A2 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. 5am: Stand-to-Arms (being on high alert for enemy attack) half an hour before daylight. 5.30am: Rum ration (soldiers drank rum to keep warm). 6am: Stand-down-Arms (stopping alert) half an hour after daylight. 7am: Breakfast (usually bacon and tea). After 8am: Weapons cleaning, trench tidying . Noon: Lunch (usually eggs and bread). After lunch: Rest time (sleeping, writing letters and playing cards). 5pm: Teatime. 6pm: Stand-to-Arms half an hour before dusk . 6.30pm: Stand-down-Arms half an hour after dusk. 6.30pm onwards: All night work with some time for rest (digging trenches, putting up barbed wire and getting supplies such as fuel and munitions). 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 CRITICAL THINKING 3 Leggi il brano sulla propaganda britannica, fai un breve riassunto (50-60 parole), poi con la classe rifletti sui temi proposti. WRITING SPEAKING British Propaganda in the First World War In the First World War, British propaganda had various forms including pictures, posters and literature. Britain placed significant emphasis on propaganda to direct public opinion against Germany and it had three main purposes: convince young soldiers to enlist . To do so, propaganda put pressure on British patriotism; describe the German enemy as a brute that had to be destroyed to preserve British identity and culture; glorify British victories by censoring what Recruitment poster happened to soldiers in the trenches. Recruitment posters were massively used, too. They usually represented powerful images with short slogans of encouragement that showed people that victory was possible only with the participation of British people in the war and that focused on the fear of invasion and on atrocities committed by the German army. DO-IT-YOURSELF 4 WRITING GROUP WORK Dividetevi in gruppi, scegliete una delle seguenti tematiche sulla prima guerra mondiale e create una presentazione di 2/3 slide sull argomento accompagnandola da immagini. The trenches Royal Air Force The equipment of a soldier Recruitment propaganda Adapted from: https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/propaganda_at_home_and_abroad 1 What is the difference between advertising and propaganda ? 2. How would you define patriotism ? 3. Why do you think they didn t want people at home to know what really happened in the trenches? 101