Ww1 Trenches

Question 1

How much percent does soldiers spend their time in the front line?

Answer 1

15%

Question 2

How much percent is Soldiers spend in the support trench

Answer 2

10%

Question 3

How much time did soldiers spend in the reserve line?

Answer 3

30%

Question 4

How much percent does soldiers spend away from the trenches?

Answer 4

45%

Question 5

Purpose of a parapet

Answer 5

bank of earth in front of the trench to allow a man to fire with a rest for elbows, and as much protection from incoming fire as possible, 4-5 feet thick

Question 6

Purpose of a Parados

Answer 6

Equivalent of the parapet behind the trench, it was designed to stop bullets carrying on to the next line of trenches and shield men from the blast of a shell exploding behind them

Question 7

Purpose of revetting

Answer 7

Provided the trench with Support using Wood, netting or corrugated iron to stop them caving in during bad weather or enemy shelling

Question 8

Purpose of a fire step

Answer 8

built to allow men to fire their weapons from the trench. This is a simple platform in the side of the trench.

Question 9

Purpose of duckboards

Answer 9

Prevents slip hazards and for stability

Question 10

Purpose of sandbags

Answer 10

Support the trenches and reduce water

Question 11

Purpose of dugouts

Answer 11

Places to sleep, protection and officer accommodation

Question 12

Fortifications

Answer 12

Used to build up the trench for example, metal wooden boards

Question 13

Impact of terrain on help for the wounded

Answer 13

Collecting the wounded from No mans land was dangerous as it might have to be taken under fire or at night. No man’s land in the trenches could be deep in mud making movement, difficult and dangerous. shell craters many metres wide were filled with water making transporting the wounded extremely hazardous. The zigzag system could be clogged with equipment and men moving in different directions. Carrying stretches which had to be manoeuvred around corners often. The number of wounded at any one time could be immense slowing everyone down.

Question 14

Rifles

Answer 14

had a cartridge case which created automatic rapid fire, bullets were also designed with a more pointed shape, which drove them deeper into the body from a longer distance

Question 15

Machine guns

Answer 15

Could fire 500 rounds per minute equivalent of the fire power of 100 rifles major part of trench defences, and had a devastating impact against attacking forces .mass produced by the industries of both sides e.g. Vickers gun, and Lewis gun

Question 16

Artillery

Answer 16

Howitzer could send 900 kg shells, a distance of over 12 miles bursts of shellfire were no longer short lived.With factories churning out millions of shells, continuous bombardments could last weeks and months, artillery fire was the greatest killer of all weapons, causing 60% of all casualties.

Question 17

Shrapnel

Answer 17

Consisted of a hollow shell which was packed with steel balls, all held together with gunpowder and a timer fuse. Shrapnel was designed to explode in midair above the enemy causing maximum casualties, high explosive shells which broke onto many fragments upon detonation.

Question 18

Trench fever

Answer 18

Pyrexia is the medical name for the illness known as trench fever. symptoms of severe headaches, shivering pain in the bones and joints left men to be out of the army, early diagnosis and effective nursing are crucial to recovery Trench fever was spread by lice. They lived in the seams of clothing and blankets
to reduce number of cases people focus on disinfecting clothing e.g. fumigated washed and ironed. Bath houses are built for them to use and men were issued with a louse repellent gel and paraffin chemicals.

Question 19

Trench foot

Answer 19

Standing in waterlogged trenches for hours left men’s feet, numb, swollen, blistered and turning blue. tight boots restricted blood flow,the condition developed and deteriorated rapidly, and could lead to gangrene. the term for dead flesh and body tissue .gangrene was often treated with amputation. This could be prevented by three pairs of socks, changing them twice a day and rubbing whale oil for protection. Further high rubber waders were provided and mechanical pumps to reduce water logging.

Question 20

Infection

Answer 20

As more powerful bullets and shell fragments went deeper into the body, fragments of muddy clothing and soil, which led to infection were carried deep into the body. Many men could’ve recovered from the initial injury, but died when infection developed .soil carried into wounds, took microscopic amounts of manure with it. For example, gas gangrene was carried by bacteria and particularly fast developing infection.

Question 21

Evacuation route order

Answer 21

Stretcher bearers. Regimental aid post. Field ambulance and dressing stations. Casualty clearing station. Base hospitals.

Question 22

Stretcher bearers

Answer 22

Recover dead and wounded during a break in fighting, often under fire had to deal with mud, shell craters and crowded twisting trenches.carried basic medical supplies, for example bandages and morphine.
-only 16 bearers per battalion, and took four men to carry a stretcher.

Question 23

Regimental aid post

Answer 23

Very close to the front line, hundred metres behind it .it could be in a dugout in the trenches ,inside a ruined building or behind a wall. In the RAP there was a battalion regimental medical officer, whose job was to distinguish between the lightly wounded, and who is needing more medical attention.

Question 24

Field ambulance and dressing stations

Answer 24

Not a vehicle, but a large mobile medical unit with medical officers .set up dressing stations in tents to receive wounded from the regimental aid post and sort them in a system known as triage ,based on severity of cases

Question 25

Casualty clearing stations

Answer 25

Large well-equipped medical facilities, performed more operations than in the hospitals, including many amputations.they contained operating theatres, mobile x-ray machines ,wards with beds for around 50 men

Question 26

Base hospitals

Answer 26

civilian hospitals or large converted buildings near railways, arrived by train. Hospitals could take as many as 2500 patients ,they had operating theatres ,laboratories for identifying infections, x-ray department and special centres victims of gas poisoning

Question 27

Shellshock ,PTSD ,NYD-not yet diagnosed nervous

Answer 27

Army viewed this as a disability and a weakness/cowardice. a psychological reaction to danger and distressing memories that veterans found difficult to forget, reminded of the trauma .symptoms of fatigue tremors, confusion, nightmares, and impaired sight and hearing. People tried to treat this with general application of electricity.

