USA HISTORY

The trenches were often dangerous places even when no battles were taking place. Which of the following was NOT a danger a solider might face during life in the trenches?

(A) Trench foot

(B) Other diseases

(C) Random sniper fire

(D) ** Starvation

Concept note-1: -Trenches provided protection from bullets and shells, but they did carry their own risks. Trench foot, trench fever, dysentery, and cholera could inflict casualties as readily as any enemy. Rats, flies, and lice were also commonplace.

Concept note-2: -Nighttime in the trenches was both the busiest and the most dangerous. Under cover of darkness, soldiers often climbed out of their trenches and moved into No Man’s Land, the blasted landscape separating the two armies.

Concept note-3: -Soldiers spent long days marching and drilling, cleaning their kits, attending lectures and labouring on repairs and improvements to trench networks, camps and roads. In their spare time, soldiers wrote letters and diaries, drew sketches, read books and magazines, pursued hobbies, played cards or gambled.

Concept note-4: -Disease and ‘shell shock’ were rampant in the trenches. With soldiers fighting in close proximity in the trenches, usually in unsanitary conditions, infectious diseases such as dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever were common and spread rapidly.