coz they were... half the time the soldiers didnt even sleep... its a war... what should the soldiers expect, four post beds and luxury kingston cushions.

Sealy posturepedic was invented shortly after, and french maids could not be trusted...

The trenches of the first world war were dug out rather hastily and then propped up by sandbags and wood to ensure they did not cave in...which did happen sometimes when nearby bombs went off. The conditions of the battlefield did not help as the wet weather, mud and smell of death in no mans land was prevalent across the line too. There were dugouts reserved for officers which were a bit more homely but the majority of the men had small alcoves in which to shelter from the rain, however these were still liable to cave in from nearby explosions too. Trench foot was a common complaint in the forces as exposure to dirty water in your boots swelled your foot up so you couldn't take them off. The other common problem with trenches were the conditions of the trench floor during particularly wet weather. The mud became like quicksand and duckboards were placed under foot to stop soldiers dissapearing under the ground which, though rare, did not go unnoticed in the ranks to warrant better walking surfaces. So to sum up, if you can imagine sleeping in a lot of mud with the enemy shooting at you and trying to blow up your trench whilst your feet get bigger and bigger through trench foot, or if you can think of the smell of rotting human flesh nearby complimenting a flooded latrine then you have some idea of trench life in the Great War. Having said that, would you be sleeping well if you knew that shortly your turn would come to walk slowly towards a machine gun under the orders of your generals? Hope that helps.

It's kind of difficult to sleep through ceaseless artillary bombardment...

World war I was the one when we saw the trench warfare for the first time.Trenches were dug for the first time by the French army to combat the approaching enemy and to keep themselves secured from the gun combat as well as to attack and take rest.It was a battle field and the trenches were dug out of shear urgency and it wasn't a picnic beach spot to sleep around naked under the sun.

Wet, insect and rat infested underground bunkers. Rotten food, mud everywhere, pieces of dead bodies. My grandfather used to tell me about this. +5