Trench Foot a Killer ?

[WASMAN]

Forgive my ignorance on this matter, I have been researching a man from near my home town, it turns out he died from the effects of trench feet, how common was this and was it poor equipment that was the cause or just the conditions in which the men found themselves.

[Ed Matthews]

Wasman

The Official History (Medical Statistics) records the following incidence of Trench Foot for British & Dominion Troops (France & Flanders):

1914 - 8 cases (British only, 0 deaths)

1915 - 6,462 cases (6 death) (British only)

1916 - 16,955 cases (1 death) (Incl. frostbite cases)

1917 - 21,487 cases (3 deaths) (ditto)

1918 - 7.096 cases (0 deaths) (ditto)

For the Dardanelles (1915-16):

1,380 cases (10 deaths)

No deaths reported in Italy or Macedonia.

Hope this helps.

Rgds

Ed

[CROONAERT]

Forgive my ignorance on this matter, I have been researching a man from near my home town, it turns out he died from the effects of trench feet, how common was this and was it poor equipment that was the cause or just the conditions in which the men found themselves.

Untreated or too far advanced trenchfoot causes gangrene and septacemia, so is definately a killer. Fortunately (as can be seen from Ed's post), most cases were treatable.

The conditions really were the cause rather than poor equipment.

Dave.

[Robert Dunlop]

Trench foot arises from prolonged immersion of the lower limbs in near freezing water. If the temperature is below freezing, then frostbite occurs. With trench foot, the prolonged cooling causes the blood vessels to constrict, which reduces blood flow. Eventually, cells begin to complain, causing pain and swelling. If the condition persists, cell death occurs with the onset of gangrene as mentioned. Prolonged contact with water will also cause the skin to become waterlogged. This promotes fungal and other infections. Unlike frostbite, the condition is reversible if caught in time. With frostbite, cells freeze and become permanently damaged.

Robert

[WASMAN]

Many thanks for the replies, the men I am researching are from near my home town, they are the Yates brothers of leigh lancs, Fred Yates of the 11th Battalion lancashire fusiliers died in hospital in Boulogna from trench foot, his brother john North'n Reg was sent home to recover from trench foot and spent time in a hospital in Newcastle. A third brother Osmaond Manchester Reg at the time of this report 2/2/1917 was still fighting on the Somme.Both John and Osmond survived.

[Guest AmericanDoughboy]

From what I understand, the medical term "trench foot" for the disease could indeed result in death if it was very serious. The foot could actually split open due to intense cold and cause gangreen if mud and dirt were to overcome the cut. That is one of my theories...

-Doughboy

[chris.wight]

Why was whale oil used to prevent Trench Foot? Was it something inherent in the application of the oil which helped to prevent the condition or was it the action of massaging the oil into the foot which made the difference?

[Broznitsky]

Didn't the oil repel the water? I assume whale oil is a more sturdy product than, say, olive or other vegetable oil.

[Neil Burns]

I think Peter is correct the oil repelled the water.

If I remember this use for whale-oil briefly resurrected the whaling industry during the war years.

Take care,

Neil

[PhilB]

Something like the channel swimmers coat themselves with? Phil B

[NIGEL]

And i may add that Whale Oil absolutley stinks, but i thought Channel Swimmers used Goose Fat

[PhilB]

This may be of interest (from the www.diggerhistory.info website) Phil B

The Whale Oil (Trench Feet Treatment)

"Put your tootsies up!" ordered the Stretcher-Bearer. Bill sat down on a heap of sandbags and thrust out his feet towards the bath formed of a petrol tin with the side cut out. One Stretcher-Bearer washed them in warm water, another dried them on an old singlet, and a third poured whale oil on, and then rubbed them as if his life depended on the force put into his rubs.

A few shells hissed and wailed over the sunken road and lobbed in the snow behind them; carrying and digging parties were being detailed by the CSM for the night's job, but the Stretcher Bearers continued washing, drying and rubbing one pair of feet after another.

