Posted on 04/13/2025 8:02:28 AM PDT by DFG
Ninety per cent bored stiff, nine per cent frozen stiff and one per cent scared stiff.
That was - historian Andy Robertshaw insists - the experience of most soldiers in the First World War.
It was not one of constant fighting, never-ending trench foot and heartless aggression from commanding officers, despite the impression to the contrary given by most film depictions.
As for how I felt on a chilly but sunny day last week when I toured Andy's faithful reconstruction of a real British trench, I will let you decide from the pictures.
The trench dug in woodland at Detling Showground in Kent is very much not his first rodeo - there have been three other iterations, the first of which was in a field next to his back garden.
But his current one - which was dug in 2021 and is a reconstruction of a section of the line at Railway Wood at Ypres in Belgium that was operational between 1915 and 1917 - is by far the most extensive.
It is not just the trench that is an accurate reconstruction, my uniform and kit was too.
Sourced from Andy's own 'prop house', my shirt, tunic and trousers were - as their scratchiness attested to - woollen, whilst the vest was cotton.
Having politely declined the chance to replace my boxer shorts with cotton drawers (that's underpants to younger readers), I was then laden with kit, which altogether weighed around 70lbs (32kg).
The hefty webbing boasted a water bottle, a spade-like entrenching tool, bayonet, 150 rounds of ammunition and a haversack with the likes of mess tin, cooker, food rations, cutlery, comb and razor inside.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
That’s one heck of a hobby. For those interested in doing so in this country, you can just go to the National WWI memorial in Kansas City to see a recreated trench section, then take up some less rigorous hobby instead
I’ve been to the WWI museum in KC. It’s utterly fascinating and highly recommended.
Does he have a machine gun? It’s crap without a machine gun to take care of the krauts when they come over the wire.
I was at Fort Custer in Michigan once. That place, as I remember it, had quite a few WWI style trenches throughout, many overgrown. Very dangerous. What surprised me was how deep they were. Originally Camp Custer, it was built to train for WWI and I was told many of the trenches dated to that era. Very run down in the early 80s. Not a fun place.
Remembering scenes depicting WWI trench warfare in the DOWNTON ABBEY series. That seemed to be pretty authentic. FWIW.
I haven't been to the memorial in Kansas City, but I have been to the memorial at the Imperial War Museum in London. It was pretty good.
They had a shelter room where you could sit with others and they simulated bombs blowing up on the surface with loud booms and the room would shake. Wait, that may have been the simulator for the WWII Blitz.
I prefer the WWI scenes from various Monty Python sketches. Oh, and Blackadder Goes Forth.
I’ve seen many photos of WWI trenches. Many with soldiers standing in water up to their knees.
was there any way to construct a trench to remove water?
My mother in law’s. Brother in law makes WW1 and WW2 replica bandolier, pouches, and other accessories. He has supplied multiple movies with his gear including Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers
The movie Sergeant York with Gary Cooper showed many trenches in WWI. Fine movie.
“ Remembering scenes depicting WWI trench warfare in the DOWNTON ABBEY series. That seemed to be pretty authentic. FWIW.”
The movie 1918 was an excellent WWI film. Highly recommended.
My grandfather served with the 23rd Forestry Engineers in France. His unit made the wood boards for trench shoring, duckboards and bundled scrap for use in the Army kitchens.
After listening to him as a youth, I have zero desire to walk around in a reproduction WWI trench!
See also https://foresthistory.org/digital-collections/world-war-10th-20th-forestry-engineers/
many photos and the real history of that part of the war machine.
They used to have a huge one in the Tennessee State Museum. I’m sure it’s gone now it might upset one of the phone tappers.
Didn’t know that, thanks for the info.
One story from your grandfather would be nice.
Sounds like like the SommeWorld amusement park from Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next novels.
was there any way to construct a trench to remove water?
Short of plumbing, probably not.
In any event, the water-filled trenches and the accompanying misery and ailments that came with them (trench foot, for example) were by design.
German design, that is. When the Germans had been stopped by the Allied armies, they retreated to higher ground to dig in for the long haul; the water-filled trenches were almost exclusively an Allied problem.
“I was at Fort Custer in Michigan once. That place, as I remember it, had quite a few WWI style trenches throughout, many overgrown. Very dangerous. What surprised me was how deep they were. Originally Camp Custer, it was built to train for WWI and I was told many of the trenches dated to that era.”
Home of the 339th Infantry. Polar Bear Division. First Americans to fight the Bolsheviks.
My dad was wounded by a German machine gun at the Battle of the Argonne Forest, Sept, 1918.
He spent over a year at various hospitals in France, Belgium and finally Carlisle, Pa.
He walked with a limp all his life. His hearing was totally gone.
He received a WWI “Victory” medal, later a Purple Heart, and a $60 bonus.
I saved his dog tags, his Corporal’s whistle and my memories.
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