Sarah Drummond 2 poem about life during WWI

 I did two poems about what life was like during WWI. One of them which is life in the trenches is all about someone who was in the war as it gives you a clue in name of poem. My first poem about in the trenches was inspired by a man called john French, on what he wrote in his diary. However my second poem called I miss you was written about someone who had a family member in the war. 

In conclusion these two poems both show what life was like in WWI with in the war and the other having a family member in it. The poems both say different things but both say about how they miss each other.

The pictures might not be that clear on what they say so if you cant read it I'm sorry, just comment below and I'll post what it says.

Animation about a soldier's experiences

Here is a link to my animation: http://goanimate.com/videos/07nATPp45UBw

Jennifer Tovey's Video

 This video was inspired by all the different facts and poem's I had found. Particularly the poem, which was by a world war one soldier from the trenches. The sad part of his story was that he died two days before it was published, in the trench ware fare. The song that is played in the background is in German so you might not understand it, but it is called Give Me One New Word, which I think works with the fact that the trenches were always looking for hope, and the fact that they want to here the word "end" or "Finished". (Pausing the video at certain parts might be helpful if you are a slow reader at the words move pretty quickly)

Alice and Beth's Creative Work

A soldiers life in a trench......                                           This is our creative work for the topic- A
                                                                                           soldiers life in a trench.

If you cant read the sad tale bit then this is what is says-

A sad tale

Written by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young with the music by Jean Schwart, Hello Central!Give me no mans land was published in New York in 1918. The song recounts the story of a child who attempts to use the telephone in order to call his father in No Mans Land; except that his father has been killed in fighting on the Western Front.


Hello Central! Give Me No Mans Land

When the grey shadows creep
And the world is asleep
In the still of the night
Baby creeps down a flight.
First she looks all around
Without making a sound;
The baby toddles up to the telephone
And whispers in a baby tone:

"Hello, Central! Give me No Man's Land,
My Daddy's there my Mamma told me;
She tip toed of to bed
After my prayers where said;
Don't ring when you get the number,
Or you'll disturb Mamma's slumber
....................................................(etc..)

This is another piece of creative work we did. This is a drawing of no mans land this shows how isolated and hopeless this stretch of land was. It also shows from the sun that the sun and the light of the sun is the only thing that holds any hope in this vast stretch of muddy bleak land. As you can see from the drawing there is lots of mounds and turned up soil this is from the artillery and bombs as they would have destroyed anything in there paths. This turned up soil and great mounds would have made it particularly hard for both sides to cross no mans land as they would have to scramble over all of those mounds. The ground would also be very wet, therefore the soldiers would get stuck in the mud which would give them more chance of getting killed or in injured, the soldiers would also sometimes disappear into the mud and never be seen again as the mud would drag them down and suphicate them. Apart from theses set backs there would also be constant firing of artillery shrapnel and  rifles which would make your survival chance very bleak.

Ben Ripley-smith 9a

James Edgar Brown attended the Board Primary School, Buckley, until he was 14 years old, and then went to work as a delivery boy, driving a horse and delivery cart for a local baker. During the First World War he joined in the British Army as a Private, he was always interested in working with horses, and tried to join the Army Service Corps, but was directed to the Infantry. He became a private soldier with the Welsh Guards, and after training at Caterham saw active service on the Western Front in France. He was wounded on two separate occasions, he was present at the battle of Loos in 1915 where he was trapped in front of the German trenches - caught by his clothing on the barbed wire and was gassed. After a period of recuperation he was allowed home on leave after which he seemed to recover. He returned to France and was again soon in action, he was trapped behind enemy lines with a colleague and stayed quiet with for days until rescued by a British counter attack. He was present at the battle of Cambria, in 1917, which was the first one where there was large scale use of tanks, and there he was badly wounded in his right leg by shell fire. He was evacuated to a U.K. hospital and eventually to a recuperation home in Truro.His family had received notification he had been killed, but it was a mistake, another man of the same name from his village was the one killed. Edgar's mother never forgave him over this, saying it was his fault because he had not been writing letters home to let them know where he was, but this was unfair because he was not allowed to disclose any information by letter at all. His older brother, Arnold, who had also joined up, suffered from tuberculosis which he contracted whilst on the Western Front, but recovered after a long period of convalescence in a French Hospital. During the Second World War he was too old for military service and was directed to work for the Ministry of Defence at a secret factory in Rhydymwyn, nr. Mold. He also joined the Home Guard. After the war ended he worked for the Flintshire County Council Highways department as a lorry driver. He died on 4th April, 1972, aged 74 years.

