How did front line soldiers of all armies generally bathe?

Baby swipes make a popular substitute on the field for showers, I have heard.

 

irusso, i think this accurred in the europe war in the snow with american soldiers.
american soldiers had no where to go ,so they did it in the fox holes and moved on.
the next lot of american soldiers that came along and had to deal with these unpleaseant foxholes,i don't think it was in italy though.

urgh, i am a lady,and ladies don't do things like that in public .

Drew, Squat to pee? only ladies squat,did you mean standing up?.

 

Not all Ladies :lol:

I was reffering to having a dump.....Why would I pee in a bin liner ?

Triple C. Indeed it wasn't long before they were one of the most popular items to be sent over in welfare parcels from home

Cheers

 

I found this link that deals with personal hygiene, for American troops

PERSONAL HYGIENE

...

After operations were started on the Continent, local bathing facilities in towns were surveyed and inspected by Medical Department officers. In some areas the Quartermaster Corps operated shower points; in others, existing public baths and showers were used.19 As an example of the assignment of quartermaster fumigation and bath companies in the combat zone, 16 complete companies were allocated to the 12th Army Group. Normally a system of clothing exchange was operated at bath points and sections of the company handled troop laundry for divisions in the vicinity. One platoon operating separately at a bath point could provide baths for 1 division in 4 days if the division was in a temporary noncombat status.20

Bathing facilities were variable depending on the unit's location, but that a shortage existed in combat units is indicated by numerous requests made by various headquarters and units for additional bath equipment. It was recommended that bath facilities be provided organically with all types of divisions.21 The 9th Infantry Division reported, for example, that corps shower units with clothes turn-in privileges provided excellent service, but that the disposition of infantry troops prevented removal of more than 2 to 3 percent of any unit from the front at one time. This allowed only 1 bath per man in a 3- to 4-week period.22

The 2d Armored Division reported that during combat a bathing unit was always available to troops. Troops were rotated to get showers frequently.23 The 35th Infantry Division, on the other hand, reported that during the summer months bathing facilities consisted chiefly of local streams. In October 1944 quartermaster bath units began servicing the division, augmented by unit bath centers generally consisting of heated rooms furnished with GI cans and immersion heaters. Laundry service was erratic, ranging from almost nonexistent to satisfactory.24

An example of the experiences of another unit is contained in a report from the 44th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron which stated that bathing facilities were always adequate but not always convenient. During the static warfare on the Roer, men had to be transported at intervals to rear areas where the shower facilities of coal mines were available. After crossing the Roer and Rhine Rivers, bathing facilities in towns and civilian communities were more adequate and available to the troops. Dirty clothing of units was collected and exchanged for an equal amount of clothing from the Quartermaster laundry service. This resulted in some dissatisfaction with regard to sizes but, in general, was very satisfactory.25

...
Experience in both North Africa and Italy seemed to indicate that prior to arrival in the theater individuals had not been well indoctrinated in the

importance of food and water sanitation.30 Limited fly control supplies and lack of proper toilet facilities made strict enforcement of sanitary measures a necessity. The methods of transmission in the outbreaks of diarrhea in the spring and fall of 1943 in North Africa and in the fall of 1944 in Italy have not been proved, but inadequate protection against flies, improper cleansing of cooking and eating utensils, improper disposal of human wastes, drinking of unchlorinated water, and infected food handlers all seem to have been implicated.31
At a meeting of medical representatives of Fifth United States Army, 2d Medical Laboratory, II Corps, and IV Corps in the fall of 1944 to discuss intestinal disease rates it was concluded that the chief problem in sanitation lay in the difficulty of maintaining good personal hygiene by frontline troops under existing conditions. Soldiers were known to eat unauthorized food and to drink unauthorized water without the use of halazone tablets even though they were available. A previous investigation of 18 cases of typhoid fever had indicated poor water discipline of the individuals involved.32
Once-a-week laundry service for troops was provided in Oran where clothing salvage operations had been set up. Mobile laundries were in the theater, although they could not be provided in sufficient numbers to meet all the bath and laundry requirements of troops in the field. (See Fig. 4.) Typical of the mobile laundry groups was the 487th Quartermaster Laundry Company which followed the Allied armies through North Africa, the invasion of Sicily, and into Italy. "Always within a stone's throw of the advancing combat soldiers, the 487th nevertheless has continued to break records in laundry production and service to front line troops."33 Individual enterprises also played a role in providing bathing and laundry facilities. In North Africa an officer, a laundryman in private life, created an overseas "branch" of his civilian business by hiring village women and setting up shop with tubs and irons.34 Homemade baths were set up in Italy by a quartermaster service company and many units improvised showers. In 1945 the preventive medicine officer for the theater was able to write: "The units of this theater have achieved a high level of personal hygiene"35
No particular problems in personal hygiene were encountered in the Middle East theater although the potential hazards were very real. Serious discussion regarding the relationship between desert sores and the lack of bathing facilities led the Preventive Medicine Section, Office of the Surgeon, United States Army Forces Middle East, to recommend an increase in ocean bathing.


