Karl Fairburne dairy´s
World War 1
Christmas Truce
Battle of the Somme
Conditions in the trenches
Disseases
Testimonies
Daily Life
Conditions in the trenches
It’s been a few months since I’ve been here, and the trenches are horrible. All you hear are gunshots or bombs, and you just pray to stay alive for one more day. It’s very hard to keep fighting; sometimes the enemies throw gas bombs at us.
A few days ago, one of them hit me. It was tear gas, your eyes burn and start to cry, although that one is the mildest. They also use chlorine gas and phosgene gas; those affect your lungs, making you suffocate. But without a doubt, the worst is mustard gas. It causes blisters on your skin, burns your eyes, and makes it hard to breathe. Some of my comrades have their faces disfigured by that stuff, and I think they’ll die within a few hours, they look really bad.
Now we have to wear these masks to avoid the gas, just like the dog that detects the smell. I never thought I’d depend on a mask and a rifle to survive.
One of the strategies used in the war was the use of gas. Depending on the source, the effects were different, with some being more lethal than others.
Because of this, they were forced to wear gas masks.
Disseases
Without a doubt, the gas isn’t the worst thing here. Now we’re also supposed to take care of our health, but it’s practically impossible. There are corpses, rats, and people screaming in agony.
Most of us are sick with cholera and typhoid fever, but the worst are what we call trench foot and shell shock. It's almost mandatory to have our feet checked, because the mud and moisture cause dead tissue to appear. There are only two options: they cut off your foot, or you die. There's a guy here with me, his name is Iker. He was just diagnosed, he's really scared. I think they'll cut off his foot, maybe even both.
With shell shock, I feel like it’s even worse. Some of my comrades suffer from panic attacks, fatigue, confusion, nightmares, and other symptoms. What kills you isn’t the shell shock itself, but the fact that the officers see your fear as a lack of bravery and honor, that’s why they execute you.
In addition to suffering from chemical agents, the trenches suffered from appalling sanitary conditions, lacking food, water, and medicine, rotting corpses, and a large number of rats. The soldiers' immune systems were quite weak, and diseases were spreading everywhere.
Daily Life
My wife used to say that writing about what I do each day helps calm the mind, but I don’t know if it works anymore… Still, I lose nothing by trying.
I think the most precious and painful thing is the food. We’re supposed to be given boiled meat, bacon, vegetables, and bread, but even that feels like a privilege. You’re lucky if you get a halfway decent piece of bacon, it might be the last good thing you eat for days.
What I miss most is a bed, or at least an old mattress. We always sleep in underground shelters or in dugouts on the side of the trench. It’s cold, and if you're lucky, you get a couple of hours of sleep. What always keeps you company while you sleep are the rats, there are too many. The most disgusting thing is that they live off the bodies of the fallen, and there’s rarely a day when you don’t wake up with one staring straight at you from your chest.
Christmas Truce
I never thought I’d find a peaceful day in the middle of this war, but it happened. A few days ago, it was Christmas, and for a few hours, it felt like the gunfire and bombings didn’t exist.
According to the rumors, there was an unofficial truce just for Christmas. There were greetings, food, some good tobacco to relax, and even a nice game of football. I felt at peace for the first time in a long while. That’s also why we decided to pay our respects to the fallen and give them a burial with whatever we had, they, too, deserve to rest.
Battle of the Somme
It was one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War. The objective was to achieve a decisive victory over the Germans, relieve pressure on the French, and gain ground on the Western Front. The battle was characterized by the massive use of artillery, attacks from the trenches, and the first use of tanks. While there was no clear winner, the battle laid the foundation for victory in 1918.
I want to leave. I truly want to go home… I’m going to die here, I have no doubt about it. On the first day, we lost so many people, too many. They said it was 60,000. We've been like this for months, and I feel like I’m going insane. All I hear are constant gunshots, and now there’s even some kind of huge cannon that moves… What the hell is that thing? Is this war really going to end? I never asked for this… I want to live, but not like this.
Testimonies
Harold Myall (Durham Light Infantry): “The rations were very poor… You’d try to make yourself some tea and couldn’t, either because the weather was too cold or it tasted like petrol, since it came in fuel containers that were never properly cleaned. As for food, they were supposed to give you some bacon, well, you were lucky if you got a piece, and it was almost always cold and greasy. The food was terrible.”
Anna von Mildenburg (German nurse): “The image will stay with us forever — how we all stood among the soldiers, our hands fervently clasped. And in the flicker of the Christmas tree candles, in the scent of the glowing fir tree, we sang the old and beloved song in low voices, raising it as a burning prayer, a heartfelt plea: Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men.”