In memory of James Edgar brown  1898-1972.

 

 

 

 

 

ww1 animation: http://goanimate.com/videos/06La2pr4HGdw

Ellie Clarke WW1 creative work, drawing and diary extracts/letters

Philip Selvaratnam Trench Life Popplet

Click Link below:


http://popplet.com/app/#/1005948

Life for Soldiers in the Trenches

Life for soldiers in the trenches

 

World War I in the trenches was a very long and probably a very boring war which lasted from 1914 to 1918 which was a lot longer than expected. It was very long because there was a very short lack of movement made although at the start of the war Germans made a lot of movement through Belgium to Paris.                        

 

Daily Death

 

Death was constant to those serving in the line, even when no raid or attack was launched or defended against.  In busy sectors the constant shellfire directed by the enemy brought random death, whether their victims were lounging in a trench or lying in a dugout.

 

Weapons  

 

Various weapons killed soldiers including tanks, aeroplanes, grenades, rifles, machine guns, and mortar, artillery and gas attacks.

Here’s an interesting site for more info on weapons:

http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/weapons.htm

 

 

 

 

  Rat Infestation

 

 

 Rats in their millions infested trenches.  There were two main types, the brown and the black rat.  Both were despised but the brown rat was especially feared.  Gorging themselves on human remains (by eating their eyes and liver) they could grow to the size of a cat. a single rat couple could produce up to 900 offspring in a year, spreading infection and contaminating food.  The rat problem remained for the duration of the war.

 

Lice

 

Rats were by no means the only source of infection and nuisance.  Lice were a never-ending problem, breeding in the seams of filthy clothing and causing men to itch unceasingly.

 

Even when clothing was periodically washed and deloused, lice eggs invariably remained hidden in the seams; within a few hours of the clothes being re-worn the body heat generated would cause the eggs to hatch.

 

Lice caused Trench Fever, a particularly painful disease that began suddenly with severe pain followed by high fever.  Recovery - away from the trenches - took up to twelve weeks.  Lice were not actually identified as the culprit of Trench Fever until 1918.

 

 

Frogs

Frogs by the score were found in shell holes covered in water; they were also found in the base of trenches.  Slugs and horned beetles crowded the sides of the trench.

 

Many men chose to shave their heads entirely to avoid another horrible thing, nits.

 

Trench Foot

Trench Foot was another medical condition peculiar to trench life.  It was a fungal infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary trench conditions.  It could turn gangrenous and result in amputation.  Trench Foot was more of a problem at the start of trench warfare; as conditions improved in 1915 it rapidly faded, although a trickle of cases continued throughout the war.

 

Routines and Treats and Stand To

 

Sometimes rum were given to soldiers for a treat in some areas which they enjoyed while it last! The soldiers would wake up in the morning and have their breakfast, get there rifles loaded and cleaned. Some soldiers from each side would have an unofficial truce which was where soldiers would stand on the fire step and aim at the opposing side during the enemy’s raid.

 

 With breakfast over the men would be inspected by either the company or platoon commander.  Once this had been completed NCOs would assign daily chores to each man (except those who had been excused duty for a variety of reasons).

 

Example - and necessary - daily chores included the refilling of sandbags, the repair of the duckboards on the floor of the trench and the draining of trenches.

 

Particularly following heavy rainfall, trenches could quickly accumulate muddy water, making life ever more miserable for its occupants as the walls of the trench rapidly became misshapen and were prone to collapse.