This recommendation was carried out by furnishing more transportation and more time for personnel to bathe in the sea. Personal hygiene was emphasized in health talks to members of the command by preventive medicine personnel.36

In the early history of the theater it was not unusual for over 70 percent of personnel among newly arriving units to suffer a gastrointestinal upset within a few weeks of arrival, because they had not been adequately informed of the dangers of consuming uncooked fruits and vegetables from native sources. As preventive medicine procedures became better understood, and were more thoroughly enforced, the rates for dysentery and diarrhea approached a reasonable figure.37
The provision of adequate bathing and delousing facilities, the use of anti-louse powder, and the placing of native villages out of bounds helped to prevent typhus and other diseases prevalent in native quarters from occurring among American Forces.


In the Southwest Pacific area the principal efforts were directed toward unit sanitation. Elimination of the insect vectors of diseases such as malaria and scrub typhus with the aim of area control was stressed. Individual protective measures, particularly suppression of symptoms by the use of atabrine, were also important preventive measures.

Reports from Australia and New Guinea show that frequent physical inspections of troops and informal inspections of all units were carried out to determine the status of training and adherence to standards of all phases of medical, sanitary, and personal hygiene matters. Personal hygiene suffered during early months in the theater because only cold water was provided for showers and in many places bathhouses were dark, cold, and offered little protection from the wind.38 One division surgeon attributed the occurrence of fungus infections to the inadequate laundry facilities.39 Personal hygiene was raised to a satisfactory level as hot water systems were installed and construction of bathhouses improved.40 The inadequacy of supplies of some items of clothing, insect sprays and repellents, and screening also presented an early problem for many units.41

Disease Control. Instructional periods for all personnel on mosquito control covered organizational and individual protective measures. The latter included sleeping under mosquito nets, using repellents, and proper wearing of clothing. Atabrine discipline was rigidly enforced but was not considered to take the place of preventive measures.

When the Army moved into the Philippines early in 1945 an intensive training program was carried on to give troops an understanding of the various diseases to be encountered. One of the dangers with which there had been little previous experience was schistosomiasis. Newspaper items, posters, roadside signs, and demonstration vans all warned of the dangers of bathing or swimming in fresh water streams and ponds. The educational program was the main weapon against this disease, and as troops recognized the severity of the illness and understood its mode of transmission, the incidence of schistosomiasis decreased. Consumption of food and water from civilian sources was forbidden as a protective measure against diarrhea, amebiasis, and intestinal parasites. Disregard of these directives by individual officers and soldiers was a factor in outbreaks of these infections.42


Although personal hygiene was generally considered excellent throughout the command, combat conditions necessarily sometimes had an adverse effect. The Sixth United States Army reported that sanitation and individual hygiene suffered during the second quarter of 1945 because of the fatigued condition of the men after several months of fighting and the terrain conditions imposed by the combat situation. The health record became better when troops reached a stable position and began to improve their personal hygiene.43

Another extremely common hazard of the Southwest Pacific area was fungus infection. Observance of directives concerning care of the feet was especially important in an area where fungus infections might become disabling. Frequent bathing, with thorough drying of the skin and powdering of the body helped to lower the incidence of fungus infections. (See Fig. 5.) Periodic inspection of troops was necessary to assure early treatment.44

Bathing and Laundry Facilities. Bathing facilities were reported as adequate at most times and ranged from mountain streams, ocean, and lakes to improvised showers. Many units improvised hot water systems for showers. In the Philippines, after an immediate problem of water supply, shower rooms were provided for all troops.45
Even hospitals reported laundry facilities as inadequate during 1943. In Australia, civilian establishments were utilized, but were working so far beyond capacity that the quality was frequently substandard. Small handwashing machines and many types of makeshift laundry facilities were utilized in New Guinea. By 1944, quartermaster laundry facilities were being provided, primarily for hospitals. Units, in general, provided facilities for the individual to wash his own clothes.46

China-Burma-India
...

