Daoly Routine in the Trenches

The Daily Routine

Life in the trenches followed a daily routine when it was not interrupted by an attack or raid against the enemy or defending against the enemy when they attacked. The routine was: -

Stand To at Dawn The daily routine began with the morning ‘stand to'.  An hour before dawn those that were sleeping were woken up by the company orderly officer and sergeant. Everyone then fixed bayonets, took up their positions with the infantrymen climbing up on the fire step, and readied themselves to guard against a dawn raid by the enemy. Both sides carried out their respective ‘stand to' and despite the knowledge that each had prepared itself for raids or attacks timed at dawn, it was at this time that many of the planned attacks were carried out
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As the light grew, this daily ritual was accompanied by the ‘morning hate'. This was when both sides relieved the tension of the early hours with indiscriminate machine gun fire, shelling and small arms fire into the mist to their front, which made doubly sure of safety at dawn.

Breakfast and Weapon Cleaning Following stand to the men would have their breakfast and clean their weapons. Breakfast would be brought up in containers from the field kitchens and the weapon cleaning would be done in shifts, with only a portion of the men cleaning their weapons at any one time.

Inspection Breakfast would be followed by the daily inspection by the Platoon Officer and Sergeant. Weapons would be checked to ensure that they were clean and serviceable as would the men's clothing. Often this inspection would include a ‘foot inspection' looking for signs of ‘trench foot'.

Trench Foot was a medical condition peculiar to trench life.  It was a fungal infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary trench conditions.  It could turn gangrenous and result in amputation. Some 20,000 casualties resulting from trench foot were reputed to have been suffered by the British Army alone by the close of 1914. As conditions improved in 1915 it rapidly faded, although a trickle of cases continued throughout the war

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Daily Chores Inspection over the Platoon Sergeant and Corporals would assign daily chores to each man. This could be the filling of sandbags, the repair of duckboards, pumping out the water that had gathered in the bottom of the trench, digging latrines, or any number of other tasks designed to maintain their section of the trench that could be carried out below the level of the trench parapet.

The Daily Boredom With the close proximity of the enemy's trench movement was restricted during the daytime to what was essential only, thus when the men were not engaged in carrying out a task of one kind or another they soon settled into the persistent round of daily boredom. With their daily chores complete, the men were free to attend to their personal tasks such as cleaning and repairing their personal equipment, reading or writing letter home and preparing their meals. When not doing these they would snatch whatever sleep they could although it was seldom more than a few minutes before they were detailed another task.