For the soldiers of the First World War fighting was an exceptional circumstance, rather than the norm. For many, life consisted of toiling to keep those at the front supplied. But the frontline troops themselves were rotated to ensure that time spent facing the enemy was balanced by periods of rest and, occasionally, home-leave. The determination of soldiers to keep fighting could be strongly influenced by the regularity of this rotation. Some armies were more efficient than others in this respect. Russian and Turkish soldiers, often fighting at huge distances from home, in regions poorly served by railways, were less able than others to find respite from the hardships of the front. This encouraged war-weariness and desertion. Poor leave arrangements also featured among the grievances of mutinying French soldiers in 1917. When armies were hard-pressed by their enemy – as was the case in the German army in the autumn of 1918 – repeated exposure to the stress of combat could lead to a collapse of morale.