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The trenches were wet, cold and muddy. Misery and exhaustion were constant companions for the unlucky men who fought in them.

German, British, French, and combat troops from many other nations washed, shaved, ate, drank, wrote letters to their families and fought boredom in the trenches. These men went without proper showers for weeks at a time, and as a result lice became a very common infection. Their skin itched terribly, but scratching made the problem worse. Even after their clothes had been washed and deloused, a few lice eggs still remained in the seams of their trousers and jackets. The secretions from these eggs led to another problem, Trench Fever.

Trench Fever was a disease characterized by severe headaches, skin rashes and inflamed eyes. All of this was usually followed by a high fever and the first documented cases were reported in December, 1914. The only way a soldier could get better was to get away from the front lines, but this process often took several weeks. A soldier's leave didn't last that long.

Trench conditions were nearly always wet and a soldier's feet would be constantly submerged in water. Consequently cases of Trench Foot became more widespread. This fungal infection caused the toes of many men to be amputated as a direct result of gangrene. Naturally this condition permanently crippled thousands of soldiers.

Scraps of discarded food and empty containers were magnets for rodents, mostly rats. Soldiers would frequently throw tin cans over the edge of the trench into No Man's Land, and of course this caused ever increasing numbers of these creatures to invade the trenches in search of more food. They chewed and gnawed at the bodies of dead soldiers and other animals, and the men in the trench just couldn't get rid of them very easily. They tried shooting them, but were discouraged from doing so because it was a waste of ammunition. So, they used their bayonets and tried other ways to keep their numbers as low as possible, mostly by clubbing and burning them.

When there was nothing else to do, at least while the guns were silent, British soldiers at sunrise and sunset had to man the trenches in preparation for an enemy attack. They were told to "Stand To!" by their commanding officers, and a man could not leave his post without approval from his immediate commander. Sentry duty was a common element of trench life. A split second lapse in concentration could mean death, especially from a sniper.

Hard, physical work was required at all times for repairs and upkeep of the trenches, and to dig new ones. Cooking was a difficult task since both sides had to mask any smoke from the fires. This could give away an enemy's position.

In addition to all of that, there was the weather. The winter of 1916-1917 was one of the coldest on record. Many men suffered from frostbite and pneumonia. One of the most dangerous illnesses of all was the Great Influenza pandemic, which spread like wildfire throughout the trenches in 1918. In fact, many British, French and American soldiers died not from combat but from the flu.

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