed like an armoured car, was ready to use half way through the war, at the start of 1916. When the British Forces first started to used the Combat Tank, most people thought the war would be over in a flash. The theory was that the tank would be able to bump over the top of the trenches, knock down fences, barbed wire and can handle most ammunition fired at it. This wasn’t the case, the expectations backfired. These early tanks proved to be extremely undependable. They got stuck in muddle trenches. The fumes inside the tank were not expected either, troops choked off the fumes, but working under these conditions, proved to build character . The Tank seemed to reach its full potential during the rise of Hitler in World War Two.

From: n l on Sunday, March 18th 2007

The music she listens to, Reflects how she is feeling, Lying on her bed, And staring at the ceiling. She stares into space, And she reminisces, She thinks of what she used to be like, And that’s the girl she misses. She heads to the window, And watches the rain rapidly fall, The last time she was happy, Is hard to recall. You walk past her in the street, She looks confident and bold, But what hides within is a soul, Fragile and cold. People think her life is perfect, And nothing's ever wrong, But inside she is really weak, Although she may look strong. She feels unappreciated, With the lack of family affection, She cries alone and works her way through fears and self rejection. She walks about school, With the invisible grief, Teachers only see a glimpse of things, And they sigh in disbelief. In school, at home, There is nowhere to hide, No one understands what she is going through inside. She finally pours her heart out to a friend, Who doesn't really care, Her friend just looks right through her, As if she is not even there.