Ww1 Trench Description

World War One was a vicious four yearlong conflict that left few survivors in its wake, and devastated the world’s economy. The war commenced after the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s ArchDuke, Franz Ferdinand, and brought all the major European countries such as Germany, Italy, Great Britain, France, Serbia, Russia, and Austria-Hungary into the war. This was due to a system of alliances that linked the countries together, which forced countries even outside of Europe to join a war they had no part in, further escalating the problem. World War One was divided into two major alliances that fought against each other. As a result of Great Britain’s involvement, Canada was led into war as well, where Canadians distinguished themselves in battles

moved into a reserve position, nearer to the front. Pearkes and a select few from his unit went into the trenches and received instruction on how to live in the trenches. In the brigade, there were a few other units that lived with the 2nd C.M.R, this included Strathcona’s Horse, Royal Canadian Dragoons, and King Edward’s Horse. At first, life in the trenches was quite an exciting experience for Pearkes, who described it as ‘thrilling to finally be there.’ They were instructed not to sleep during the nighttime as work had to be done; draining the trenches, filling sandbags, and repairing things hit by bullet shells, but this did not phase Pearkes. Pearkes platoon commander was named Evans, and he came from the Okanagan Valley, and was very admired around the troops. By mid-October 1915, Pearkes became one of the Bombers, but was still part of the same regiment. His Bombing Officer was named Mickey Maguire; however, he was wounded shortly after Pearkes arrived in France. At this time, Pearkes main job was to help maintain the supply bombs, take part in bombing or scouting raids, and patrol the premises. The front lines did not have a lot of access to fresh food, and often ate bread with jam and cheese, and corned beef—with the absence of fresh fruit and vegetables, it was quite common for soldiers to get upset stomachs. In between the chores soldiers had to complete in the trenches during the day, there was some time for leisure, this

On April 5th, 1917 the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles received their operation orders. Firstly, the 5th C.M.R. and its company (three more platoons) were in support at Vimy, located in the tunnels. The 5th C.M.R. was given the opportunity to watch construction of underground assembly positions, which were the tunnels at Vimy. It was different from the Somme as the artillery at Vimy had quickly obliterated German support trenches, whilst at the Somme they were often chastised for firing short and not cutting wire.

However, due to the astounding number of fatalities the troops were facing on both sides, Pearkes and his company were forced to go through the front line. This was much more exciting as the front line overlooked the Douai Plans and gave the troops the ability to see German positions. However, after a few weeks of battle at the front lines the 5th C.M.R found themselves back involved in trench warfare, for the rest of the summer of