"Where's Pte. Johnson T queried the CSM. "Getting his feet oiled," replied the Corporal.

From 4 p.m. until it was dark enough for the working parties to set out, the Stretcher-Bearers were having all sorts and conditions of feet shoved towards them.

"My feet haven't been so clean since my mother played 'Piggies' with my toes," remarked "Old Dad" Smith as the eighteen year old Bearer poured oil on them.

"You'll be giving a man a 'Blighty, with those toenails," grumbled the Washer to another. "And a septic one, too," added the Drier.

"I'll cut em after they get a bit softer with this Whale oil," un-offendedly replied the owner of the uncut nails.

While, the whale oiling went on cheerfully, the fourth Bearer was kept busy carrying lumps of ice from shell-holes to the various assortment of pots he had on the fire, for the one small bath would not serve more than six pairs of feet.

The pulling on of the socks, after the feet had been saturated in oil, was a matter of difficulty and the feeling when the socks were first on made each one squirm. It was most uncomfortable to have whale oil, thick, smelly and sticky-oozing between the toes and gripping the socks tight against at the feet. No one liked it, most detested it, all bore it grumblingly but as cheerfully as possible. Even the clean socks to be issued were generally greasy, for the Army washing didn't affect the previous oiling of them.

Each man was issued with a tin of the horrible stuff, and so keen were all the heads on whale oiling and whale-oiled feet, that it was a serious offence for one to lose his tin, of oil. It was a daily duty for each platoon officer to send in a certificate: "I have to-day personally examined the feet of all men in my platoon, seen them whale-oiled, and their socks changed."

A whole company might become battle casualties without a question, but if a man got Trench 'Feet, there were inquiries from the man himself up to the General, and dozens of sheets of written explanations in between. The platoon officer it was that generally come in for the "strafing," for he would often have to take it for granted that a man whose feet, for various reasons, he could not inspect, was all right, and it was generally this man that got Trench Feet. Whale oil was certainly good for our boots, for it remained in them to ooze out later on when summer came along. It wasn't so good for other things There was whale oil in our food and on our tunics; many had sat down where a tin of it had been oozing; it was on our puttees and our blankets, waiting everywhere for winter to depart and the dust of summer roads to come to be caught by it.

It may have prevented Trench Feet, but it softened our feet to the point of extreme tenderness. Nobody liked it, nobody said a good-word about it except those who never used it on themselves. Everybody grumbled at it in some way or another. The wet weather of the latter part of 1917 and the winter of '17-18 brought a change. The whale oil disappeared; being used, we were told for margarine and axle-grease, and we had our feet trained with a special soft soap, washed in warm water and then powdered with talc powder. The process was pretty much the same. One Stretcher-Bearer would soap and wash them and the second would dry and the third would rub and powder them

Nicely powered feet every day. It was indeed comfortable. No one grumbled and no one got Trench Feet.

During the winter of 1918 on our long march towards Germany, the commissariat was badly dis-arranged, and we ran out of talc powder and the special soap. But our M.0. had a brain wave and we were all soon seated in two rows facing each other and rubbing each other's feet with Tommy Cooker. Tommy Cookers were tins of solidified methylated spirits given to the troops by "Comforts" to boil a mess tin of cocoa in the line. Imagine, basting your feet with lard. That's what it felt like at first; but the after-effects were more comfortable. It was laughable to see how quickly a man moved when a cigarette smoker dropped his lighted match on to a foot heaped up with the contents of a Tommy Cooker.

During this period one platoon officer wrote his daily certificate as follows: -"I have personally inspected all the feet in my platoon and seen them Tommy-Cookered. Everything Jacques."

.

[Dave_59]

trenchfoot was very nasty...although i would have thought that more men died as a result of it...the figures seem fairly low.

dave

[stiletto_33853]

Hi,

Also have come across a local man who died of trench foot, or as a result of trench foot i should say. The man was in the 2nd Life Guards and died in 1920.

