LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Western Front: Lines
built 137 days ago
The round of duty along the Western front differed little for soldiers on either side of the conflict. Most of the night would be spent at hard labor, repairing the trench wall, laying barbed wire, and packing sandbags. After the dawn stand-to, when every man would line up on the firing step against the possibility of a morning attack, the rest of the day would generally be spent in sleep or idleness, occasionally interrupted by sentry duty or another stand-to when enemy activity was suspected. Despite the sometimes lengthy periods of calm along the front, life in the trenches was filled with constant dangers. In addition to artillery attacks and surprise raids, soldiers suffered afflictions brought on by a daily existence in wet and unsanitary conditions. The lack of fresh foods and soggy environment in the trenches resulted in “trench foot,” an affliction that turned the feet green, swollen, and painful.
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Fighting on the Western front seemed to stabilize, and the Allied advance stalled in front of the Siegfried Line (Westwall) and the southern reaches of the Rhine. Starting in early September, the Americans began slow and bloody fighting through the Hurtgen Forest ("Passchendaele with tree bursts" -- Hemingway) to breach the Line.
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When the ANZACs arrived at the Western Front, the first thing they saw were the lines of wounded soldiers being taken to the rear. As they got closer, they could feel the earth shake, and hear the constant “crump crump” of artillery shells. The sound was loud enough to make their ears ring, and became their companion for the next three years.
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