Peter Hart explains the causes and cures for one of the many wartime woes endured by a Tommy in the First World War trenches\u2026 <\/p>
On top of trying to survive the bullets, shells and poisonous gas attacks, the average soldier in the damp, cold trenches of the First World War had to contend with a risk of exposure, lice and perhaps one of the most memorable afflictions: trench foot. Speaking on the HistoryExtra<\/em> podcast<\/a>, Peter Hart explains how the nasty condition came to be rife in the trenches, and how a solution came in the form of one of the world\u2019s largest mammals\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I always say it\u2019s like when you stay in the bath for too long when you\u2019re young and your skin almost starts going spongy \u2013 except it\u2019s not funny. It\u2019s having your feet in freezing cold water for hours and hours. You get a sponginess that then goes dead. Then, you start to get frostbite, your toes go black and they fall off.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Trench foot is perfectly stoppable. You can stop it in its tracks, so to speak, by putting on dry socks and putting your feet somewhere that\u2019s not in water. However, that\u2019s impossible in 1914 on the Western Front, where you\u2019re in a ditch with no drainage. If you don\u2019t stand in the water, the Germans will put a bullet through your head because it would be standing above the low trenches. So, troops were dealing with constant immersion in freezing cold water.<\/p>\nWhat is trench foot?<\/h2>\n
How did WW1 soldiers treat trench foot?<\/h2>\n