Myths of the Eastern Front

Well, the dysentery and hepatitis comes from bad water and everybody is subjected to these soomer or later, I don´t think they had time to cook the water during battle.

 

how could they cook since they didn't go indoors and the water would be frozen

 

One aspect of the division, and the German Army in general, that had not been improved upon or modernized was that of its ration, or food supply system. For the most part, the 352nd VGD supplied its regiments with combat rations and meals using the same system the German Army had used since the war the began six years earlier. The food supply system in December 1944 still consisted primarily of a company or battalion field kitchen section that prepared and cooked hot rations daily, which were then delivered to the front by various means, such as horse, truck, or foot.

Once the rations arrived at the front, they were quickly doled out to Grenadiers detailed to go to the rear to pick them up, with the food usually being deposited into mess kits or canteens. Other items, such as chocolate, candy, bread, onions, coffee etc. were placed onto blankets and then rolled up for easier carrying. As one will read in this article, you will see that this system generally failed to deliver the required amount of food to the Landers on the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge, with the result that many of the men went hungry for days at a time. Another factor that determined when or how late combat troops drew their rations was distance – the farther ahead a unit moved as it attacked, the farther away it got from its supply section, including the field kitchen, making the trip for the ration party carrying the food to the front all that much longer. These ration parties often arrived late, if they could find their units, and when they did, the food was often cold.

The Germans also attempted to develop individual combat rations similar to those used by the U.S. Army, such as “C” and “K” rations, but they never reached the level of perfection of the American’s packaged rations.

From http://www.dererstezug.com/German_Rations_at_the_Front.htm

 

That is correct. David Irwing blames Hitlers dysentery in August 1941 for the Nazi debacle in Russia. He claims that the generals altered the Führers ingenious plans while he was in the lavatory.

 

You don't know that water can be cooked outdoors ?

 

Does dysentery exist in Winter?

 

The German Army could not be supplied by the trains system late 1941. They were ordered to use whatever they can locally. If the water was bad in the houses they took, and they did not boil it, they could get dysentery. Some even wanted at least to get hepatitis because it was their ticket to hospital or even back home.

 

Dysentery is an inflammation of the intestine causing diarrhea with blood. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain and rectal tenesmus (a feeling of incomplete defecation).
It is caused by a number of types of infection such as bacteria, viruses, parasitic worms, or protozoa. It is a type of gastroenteritis. The mechanism is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon.

In developed countries, the most common form of dysentery is bacillary dysentery which is typically a mild illness, causing symptoms normally consisting of mild stomach pains and frequent passage of stool or diarrhea. Symptoms normally present themselves after one to three days and are usually no longer present after a week. The frequency of urges to defecate, the large volume of liquid feces passed, and the presence of mucus, pus and blood depends on the pathogen that is causing the disease.


Dysentery results from viral infections, bacterial infections, or parasitic infestations. These pathogens typically reach the large intestine after entering orally, through ingestion of contaminated food or water, oral contact with contaminated objects or hands, and so on.

Definitions of dysentery can vary by region and by medical specialty. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) limits its definition to "diarrhea with visible blood."

-wikipedia


So largely through food and/or water contaminated with viral, bacterial, or parasitic agents.

Of course, if you're in the middle of a war zone, with a rather bad climate outside (too hot, too cold, too wet,...) with dead bodies lying around unburied, then the incidence of dysentry would be expected to rise. In the cold, hypothermia induces a state of uncaring, extreme heat induces lethargy.

Which is not the same thing as saying that the weather is a cause; but that the climate is definitely a contributing factor, to the ability of conscripted troops to properly maintain hygiene in the middle of a war zone, especially when clean water is probably not readily available, nor particularly clean.

 

Extreme weather can also result in the cases being more serious. While this is true of most if not all diseases those that carry an increased risk of dehydration are of particular note in this regard.

 

What a shame that that was just a dysentery. An epidemy of cholera would have been better. Many lives of innocent people would have been saved and the war would have ended in 1941.

 

Wouldn't even require an epidemic. Hitler and a few others would be enough as long as it was a fatal case.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0719569729

Book from Michael Jones covers the German offensive in 1941 to take Moscow

From a German soldier: "There was the stink of frostbite, as men used the same bandage - pus-encrusted and stiff with scabs and rotted flesh - again and again. Some had long rags of blackened flesh hanging from their feet. It was snipped off. The bones were exposed, but with their feet wrapped in cloths and sacking, the men had to go on standing sentry duty and fighting......Everyone had diarrhoea, and one soldier was so enfeebled that he collapsed on the way to the doctor and froze to death. Older men developed rheumatism, and often screamed with pain. But we couldn't let anyone go."

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So it seems diarrhoea was pretty common.

 

Agreed! Hitler dies from brain cancer and Göring steals all morphine from Dr. Morells' suitcase.

 

And lacking of proper sanitation and clean for issues such as these especially at the front line and in harsh weather conditions most notably winter, diarrhea probably wasn't the only severe thing that was a common issue.

 

LJAD, so its minus 30 with wind blowing how easy do you think it is to get afire going out side

 

And once it's going how easy to get water to boil?

 

Now, imagine: it is minus 35 centigrade, wind blows 120 km per hour and you've caught your first dysentery. You're in a trench.and there is no men's lavatory in the vicinity. How can you manage to solve that problem? Should you turn against the wind or in the opposite direction? What if the wolves catch you unprepared? What if everything freezes?

The problem isn't that simple at all.

 

the same thing as with the flu. During winter people sorta gather close to each other ( busses etc ) and everybody catches the disease easier. If one gets the diarrhoea everyone soon gets it.

 

never heard of a methylated spirit burner?

And if water could not be cooked,it could not be used because it was frozen, thus no dysentery,and if water was cooked,the danger of dysentery was smaller .


Besides, it was also possible to make a fire indoors .The Russian civilians also made fire indoors .

 

If you eat contaminated food (viral, bacterial, or parasitic), you get dysentry.

You can also get dysentry merely by handling contaminated goods: you humans touch your own faces an incredible number of times each hour.

Regardless of whether water is frozen or not.

Thus your conclusions on frozen water is completely erroneous.