Andy

[MartinWills]

I quite suspect that the process of removing the boots and socks to allow access to the feet to rub them in whale oil was probably just as beneficial as the whale oil. I imagine the opportunity would be taken to wring out socks and dry out whatever could be dried out as well as removing dead skin and other such unpleasantries.

I wonder which was worst. The smell of unwashed feet or the whale oil?

[chris.wight]

Phil, thanks for posting that.

[NIGEL]

just think of the strongest fishy smell you can have--whale oil ---was also used to temper or harden steel in factories thats how i encountered it

[DaveDocDavies]

I wonder which was worst. The smell of unwashed feet or the whale oil?

Having cared for Marines evacuated from desert and tropical settings whose boots probably hadn't been removed for several days, I can attest the former has a bouquet which can empty a treatment room quickly.

Whale oil has unique properties in cold temperatures. Since the mammal lives part of its life in arctic/antarctic waters, the oil maintains its properties well below temperatures turning other forms of lubricant to gel / sludge.

The best treatment for foot injuries is, of course, prevention. Clean, dry feet are "happy feet" (not to mention the air quality affect when boots are removed). Immersion foot, frost bite, the like are markedly worse if subjected to abrasion trauma ... wet socks, entrapped sand, and interior boot seams: feet look like they were in the tool chest with an electric sander on full power.

When the trench water level is thigh-high, I'd bet the whale oil would be a step preferred over talc.

Doc D

[Guest mruk]

I've just been reading of an officer of who lost his command because of a bad case of trench feet. The brief account doesn't state if they were his own feet, or if there was an outbreak of trench foot in the battalion, but would an outbreak warrant his removal to another unit, and would this have anything to do with negligence, and the failure to look after the health and welfare of his men?

Cheers,

Dave

[michaeldr]

quote: would an outbreak warrant his removal to another unit, and would this have anything to do with negligence, and the failure to look after the health and welfare of his men?

Dave,

I think that it would

The matter was taken very seriously

The 63rd (RN) Division, Trench Standing Orders [2nd ed. 1917] has two whole pages on it in Appendix III the final para being "6.(f) An officer will always supervise the rubbing of feet on return from the trenches, and will report that this has been completed before he turns in himself."

With ref to Martin's post #15 above, the foll confirms his assertion

see item "3 (A) Before entering the trenches feet and legs will be washed and dried, then well rubbed with whale oil or anti-frostbite grease and dry socks put on. It is of the utmost importance that the whale oil or anti-frostbite grease should not merely be applied, but thoroughly rubbed in until the skin is dry. Unless this is done the oil and grease are to a great measure valueless, for it is the hand-rubbing more than the oil which does good." [emphasis as in the original]

regards

Michael

[Guest mruk]

Many Thanks, Michael

I thought it was remiss of the officer, given that he was a career soldier who had served through the South African Campaign, and who'd been at the front since the start. He was also moved to another battalion within the regiment, where he was killed by a sniper shortly afterwards.

Kind Regards,

Dave

[armourersergeant]

When 27th div took over a line of the trench from the French near St Eloi in early 1915 they complained of poor conditions. Thye had, due to 2nd army 'stuff up' marched in some units instances 15 odd miles to the trench. The boxes etc they took to try and help were usless and as a consequence they suffered badly from an 'outbreak' of trench foot.

Snow, the Div commander, put down the tiredness as well as conditions, to the outbreak! I guess he emant that they were very tired and did not take care of themselves as well. He certainly was not complimentary of the conditions of the trench left them by the French troops!

regards

Arm

[Guest mruk]

Many Thanks, Arm

I've just been having a read around 'Trench Foot', and though I'd heard about the condition, I hadn't realised the seriousness or its implications until now. It's rather grisly, as this link shows.

http://www.awm.gov.au/1918/trenchwarfare/

Kind Regards,

Dave

[MelPack]

Dave

I agree - pretty grim!

[PBI]

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/kylet1/tfoot.htm