A Weird Way to Prevent Trench Foot During WW1

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]By 1917, trenchfoot had largely been eradicated in the British Army, and that was down to some practical and some unusual measures. So, one soldier of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers describes how the cooks in his unit would keep all the grease from food preparation and dole it out to the men.

[00:00:20]Armed with this lard-like substance, he says that after stand-to each morning, the men would rub each other's feet vigorously with it.

[00:00:30]Mhm.

[00:00:35]>> [music] >> In fact, by 1917, trenchfoot was so rare that it was regarded as a disciplinary matter, [music] adding insult to injury for affected soldiers.