Pumping equipment was available for the draining of trenches; men would also be assigned to the repair of the trench itself .  Still others would be assigned to the preparation of latrines (holes that you dig).

 

...And the Smell

 

Finally, no overview of trench life can avoid the aspect that instantly struck visitors to the lines: the appalling reek given off by numerous things.

 

Rotting carcases lay around in their thousands.  For example, approximately 200,000 men were killed on the Somme battlefields, many of which lay in shallow graves.

 

Overflowing latrines would also give off an offensive stench.

 

 Men who had not had the luxury of a bath in weeks or months would offer the odours of dried sweat.  The feet were generally accepted to give off the worst odour.

 

Trenches would also smell of creosol or chloride of lime, used to stave off the constant threat of disease and infection.

 

Add to this the smell of cordite, the lingering odour of poison gas, rotting sandbags, stagnant mud, cigarette smoke and cooking food... yet men grew used to it, while it thoroughly overcame first-time visitors to the front.

 

Diary Entry

Dear Diary,

 

Today has been a good day for us we attacked the enemy and pulled through it with only half a dozen men injured. This war will hopefully all be over in the next week or so but until then my men and I will make our country proud and get back to our families safe and sound!

 

2/8/14

Conclusion

If I was in the war then I would be probably thinking of home a lot but I would know I would be fighting for my country and would try my best to keep my fellow soldiers alive.



By Liam Campbell.

 

 

 

 

WW1 Rat Story: Growing Disaster!!!

The First sound that Malcolm heard as he opened his eyes was a bomb going off in the distance and he somehow recognised that he should crawl for cover, he saw a pair of legs- human legs. Malcolm was new-born, a small rat and the solider towered over him and to Malcolm he was a giant. Further sounds, so loud it made Humans cover their ears but it was a wonder Malcolm still had eardrums. He crawled further sliding through the narrow zig zag gap, exploring his muddy new habitat and all the people who were holding pointy black sticks and poking their heads over the top of this trench that he had found himself . Then one of these new creatures he had found surrounding him clutched his chest and started to fall, by the time Malcolm noticed this he was almost on the ground, landing face down, then another object came rolling after him, Malcolm looked up and saw a sandbag heading straight for his head. Malcolm moved just in time to avoid getting crushed. Malcolm dived for cover under a rock to avoid any more objects crushing him. This array of destruction continued for a few more minutes before the sounds seemed to quieten. Then he decided to be daring and move forward, Malcolm was a Black rat and he could see a crowd of Brown Rats in a group but Black rats didn’t get on well with Brown Rats. 

As Malcolm continued to explore he found another human soldier sitting down. He trotted over and leaped onto his lap but the man was shocked to see a rat on him and tried to get Malcolm off his legs, Malcolm feeling himself fall tried to cling on and shouted at the man to stop but the man did not understand just like the man did not understand the rat, he thought he was just like the rest. Moments later the man heard his friend calling and telling him he was going over the top. Malcolm was left alone as the gunfire resumed.  Malcolm took this time to eat some leftover scraps on the floor, but the food was horrible and the bread was bland. The food was so disgusting he almost spit it out but he soon realised that food was scarce. Malcolm soon dozed off and when he woke up he was been shifted away by the same soldier from early who had returned from no man’s land after a fight with the Germans. Night was falling and the men were trying to sleep to the sound of gunfire and distant explosions, Malcolm was as well. The Soldier who he had bumped into before was sleeping next to him on the ground, he saw from the name on his ID tag that his name was John. But while he was observing John’s tag he saw hundreds of tiny lice crawling over his body, despite only been a Rat, Malcolm had been eating and was growing considerably he felt he should protect the human to gain his trust and saw he jumped up to frighten the lice away. The Lice began to scuttle, but John had woken up and seen Malcolm and yelped out.

