How did ww1 soldiers deal with lice?

How did ww1 soldiers deal with lice?

Men in the trenches killed lice by ‘chatting’ – crushing them between finger nails – or burning them out with cigarette ends and candles.

How did soldiers in trenches get rid of lice?

The British also developed a combination of naphthalene, creosote, and iodoform made into a paste which could be applied to the seams of uniforms with a good result of eliminating lice in just a few hours.

What would soldiers do with the lice once picked off of another soldier?

Soldiers often could be found picking through their clothing or doing their “(k)nitting work”. Killing lice was called “fighting under the black flag,” throwing away infested clothing was “giving the vermin a parole,” and wearing clothing inside-out was “executing a flank movement” (Wiley 1992).

How did rats and lice affect the soldiers in ww1?

Rats and lice were also a constant problem for soldiers in the trenches. Soldiers also had to deal with lice, which hid in the seams of their clothes and left blotchy red bites all over their bodies. The lice carried a disease known as trench fever, which could put a soldier out of action for months.

How did lice affect soldiers in World War 1?

The first symptoms were shooting pains in the shins and was followed by a very high fever. Although the disease did not kill, it did stop soldiers from fighting and accounted for about 15% of all cases of sickness in the British Army. (1) Henry Gregory of 119th Machine Gun company was interviewed after the war about life in the trenches.

What was life like in the trenches in World War 1?

(1) Henry Gregory of 119th Machine Gun company was interviewed after the war about life in the trenches. When we arrived in the trenches we got a shock when the other soldiers in the hut took their shirts off after tea. They were catching lice. We had never seen a louse before, but they were here in droves.

How did soldiers feel when they came back from World War 1?

A high percentage of soldiers came back from the war with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Symptoms included anxiety, horrific flashbacks, disrupted slept and disturbing dreams, emotional detachment, social withdrawal and depression.

What was the military like in World War 1?

Thus, it has become accepted wisdom that World War I has nothing to teach the student of modern war, especially in comparison to World War II, with its fast-moving armored and airborne divisions that are the basic models of military forces today. The reality is something quite different.