HISTORY LIFE IN THE TRENCHES IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR WARM-UP VOCABULARY PAIR WORK Collegate i termini inglesi alla loro traduzione. Homeland Fight Troop Shell Ration Fuel 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. a. Granata b. Razione c. Patria d. Battaglia e. Truppa f. Carburante World War I was a war of “air and ground”: air because airplanes were massively used; ground because on the Western Front of the war (between Northern France and Belgium) trenches were used in the battles between German troops and Allied Forces (France, Britain and, later, the US). What was a trench? Trenches were long, narrow ditches dug in the ground where soldiers lived and fought. They were used as a protection and to make it difficult for the enemy troops to advance. Life in the trenches was very bad for soldiers, who were often very young: trenches were very humid, uncomfortable and dirty and these conditions caused severe medical problems. One of the typical diseases was the "trench foot": mud and humidity deformed soldiers' feet. Shell shock was another: it was a mental illness similar to post-traumatic stress caused by the explosion of shells. Between the two lines of trenches there was an area called "no man’s land", where the two troops fought. In this area of terrible fighting and gunfire, on Christmas Day 1914 British and German soldiers met and played football, exchanged food and sang Christmas carols. On that day, they were not enemies, but had fun together as simple, young men. A typical day in the trenches In the trenches, soldiers tried to live a sort of routine, with simple, everyday habits that reminded them of life before war; they could sleep only in the afternoon and at night for an hour at a time. This is an example of daily routine. : Stand-to-Arms (being on high alert for enemy attack) half an hour before daylight. 5am : Rum ration (soldiers drank rum to keep warm). 5.30am : Stand-down-Arms (stopping alert) half an hour after daylight. 6am : Breakfast (usually bacon and tea). 7am : Weapons cleaning, trench tidying . After 8am : Lunch (usually eggs and bread). Noon : Rest time (sleeping, writing letters and playing cards). After lunch : Teatime. 5pm : Stand-to-Arms half an hour before dusk . 6pm : Stand-down-Arms half an hour after dusk. 6.30pm : All night work with some time for rest (digging trenches, putting up barbed wire and getting supplies such as fuel and munitions). 6.30pm onwards GLOSSARY : : : : : : : : : : : allied alleato barbed wire filo spinato to censor censurare disease malattia ditch fossato dusk tramonto to enlist arruolarsi recruitment reclutamento to tidy mettere in ordine trench trincea weapon arma