State of Trenches
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by
f0rbe5
In my current diary (8th Royal Dublin Fusiliers) and in several earlier ones that I've worked on, there's been mention of trenches filling with water and/or collapsing due to poor soil/mud/bad weather. But there's no way of recording this that I can find. The diaries do not mention digging/repairing (so I've not used that), only that the trenches are poor and/or deteriorating significantly. This seems a regular feature of trenches in the early/mid part of the war (and perhaps particularly in the north?) and I would have thought it something significant that should be recorded? We have the weather tags, a roadscondition hashtag and the new thaw hashtag but not a trenchescondition tag/hashtag that I can find...
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by
cyngast
moderator
That's a good thought. Let's see what other volunteers think about it.
I also think you're doing the right thing by not tagging mention of trenches in bad condition with the repair tag. Although it's implied that collapsed trenches will be repaired, it may not be this unit that does it. Rather it might be working parties or the next unit in the trench if a relief is scheduled soon.
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As you say we have a tag for road conditions. a trench condition tag may be useful but I think it would be used so many times, seeing that nearly all the trenches, especially in the winter months of the war were all in awful conditions. Working parties spent a lot of time, draining them of flooded water/clearing mud/ repairing them from German attacks etc .
Do you think a trench condition tag would be useful as suggested by f0rbe5 ? I don't mind having a another tag to go with all the other tags.
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
I think it would be useful for recording instances where the condition of the trench was so bad it made it virtually unusable - I've come across that before. As Marie says, general conditions were often not good, so there is a risk such a hashtag might not be very useful because it gets used too much, but as long as we define when to use it reasonably tightly, I think it would be a good idea.
If everybody's okay with that, I'll update the list over the next day or so.
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by
f0rbe5
I was thinking of specific mention of deteriorating/damaged trenches (and perhaps why - soil sandy, no shoring timbers available, or water table very high?) rather than just "condition of trenches poor" as reason for the hashtag. On this, I've just come across mention that the Bn doesn't occupy the right-hand end of its front-line trenches due to it having been blown in by the enemy. I can't see how else this can sensibly be recorded...
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ral104
moderator, scientist
That makes sense to me. Shall we go with #trenchcondition then? To be used in situations such as the one you describe, with the sort of detail you mention. I'll add it to the list tomorrow.
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by
cyngast
moderator
I think it's a good idea, too.
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
Then it's decided! List updated 😄
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