Journey's End by RC Sheriff

Journey’s End

The conditions of war.

• Wet, muddy and dirty trenches, usually infested with rats.

• Shortage of food and water supplies, they have to be disinfected with pepper/alcohol.

• Officers lived in poor conditions; in dugouts- they had no proper beds.

• Officers rotated every six days between the trenches.

• The soldiers need to be ready at all times since the war is ongoing, therefore they are always dressed in their uniforms.

The way the war was conducted.

• Orders came in from the Headquarters, to carry out the raids in order to get information about the Germans.

• Each side sometimes wait for each other to attack, this creates stress and pressure for the soldiers. During those intervals, the soldiers are often bored and they have no way to alleviate their boredom.

• The Commander of the Infantry discusses the attack plans with the Sergeant Major, who transmits the orders to the infantry.

Relationships between officers and men.

• They have an easy camaraderie between each other. They act as support groups for each other.

• Social class influences the relationships between the officers and the men. The officers are from the middle-class, the infantry/platoon from working-class. They are aware of their positions and act accordingly.

• The officers maintained the ‘stiff-upper-lip’- they did not show their emotions in front of their soldiers.

Relationship between the front-line and the Headquarters.

• HQ gave orders to carry out to the soldiers in the front-lines.

• The Colonel acted as the intermediary between the HQ and the Commanding officers.

• The Commanding officers had to send daily reports to the HQ to keep them informed about the situation in the front-lines.

The effects of stress.