Friday October 25th, 1918
Rehearsal with Band. Not quite better.
Healthy Feet
Today Frank is back with his beloved band and the Battalion starts ‘anti-trench foot treatment‘.
While Napoleon famously said that an army marches on its stomach, in practice a soldier also marches on his feet. Therefore helping a soldier to keep his feet healthy and functioning became a major preoccupation for the armies in WWI, particularly given the conditions in which the men lived and fought.
Much has been written about trench foot, but feet were already suffering much earlier during the War. Major Travis HAMPSON of the RAMC, wrote in his diary in late August 1914 during the retreat from Mons:
‘Stragglers kept coming in all night, and by morning we had about 3000 in the camp and we were ordered to medically inspect them and dress any needing it. We rigged up an operating tent, collected the various units together as far as possible and had a foot inspection. It was rather a comic sight to see long rows of men sitting on the ground taking off their boots and socks.
Then we walked down the lines and sorted out those who needed dressing, and it was the majority. Some of them were in a bad state. Lots of the socks had to be cut off. The Army socks shrink and get as hard as a board. There were very few men who didn’t have some sort of a sore. They had been cutting their boots to pieces to ease their feet, and dust and grit had got in and made things worse.’ ¹
The Highland Uniform
Hampson further commented that the Highland Regiments were some of the worst sufferers during the retreat from Mons. Apparently they used to wear brogues which, even with spats on, let grit and stones in. Later in the war, their uniform was modified to accommodate regular army boots.
The photograph shows men of the 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of the 19th Brigade in spring 1915. They were supported by the 19th Field Ambulance where Major Hampson worked and could have been amongst the very men whose feet he inspected. This group is a squad of bombers and the soldiers’ dress seems maverick but all are wearing Army issue hobnail boots, albeit with long socks.*
9th Battalion War Diary – 25th October 1918 – Elincourt
Inspection and route march. Anti Trench Foot Treatment will be commenced tomorrow.
References & Further Reading
¹ ‘1914 to 1919, A Medical Officer’s Diary and Narrative of the First World War’ by Travis Hampson MC, edited by Travis Philip Davies over the period 1999-2001, Pages 37/8
* Q 48963, copyright Imperial War Museums