Bathing facilities were in the majority of cases improvised, but adequate. In 1943, it was reported that some of the smaller stations in the Assam area had only washracks with drains; however, by 1944 each company and detachment had provided itself with showers. At convoy camps along the Ledo Road soldiers were permitted to sponge off at the rivers, but river bathing was forbidden because of resulting skin infections. In China, each group of Americans constructed their own showers, based upon directions in the Army field manual on sanitation. For a time no heating units were available, but when closed buildings were constructed, hot water was provided for washing and shower facilities.48
In 1943 the native "Dhobies" did most of the laundry for soldiers and officers in India. Their crude methods of beating out and stamping out the dirt were

not particularly efficient. Soldiers associated the prevalent skin lesions with these laundry methods and called them all "dhobie itch." Many unit facilities and quartermaster laundries were established during 1944. Individual experimentation also created some novel laundries as the following example of a combination of American ingenuity and Indian tradition indicates:49

Beating blocks were built, on which the Indian help could beat instead of scrub clothes. However, the concession stopped there. Running water was piped to the site; GI cans were installed, in which laundry is soaped and boiled in lye. It is then rinsed, resoaped and beaten upon the blocks and rinsed again. After bleaching it is hung out to dry on clothes lines.

​

 

humoristic phoney wartime postcard:

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....................

Duty calls!

Oh that was bad, I know.

 

Her

 

I know my father, who had the talent to build just about anything out nothing, and some of his buddies built portable hot showers for his unit one winter in Europe, with the intention of taking the shower with them. He was in an Air Engineering Squadron that built airfields & such so they could easily do so. Unfortunately someone further up found out about the showers and when they got their orders to move out, it specifically stated they had the leave the showers behind for what he referred to as 'nurses'- aka 'medical unit'- that moving in.

 

Great story maxcat, thanks for sharing! I'm sure the "nurses" were none other than the CO.

Found this:

BBC - WW2 People's War - Soldiers' Bath Day

 

The 'nurses' comment always stands out, because my uncle (fathers brother), hated the fact his assignment for WWII was in Hawaii, as a 'nurse' (medic). The ironic thing is the sons of the same small town's pharmacist, who had medical training, ended up as infantry men, IIRC. And its a town you are probably familiar with- East Jordan.

 

I sure am! "Small world (but I woulnd't want to paint it!)" - as quipped by Steven Wright.

 

Band of Brothers appears to be better researched than most war movies, can someone verify if the shower scene , episode 8, set in the town of Haguenau, Alsace, is authentic or not. In it it appears a quartermaster's group arrives with a field shower and it looks feasible but perhaps too close to artillery or mortar range.....they are shown shelling the same general area a few scenes prior. Haguenau is still a beautiful place, about 25 K to the SE is a M4 Sherman sitting on display and about the same distance West is another near Sarreburg. Both are beautifully cared for by local groups as war monuments.

GB

 

Dear Readers:

Bathing for airborne troops were not planned. We were trained to being unit breakers. We would attack for maximum of a week inflicting major harm to the enemy formation. Our operational plans were to withdraw the unit from combat after one months operation.

We would return to base in England or France take replacement reorganize and train. In training our standards of hygene were high. A number of our non bathers were treated the laundry soap and bristle bruch bath. This corrected the deficiencies.

In Belgium as Company Commander I had the oppertunity to set up in the
farm house a warm up place with hot coffee and a couple for hours rest.
This enabled me to have one of the lowest rates of trench foot in the Division. You do not want to have trench foot.

As Ever,

Walter L. Marlowe
( Airborne all the Way)

 

Flies spread disease.....keep 'em closed!

 

Theres nothing like getting information from the horses mouth. A question about airborne bathing in band of brothers and up pops one of the brothers.. What a great forum and thanks mr. M.

 

I remember reading "Visions From A Foxhole," where US Soldiers in the Saar-Moselle area washed only once a month if they were lucky. I'm sure it was worse in the Russian army and German army...

 

Front line soldiers did not bath, unless the area was secure. Otherwise they had much more important things to think about.

Bieng a product of modern times, I couldn't imagine going for days, and weeks without a shower. These men sacrificed so much for their countries. Things we all take for granted now, would be an incredible luxury to them at the time.

 

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