The British Sector of the Western Front 1914-1918 - The Health of Soliders in the Trenches

Conditions

• The trenches could be red hot in summer and a freezing mass of mud in the winter
• Extreme weather conditions lead to several medical conditions:
  • Ulcers
  • Boils
  • Rashes
  • Pneumonia
  • Tuberculosis
  • Dysentery
  • Brochitis
  • Trench Foot - Spending days stood in knee deep water
• Keeping clean was impossible meaning that almost all soldiers had lice
  • Lice fed on the blood of their host
  • Bites could cause severe itching and more serious illness such…