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The destructive power of the machine gun and its fearsome reputation is
emphasised by the awarding of Victoria Crosses to two ex-Dudley School
students mentioned later in this book. The efforts of Captain Clarence
Jeffries and Private Matthew Currey in taking out machine gun
blockhouses were seen as almost superhuman efforts.
16. Extremely
efficient railway systems
on both sides meant that soldiers
and ammunition could be ferried quickly to the front to prevent any break
out by either side. Another effect of the railway’s efficiency was the
absorption of female workers into the system to replace railway workers
who had volunteered to join the army at the front. This process in all
industries gave an initial stimulus to the Suffragette movement and the
employment of women in all industries, particularly those involved in
munitions industries.
Many nurses also volunteered and served as nurses first at Gallipoli and
then Northern Europe. The shocking injuries must have been very
confronting to the nurses.
17. Another common feature of all trench conditions was the
poor
health
it encouraged. Open latrines, bodies rotting in no man’s land and close
living conditions ensured that some soldiers died or were incapacitated
due to disease. Big healthy rats were a common and a detested sight.
Soldiers’ bodies were covered with lice. Outside the trenches, soldiers on
leave, in many cases, trying to forget the horrors of the Front, became
involved in situations that led to the acquisition of “sexual diseases” that
ended in hospitalisation.With many single soldiers making up battalions,
and facing conditions at the front that at any time could take a soldiers
life, many became vulnerable to sex related experiences and consequently
diseases.
Overall, many of our local soldiers, especially those over 40 years of age
spent lengthy periods of time in hospital and in some cases were sent
home early. It is also no coincidence that soldiers in Europe brought back
influenza to Australia; this caused an epidemic in Australia that caused
many deaths.
These unhealthy conditions were aggravated by poor weather conditions.
The coldest weather conditions in Europe for 40 years occurred in
1916-17. Hartnett in his book
Over the Top
describes a situation where a
group of New Zealand and Canadian soldiers caught in a spray of
machine gun bullets are only discovered after the months spent dead in
front of their trenches when the ice and snow thawed.
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