Life in the trenches

[Pvte Lynch]

G'day,

Could I please have some recommended reading that details what life was like in the trenches (conditions, daily routine, etc) for the troops who faught in Palestine.

Thank you

Stephen

[zooloo]

Not quite what you are after, the info is buried, dispersed and, for what you ask, perhaps a bit thin, but...

Egypt and Palestine Campaigns by Kearsey

Turkish Front by Field Marshal Lord Carver.

I note them as they are easilly available and better than nothing.

zoo

[Guest jleslie]

Hello Steven,

The following five books deal with the campaigns in Palestine and Sinai though none concentrates on the conditions the soldiers fought under, being mainly concerned with the outcome and strategy of battles. To find out about conditions, I suggest you scan the indexes for terms such as 'disease', 'desert marches', 'climate' (or 'weather'), 'water supply', and so forth.

(1) The Palestine Campaigns; by Field Marshal Earl Wavell (first published 1928 by Constable & Co.)

(2) Sinai and Palestine, Vol. VII of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18; by Charles Bean. This is available online in the AWM at http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/index.asp

(3) The History of the Great War - Military Operations Egypt & Palestine Part II, the Official History; by Cyril Falls (published by HMSO in 1930)

(4) Megiddo 1918: The last Great Cavalry Victory; Part of the Osprey Military Campaign Series and written by Bryan Perrett (first published in 1999)

(5) Horseman Pass By: The Australian Light Horse in World War 1; by Lindsay Baly (published in 2003 by Kangaroo Press)

As you're no doubt aware, the desert campaigns and the battles of the Western Front were the main areas of conflict for the armies of the British Empire, and such were the contrasts between the two that they simply cry out for comparison.

The desert war was largely a mobile war played out over quite a vast area with cavalry and light horse columns spearheading actions and infantry and artillery enduring gruelling forced marches to the sites of battle. While fortifications (including trenches) might mark a line of defence, the subsequent assaults had little in common with the entrenched warfare of the Western Front where a battle of attrition was fought over a relatively small area and millions died for the loss or gain of never more than a few short miles. There was no entrenched front line in the desert.

Mud was the bane of the soldier's life on the Western Front - and winter! Rats, too, and the inescapable smell of putrefaction made life miserable along with the ever present threat of gas and the interminable bombardments which pulverized men as well as the landscape reducing entire battlefields to rubble and leaving deep shell holes which had to be negotiated during an attack. These - and barbed wire - were the constants of trench warfare.

Sand and dust storms, thirst and heat made life hell for the desert soldier which, at its worst, involved long forced marches through barren countryside beneath a glaring sun or attacks launched during the heat of day. Water was rationed, wells were sometimes poisoned, and your prospect as a prisoner of the Turk was considerably less favourable than that faced by prisoners of the Germans. Diseases and other debilities, too, varied between the two conflicts: frostbite, trench feet and influenza were common in the trenches of the Western Front, not to forget the psychological damage of shellshock; malignant malaria, septic sores and dysentery were rampant in the desert, along with the inevitable sunstroke. I believe pneumonic influenza was also making its presence felt there in 1918 and soldiers were beginning to suffer its fevers. Charles Bean speaks of men being physically reduced and jaded by disease towards the end of the Palestine campaign and of horsemen reeling in their saddles.

The desert war while fought over a larger area was never fought on the grand scale of the Western Front and was considered of secondary importance. Hence, it didn't involve the vast manpower or masses of technology which were poured into France and Belgium and which threatened to bleed nations dry. Equally, however, it is a fascinating campaign with, dare I say it, a semblance of romance that was reflected in aspects of uniform - the English pith helmet, Indian turban, and emu plumes of the Australian Light Horseman - and which is utterly lacking in the carnage of the Western Front. There was also a mechanized arm to the campaign, including an airforce, but the horse, the mule and the camel were its mainstay, not only as beasts of burden but as 'warhorses' harking back to conflicts of earlier centuries. Parallels of this kind are drawn by the first historians (Wavell, for example) who trace its course throughout an ancient and exotic landscape steeped with references to the Bible and the Classics.

Most significantly, however, the difference between that campaign and the war fought on the Western Front is marked in the casualty rates, with a vastly smaller toll taken by the desert warfare. This does not lessen the courage of the soldiers involved in that punishing campaign which was quite a different sort of war with its own peculiar obstacles to be overcome and which saw some of the last heroic cavalry charges of modern warfare. I hope you don't mind me rabbiting on like this, but once I start I simply cannot stop and this forum gives me my only opportunity to indulge my interest! This is my understanding of the desert campaign (in contrast to the Western Front), and I hope I have been of some help to you at least with the book references.

Jennie Leslie

[Ozzie]

This is my understanding of the desert campaign (in contrast to the Western Front), and I hope I have been of some help to you at least with the book references.

Jennie Leslie

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You sure have! I hope Steven appreciates your effort here.

Can I add Sand, Sweat and Camels by George F and Edmee M Langley

for a look at the Desert Campaign

also

http://www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/thosedesertdays.htm

Cheers

Kim

[marina]

That was a very good account, Kim.

Marina

[zooloo]

One of the references that stuck in my mind was the oft mentioned bully beef.

In the very hot climate it would liquify and squirt out when the tin was pierced.

The is mentioned more than once so I think it's typical.

Hmmmm, nice.

zoo

[Pvte Lynch]

Hi all,

Thank you very much for your efforts and recommendations (particularly Jennie's "rabbiting"). You have added immeasurabley to the material that I thought was available.

Thanks again.

Stephen

[Nick]

Aplogies for coming late to this thread.

Jenny mentions septic sores, and here follows a nice eaxample. In the 2/4th Royal West Kent diary for November 1917 an officer wrote:

"Through men fighting over very bad ground (rocky) during the period NOV 3-7, in shorts and shirtsleeves, many got cuts and bruises which have gone septic "

Infact, 45 other ranks from the battalion - about 5% of the unit strength - were dispatched to the 'septic sore camp', commanded by Lt Newington (I bet he loved that!).

Nick