Question 28

Front line trench

Answer 28

trenches were closest to the enemy soldiers would fire across no man’s land

Question 29

Communication trench

Answer 29

connect to the other lines of trenches ,soldiers would use them to move between the other trenches

Question 30

Support trench

Answer 30

Directly behind the front line trenches, soldiers would retreat to them during an attack

Question 31

Reserve trench

Answer 31

dug behind the support trenches, soldiers would use these to prepare for a counter-attack

Question 32

No man’s land

Answer 32

stretch of land between Allied and German trenches

Question 33

Injuries caused by weapons and terrain

Answer 33

Gunshot wounds ,removal of limbs, internal damage to the body and broken bones. Blood loss, loss of sight as a result of gas attacks. Loss of hearing and disorientation due to bombardment from artillery ,infection and gangrene,shell-shock or PTSD

Question 34

Chlorine gas

Answer 34

First used in 1915 ,causes suffocation, soldiers would have difficulty breathing and sometimes cause death before gas mask were distributed. Soldiers would soak cloths with urine and hold it to their face to stop them from breathing in the gas.

Question 35

Phosgene gas

Answer 35

First used in 1915 at Ypres, caused suffocation, and lead to a very quick death

Question 36

Mustard, gas

Answer 36

First used in 1917 caused a smell ,burned the skin, causing internal and external blisters, caused suffocation and death, clung to clothing and resided in craters and trenches

Question 37

Royal Army medical Corps

Answer 37

All medical officers and men who cared for the wounded on the Western front, belonged to the RAMC. They include a doctors ,stretchers bearers an ambulance drivers.

Question 38

first-aid nursing yeomanry

Answer 38

Women who travelled to the Western front to care for the wounded joined the FANY. The army only accepted well trained nurses. However, as the need for nurses increased ,volunteers were also accepted. provided professional nursing care ,driving motor ambulances ,cleaning hospitals, washing clothes and bathing the wounded.

Question 39

Infection and aseptic surgery

Answer 39

Joseph Lister’s use of antiseptic surgery was turning point, led to better removal of bacteria around wounds and surgical instruments. reduced the death rate from infection. Operating theatres in hospitals were continuously cleaned all surgical instruments were steam sterilised to kill bacteria. Surgeons wore rubber gloves and clothing that have been sterilised.

Question 40

X-rays

Answer 40

by the end of the 19th century, x-ray machines were used in hospitals to identify metal foreign objects such as pieces of metal from shrapnel shells or bullets and locate broken bones, helped hugely as technology was trialled on the Western front.

Question 41

Blood transfusions

Answer 41

Blood loss lead to many deaths, in 1900 it was discovered that different blood groups showed that some are incompatible with one another. showed that blood transfusions would only work if the blood used was compatible. the discovery meant if a patient with the same blood group was in the same room, a blood transfusion was possible. Otherwise, it wasn’t possible to collect and store blood as it would clot.

Question 42

Carol Dakin method

Answer 42

developed a system of tubes to keep the chemical solution flowing through the wound. This would fight the infection.

Question 43

Thomas splint

Answer 43

Developed in 19 century by Hugh Owen Thomas it was designed to help heal a fractured bones in the leg 80% of soldiers with a broken thighbone died. The Thomas splint pull the bone length ways to stop rubbing on each other. It was used on the Western front from 1916 prevented high amounts of loss and as a result, reduce the death rate to 20%. There’s also meant that fewer amputations we needed

Question 44

Mobile x-ray machines

Answer 44

X-ray allowed surgeons to locate bullets and shrapnel quickly. The result was that they could be removed more accurately and with smaller wounds from surgery. This reduce the chance of infection by 1916 x-ray units have been used in casualty clearing stations and base hospitals.

Question 45

Army, records, strength and weaknesses

Answer 45

Strengths- provide information compiled by British army, such as number and nature of casualties locations of casualty clearing station and treatment is given to individual soldiers
Weaknesses-don’t provide information about experience of individuals of evacuation route. For example terrain or challenges faced providing treatment on front line.

Question 46

National newspapers, strengths and weaknesses

Answer 46

Provide information about battles descriptions of general medical advances on the Western front, and overall update on the progress of the war

Information will go through censorship and be checked by British government this month, published information in always reflect experience of individuals

Question 47

Government reports strengths and weaknesses

Answer 47

Provide information about progress of battles and overall picture of medical challenges. Information is likely to be detailed and accurate as it was not intended for the public.

Government reports don’t give us information about experiences of individuals are the evacuation route or nature of terrain

Question 48

Medical articles strengths and weaknesses

Answer 48

Provide information about medical challenges, face or Western front advances, made in medical treatment of injuries and those advances impact

Don’t provide information about experience of individuals evacuation route, progress of battles or conditions of different base hospitals 

Question 49

Plastic surgery

Answer 49

Tackled bullets and shell damage, especially to the face use skin grafts, taking skin from other places and grafting it to look correct, repaired, facial, injuries and deformities

Question 50

Battles of Ypres

Answer 50

First battle in 1914.(October-November)
Second battle in 1915 April to may
Third battle in 1917 July to November

Question 51

Battle of Cambrai

Answer 51

November to December in 1917, use large number of tanks

Question 52

Battle of arras

Answer 52

April to May 1917

Question 53

Battle of the Somme

Answer 53

July to november 1916

Question 54

Underground hospital at Arras

Answer 54

Battle of Arras in 1917 wounded were treated in underground hospital. There’s been built in a tunnel that existed in the chalky ground hospital has 700 beds and several operating theatres This was effective as it enabled the wounded to be treated quickly because it was close to the battle site.