Description of the Living Conditions

Description of the Living Conditions

A soldier goes into detail about the brutal living conditions that New Zealanders were forced to live in. At some places, the space between the beach and the front lines was only 900 meters, causing lots of difficulty transporting supplies.

The Silent Division, By Ormund Burton

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/the-gallipoli-campaign/conditions

Whenever possible, whether in the line or out of it, a man paired off with a mate and established a ‘bivvy’. This was a structure of a very primitive sort. With pick and shovel a cut was made in a slope that gave protection from the bullets of the snipers, and if possible from the bursts of shrapnel. A couple of salvaged oil sheets pinned across with salvaged bayonets made a roof that would keep out the dew at night and the sun glare by day. Furnishings consisted of commandeered sandbags or old overcoats for softening the hardness of the baked floor, a cut down petrol tin for a ‘bath’ and whole one for storing water. As soon as the work was finished the flies and the lice – the permanent residents – took up their abode, while the casual boarders such as centipedes and soldiers strayed in from time to time as opportunity offered…