Karl Fairburne dairy´s
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Transcript
Karl Fairburne dairy´s
World War 1
Christmas Truce
Battle of the Somme
Conditions in the trenches
Disseases
Testimonies
Daily Life
Conditions in the trenches
It’s been a few months since I’ve been here, and the trenches are horrible. All you hear are gunshots or bombs, and you just pray to stay alive for one more day. It’s very hard to keep fighting; sometimes the enemies throw gas bombs at us. A few days ago, one of them hit me. It was tear gas, your eyes burn and start to cry, although that one is the mildest. They also use chlorine gas and phosgene gas; those affect your lungs, making you suffocate. But without a doubt, the worst is mustard gas. It causes blisters on your skin, burns your eyes, and makes it hard to breathe. Some of my comrades have their faces disfigured by that stuff, and I think they’ll die within a few hours, they look really bad. Now we have to wear these masks to avoid the gas, just like the dog that detects the smell. I never thought I’d depend on a mask and a rifle to survive.
One of the strategies used in the war was the use of gas. Depending on the source, the effects were different, with some being more lethal than others. Because of this, they were forced to wear gas masks.
Disseases
Without a doubt, the gas isn’t the worst thing here. Now we’re also supposed to take care of our health, but it’s practically impossible. There are corpses, rats, and people screaming in agony. Most of us are sick with cholera and typhoid fever, but the worst are what we call trench foot and shell shock. It's almost mandatory to have our feet checked, because the mud and moisture cause dead tissue to appear. There are only two options: they cut off your foot, or you die. There's a guy here with me, his name is Iker. He was just diagnosed, he's really scared. I think they'll cut off his foot, maybe even both. With shell shock, I feel like it’s even worse. Some of my comrades suffer from panic attacks, fatigue, confusion, nightmares, and other symptoms. What kills you isn’t the shell shock itself, but the fact that the officers see your fear as a lack of bravery and honor, that’s why they execute you.
In addition to suffering from chemical agents, the trenches suffered from appalling sanitary conditions, lacking food, water, and medicine, rotting corpses, and a large number of rats. The soldiers' immune systems were quite weak, and diseases were spreading everywhere.
Daily Life
My wife used to say that writing about what I do each day helps calm the mind, but I don’t know if it works anymore… Still, I lose nothing by trying. I think the most precious and painful thing is the food. We’re supposed to be given boiled meat, bacon, vegetables, and bread, but even that feels like a privilege. You’re lucky if you get a halfway decent piece of bacon, it might be the last good thing you eat for days. What I miss most is a bed, or at least an old mattress. We always sleep in underground shelters or in dugouts on the side of the trench. It’s cold, and if you're lucky, you get a couple of hours of sleep. What always keeps you company while you sleep are the rats, there are too many. The most disgusting thing is that they live off the bodies of the fallen, and there’s rarely a day when you don’t wake up with one staring straight at you from your chest.
Christmas Truce
I never thought I’d find a peaceful day in the middle of this war, but it happened. A few days ago, it was Christmas, and for a few hours, it felt like the gunfire and bombings didn’t exist. According to the rumors, there was an unofficial truce just for Christmas. There were greetings, food, some good tobacco to relax, and even a nice game of football. I felt at peace for the first time in a long while. That’s also why we decided to pay our respects to the fallen and give them a burial with whatever we had, they, too, deserve to rest.
Battle of the Somme
It was one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War. The objective was to achieve a decisive victory over the Germans, relieve pressure on the French, and gain ground on the Western Front. The battle was characterized by the massive use of artillery, attacks from the trenches, and the first use of tanks. While there was no clear winner, the battle laid the foundation for victory in 1918.
I want to leave. I truly want to go home… I’m going to die here, I have no doubt about it. On the first day, we lost so many people, too many. They said it was 60,000. We've been like this for months, and I feel like I’m going insane. All I hear are constant gunshots, and now there’s even some kind of huge cannon that moves… What the hell is that thing? Is this war really going to end? I never asked for this… I want to live, but not like this.
Testimonies
Harold Myall (Durham Light Infantry): “The rations were very poor… You’d try to make yourself some tea and couldn’t, either because the weather was too cold or it tasted like petrol, since it came in fuel containers that were never properly cleaned. As for food, they were supposed to give you some bacon, well, you were lucky if you got a piece, and it was almost always cold and greasy. The food was terrible.”
Anna von Mildenburg (German nurse): “The image will stay with us forever — how we all stood among the soldiers, our hands fervently clasped. And in the flicker of the Christmas tree candles, in the scent of the glowing fir tree, we sang the old and beloved song in low voices, raising it as a burning prayer, a heartfelt plea: Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men.”