Soon lost in mud and water. [WWI]

posted by LockeProposal on TheGrittyPast

Engineers provided the brains (though not always the muscle) behind the construction of everything from field fortifications to roads and camps, and many spent their time in the familiar task of trench-digging, as Lieutenant John Glubb reported in early 1916.

During the battle last month the troops suffered heavily and were too tired to bury their dead. Many of them were merely trampled into the floor of the trench, where they were soon lost in mud and water. We have been digging out a lot of these trenches again, and are constantly coming upon corpses. They are pretty well decomposed, but a pickaxe brings up chips of bone and rags of clothing. The rest is putrid grey matter.

Source:

Holmes, Richard. "Steel and Fire." Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, 1914-1918. London: HarperCollins, 2004. 451-52. Print.

Original Source Listed:

Glubb Into Battle p. 48.

Further Reading:

Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb, KCB, CMG, DSO, OBE, MC / Glubb Pasha

>Engineers provided the brains (though not always the muscle) behind the construction of everything from field fortifications to roads and camps, and many spent their time in the familiar task of trench-digging, as [Lieutenant John Glubb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Glubb_Pasha_%281953%29.jpg) reported in early 1916. >>During the battle last month the troops suffered heavily and were too tired to bury their dead. Many of them were merely trampled into the floor of the trench, where they were soon lost in mud and water. We have been digging out a lot of these trenches again, and are constantly coming upon corpses. They are pretty well decomposed, but a pickaxe brings up chips of bone and rags of clothing. The rest is putrid grey matter. _______________________________ **Source:** Holmes, Richard. "Steel and Fire." *Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, 1914-1918*. London: HarperCollins, 2004. 451-52. Print. **Original Source Listed:** Glubb *Into Battle* p. 48. _______________________________ **Further Reading:** [Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb, KCB, CMG, DSO, OBE, MC / Glubb Pasha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bagot_Glubb)

4 comments

[–] [Deleted] 3 points (+3|-0)

When were dogtags invented?

[–] LockeProposal [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

Actually, since the Romans:

A type of dog tag ("signaculum"), was given to the Roman legionnaire at the moment of enrolment.[2] The legionnaire "signaculum" was a lead disk with a leather string, worn around the neck,[3] with the name of the recruit and the indication of the legion of which the recruit was part. This procedure, together with enrolment in the list of recruits, was made at the beginning of a four-month probatory period ("probatio"). The recruit got the military status only after the oath of allegiance ("sacramentum"), at the end of "probatio", meaning that from a legal point of view the "signaculum" was given to a subject who was no longer a civilian, but not yet in the military.

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Soon lost in mud and water. [WWI]

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