Malcolm sighed, what could he do to gain this man’s trust. Whatever he did, John just pushed him away, he decided they could not be friends as they did not understand each other and could not communicate and he decided to move on, just then a sound ringed out, close to the trench, far too close thought Malcolm. Moments later an explosion went off down the other side of the trench and sent shrapnel and debris flying towards the Rat and the Man. John was quick to react, he shot up and looked around at the dead bodies, he got his rifle and clambered up where he was faced with German soldiers and a gush of bullets.

Malcolm clung to the sandbags with his claws and also made it up to the top and got his first look at no man’s land, John had been apprehended by a German soldier and was about to be shot, Malcolm knew he had to act and he jumped as high as he could and scratched the opposition’s face, the German was left in pain and stumbled back and Malcolm continued to scratch him, giving John time to escape and with backup coming from the trenches, open fire on the storm of German Soldiers heading for them. When they finally retreated back into the trench, John had finally realised that Malcolm had been trying to help him all this time, as he laid back down he talked to the rat in a language that Malcolm did not understand but he was grateful when John fed him some bread.

 

Five Days Later, while sleeping in the trench, the British soldiers were ravaged by a gas attack and suffered great losses, as this was almost certain death if they were not wearing gas masks, as John succumbed to the effects of the Gas, Malcolm sat with him and they were later found together, to the very end. The sad reality is that many soldiers were wiped out by the devastating effects of gas.

WW1 Soldiers Qoutes and Poster. Jordan and Reece.

 We think that it was very hard to be a soldier in the first world war. This is shown in the qoutes on our poster. We think soldiers had alot of courage to go over into no mans land and effectively commit suicide but if they did die they thought that they had served their country well. The war was very gruesome, depressing and scary as you or your friend which you have known along time shot or explode in front of your eyes which was very distressing.

WW1

WW1-The Life of a Soldier

Log entry 115. Date, September 17^th 1916

Dear diary,

The poppies are red,
The sergeant’s feet are blue.
The lice play hide and seek in my pants,
The rats, the size of rabbits, ate the stew.

 

The bombs blow off limbs,

The shrapnel gets rid of your head.

The artillery shells shocks your sense of sound,

The reminding percentage of increasing dead.

 

The tanks mow you down,

The rifles fire their rounds.
The grenades show your blood,
The expectations in the Killing Grounds.

 

The men are worried,

The crossing of ‘No Man’s Land’.
The fear of doing it,
The sweating increases on my hands

 

The Battle of the Marne, 

The Battle of Ypres.

The Battle of the Frontiers,
The never ending graves hidden in barns.

 

The grim weather,

The never ending frost,

The never ceasing rain,

The never decreasing warfare cost

 

The corporal’s bored out of his mind,

The others are as well.
The boredom in the day and between soldiers,
The thing that comes close to Hell.

The things that were asked of us, we’ve done,
The filthy trench we live in praying the enemy won’t slit our throats.
The crawling through mud and dirt whilst bullets whistle all around,
The maddest and craziest thing, but we’re all in the same boat.

 

The Great war
The greatest conflict of man.
The possibility of surviving four years,
The greatest achievement, if you can…






This poem was inspired by my great-great grandfathers diary, which he kept untild he died on August 6th 1945. we celebrated his 115th birthday on 24th April and it was thanks to him that i have put together this historical segment and a reminder of what he went through.

My poster for the ww1 project by Georgina Lawson

For my ww1 project I chose to do a piece of art work in the form of a drawing, it represented a solider and the things he thinks about and what he is worrying about day to day. The main part of my drawing was the thought cloud the solider has which contains a picture of a rat, knife,  grenade, shell boom, flee, cord beef, old boots, tank and a first aid kit. This is more of the obvious worries the solider has and the physical things he has to deal with. Surrounding the pictures are lots of words which are more cytological and feelings he has towards his situation.   

 

By Georgina Lawson 9A Hiatory

Emily Smith Trench popplet

http://popplet.com/app/#/972179

Welcome to 9A's blog page about soldiers' lives in WW1. Personal reflections soon to follow!