Lice caused Trench Fever, a particularly painful disease that began suddenly with severe pain followed by high fever. Recovery, away from the trenches, took up to twelve weeks. Also, frogs by the score were found in shell holes covered in water; they were also found in the base of trenches. Slugs and horned beetles crowded the sides of the trench. Many men chose to shave their heads entirely to avoid another prevalent scourge: nits.
Trench Foot was another medical condition peculiar to trench life. It was a fungal infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary trench conditions. It could turn gangrenous and result in amputation. Trench Foot was more of a problem at the start of trench warfare; as conditions improved in 1915 it rapidly faded, although a few cases continued throughout the war.
Patrols would often be sent out into No Mans Land. Some men would be tasked with repairing, or adding barbed wire to the front line. Others however would go out to assigned listening posts, hoping to pick up valuable information from the enemy lines. Sometimes enemy patrols would meet in No Man's Land. They were then faced with the option of hurrying on their separate ways or else engaging in hand to hand fighting. They could not afford to use their handguns while patrolling in No Man's Land, for fear of the machine gun fire it would inevitably attract, deadly to all members of the patrol.
Trench warfare was a very perilous technique of armed conflict. Many men on the front line died "going over the top." Row upon row of soldiers would become mere corpses as battles raged on, due to the immense amount of gunfire coming from the opposition's trenches. Now imagine the exact battle tactic used, but without trenches. Trenches may have been an almost certain death for the front line soldiers dwelling in them, but if soldiers were to go to war without these trenches, you could basically eliminate the word "almost" from the previous line.
