Circumcision-the operation that wins the war?

During World War II, particularly during the North African desert campaign, the combination of sand and lack of hygienic conditions proved disastrous to uncircumcised men. The loss of these soldiers to active duty in combat areas resulted in prophylactic circumcision being performed on many recruits at training centers. A World War II medical report from the U.S. Army referred to the “enormous man-hour loss from disease peculiar to the uncircumcised man,” and stated that “hospital admission from paraphimosis, phimosis, balanitis and condyloma accuminata during 1942 – 1945 totaled 146,793. Had these patients been circumcised before induction, this total would probably have been close to zero”. A similar though less well-documented loss to active duty occurred in uncircumcised servicemen in Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War.

http://www.medicirc.org/summary.html

During World War II many U.S. recruits were circumcised to protect them against balanoposthitis. Such infection was a significant cause of active-duty loss among troops, particularly in the North African campaign (because of the combination of sand and poor hygiene). Military medics also felt that circumcision helped prevent STDs.

 

Erm...............Intresting. I certainly never heard that before.

 

Yeah, very interesting kai!

 

Ownh Kai, that hurts to even think about

 

WOW. Surprising what will help you in a war.

 

Very similar to the reasons why women are unable to fight in combat. Especially in damp, swampy terrain, women must access showers and hygenic facilities otherwise they develop yeast infections.

 

Didn't the Brittish used condoms to protect their guns - weapons of course - against the sand.

I think it was before the 1991 attack on Iraq.

 

Its an old trick, the allies used them in WW2 for water-proofing during sea-bourne landings

 

Ha! I didn't know that... Maybe because I didn't care...

 

What did the Germans and British do to their troops ? How do the Arabs keep their "equipment "clean ?
Maybe that's why so many Italians surrendered.

 

Who said "weird" things could not stop your army...?

 

Those were diseases I didn't even knew they existed. Are you sure you're not making them up to scare us?

 

Well, Arabs are circumcised, so that takes care of them. As for the Germans and British, I've never heard of any "equipment" failures of this sort from either of those sides. Clicking on the original link to the story I notice that it is produced by a pro-circumcision website and the specific part about WWII is not provided with any citations. Frankly, I'm about as convinced of the validity of this story as I am that Hitler's still sipping pina coladas down in Argentina.

 

Personally I am not pro this or pro that but here´s some data

Balanitis and the uncircumcised male

besides the infection can be a minor one but if you have it on your penis you are not very happy, are you?!

 

Could circumcised Gentiles who were taken prisoner be shot by the Germans for thinking they were Jewish?
did Germans regularly check a Gentile's genitals?

 

With the number of US men who were circumcised being less then 30% during the war this may have been a possibility but highly unlikely. Considering the overall treatment of Jewish Allied POWs, the risks of being shot, especially as their religion would been on their ID discs, was remote.

On the general debate about cicumscision, I found this statement, and article, interesting:

Circumcision in the United States

 

Sounds like fact turned to creative propaganda...imho...

 

You guys sure know a lot about other people's dicks

 

talking about weird things to "win the war"....