This concise, handsomely illustrated, boots-on-the ground guide provides
a unique introduction to life on the Western Front during World War I.
Readers will learn about the drastic living circumstances of characters
Tommy Atkins, Poilu, and Doughboy, respectively the foot soldiers of
Britain, France, and the United States. We all know something of how
these men existed in muddy trenches, subject to shelling, snipers and
waiting for the next Big Push; but it is through the unique vocabulary
of those troops, with their newly coined words, slang, and euphemisms
that we can most easily enter their world. Readers will learn the
meaning behind the long lost wartime language of these soldiers, with
such words and phrases as: Black Hand Gang, Ace, Crummy, Barker, Dud,
Come-alongs, Hush-hush, and Over the top. Based on extensive research,
Trench Talk Trench Life is a wide-ranging and sympathetic look at the
lives of initially patriotic, but ultimately tenacious front line
soldiers of the Western Front.