TRENCH   FOOT

 Trench foot was one of the most widespread and debilitating that affected men from both sides of the lines, it is linked with WW1 hence the name "Trench foot". The disease's origin isn't in WW1 but was first noted in Napoleons army in 1812. It was on the retreat from Russia that it became prevalent, and was first described by Larrey. He observed that this condition didn't occur during the freezing cold of the campaign but when the temperature was near to zero degrees with the presence of moisture. Here lies the clue. During the First war men were exposed to Cold but not freezing conditions often up to their ankles in water that was permanently in the bottom of the trenches. The feet would swell, appear red and blood blistered, the pain would be severe, until the sensory nerves had been damaged and would then be numb  causing the man to be evacuated hopefully. The treatment would be basically to elevate the limb, some modest warmth and wait. After a few weeks the limb would return to normal in most cases, but some severe ones that became gangrenous could result in amputation, with all the complications that went with that, some of those that did recover would have nerve damage. . As for the battalion pride in having low trench foot rates, some cases could be prevented with care. Some situations made trench foot more likely, such as poor fitting boots restriciting the circulation, immobility, amount of water and temperature of water in the base of the trench. Some of the preventative measures used were the issuing of gumboots where possible, but keeping feet dry was impossible. I have read accounts of men being forced to apply whale grease to the feet i presume to impart some waterproofness to them. Either way I believe some cases were practically unavoidable, and must have been the devil itself if you got it. The army went to great lengths to find out how to prevent it, employing hygienists, doctors all sorts and the general conclusion was military discipline and good hygiene. That meant where possible boots off and foot inspections carried out, greasing, and charging men who appeared to be neglecting these instructions, remember that there would be individuals who would deliberately contract this illness to get out of the line. Nowadays this illness is still known as trench foot or immersion foot, on the Falklands campaign it amounted to 14% of casualties. It is now mainly seen in the homeless street dwellers.

For those interested there is a good article in the Western Front Association Journal "Stand to" 30 page9 which went into detail about the effect of Trench foot on the Australian 5th Division on the Somme in 1916 where the Division suffered 37% of it's casualties inflicted upon it were classified as Trench foot, as opposed to an average of 25%. it was thought that these figures were on the low side as Trench foot rates were monitored and many Trench foot cases were called something else and missed the stats.  

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