Poem ~ Cold Feet in Trenches - Thursday, 2 September 1915

Impression sketch of Trench Foot effects - by Jamie. See original at:

http://spartacus-educational.com/FWWfoot.htm

Expectations were in warfare

For ailments affecting the soldier,

Would start to emerge - to cause severe,

Disabling Issues.

Fighting again in winter would see 

Frostbite cases – surgeons already

Had seen increased numbers of a different

Kind of frostbite.

Doctors saw a crippling condition

During the winter months campaign,

Of 1914 - 1915 - affecting feet and legs,

To be termed Trench Foot.

Studying cases that came in, medics

Noted how such cases being more severe

Than those of frostbite from the ordinary cold,

Damp exposures.

A common known fact, was that

Effects on circulation occurred when

Lower limbs, that stand still in cold wet

Conditions, become poor.

Common sense clothing and exercise

Kept limbs warm and circulation good.

Yet the state of war conditions had forced,

Soldiers to man trenches.

Any kind of normality of soldier’s ability,

To maintain regular training or exercise,

Became a real impossibility, as he stands

In cold and mud to get chills.

A study of details into physiology,

Discussed how large surface areas,

Carried blood from extremities of veins

To the beating heart.

Therefore if correctly supplied

In wearing suitable clothing soldiers

On the frontline, would be amply given

Protection in duties.

Circulation of blood suffered

From pressure points, by poorly

Bound leg coverings - as in regulation

Puttees worn by the men.

The usage of the leg coverings

Had come into question, in causes

Of restrictions to blood flows - as when

Wearing a bandage.

If applied too tightly, tingling

Along with heat resulted, to prompt

Conditions for Trench Foot to take hold -

As well as frostbite.

Due to the imminent winter

A debate campaign had arisen,

Over suitability in the soldiers wearing

Such puttees.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Clothing In The Trenches - Puttees and Frostbite. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 September. P.7. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11817026/Daily-Telegraph-September-2-1915.html [Accessed: 2 September 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 2 September 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11817026/Daily-Telegraph-September-2-1915.html

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