Medicine: Again, Trench Foot

Europe’s mud and slush of October and November caught the U.S. Army with its feet unprepared. Result: up to Dec. 12, 17,500 G.I.s had developed trench foot, something no one expected in World War II (partly because no one expected the war to settle down into mud and trenches).

Trench foot is a sort of mild frostbite that results from letting feet stay cold and damp for a long time. Shelter foot and immersion foot (TIME, May 10, 1943) are essentially the same thing. Circulation slows or stops, feet turn white and numb, sudden warming causes painful burning. The devitalized tissues may recover if kept cool and dry for a few days or weeks. But in some cases blisters develop and become infected, even cause gangrene, amputation or death. Many victims who emerge with feet intact can never fight again because their feet ache on long hikes and are very sensitive to cold.

Boots and Massage. In contrast to U.S forces, the British have no trench-foot problem, even though they have been actually wading through Holland. Their stout workmen-type boots and gum boots have turned out to be drier than anything the U.S. has produced. But the most important factor is that British soldiers are required to keep their boots waxed, to massage their feet with oil and change frequently to dry socks.

Most U.S. soldiers have tramped the mud in rubber-soled, rough-side-out leather combat boots (fairly water-repellent if coated in a waxy substance called dubbing); some had only ordinary G.I. boots with legging extensions (an extremely soggy combination); a few had galoshes. Most trench-foot casualties occurred because officers and men were still careless about dubbing and foot massage, and did not bother with dry socks or galoshes.

Already the trench-foot rate has been cut 75% simply by making the G.I.s take care of their feet, even in battle. Men are learning to dry their socks on bushes or in their jackets or helmets. In some forward areas, dry socks are issued along with rations. Now improved boots are on the way. They are the Quartermaster Corps’ new calf-high shoe-pacs, synthetic rubber up to normal shoe height and leather the rest of the way, designed to be worn with two pairs of heavy socks. Production began in August and a few shoe-pacs have already been issued to the troops fighting under the worst conditions.

Discipline and Massage. The Germans have not licked the problem (in one group of 46 captured German casualties, 14 had trench foot) but the Russians have—thanks to long experience and rigid discipline. All Russian soldiers are paired off, required to massage each other’s feet regularly; and the man whose massage buddy gets trench foot catches hell.