Word: trenched
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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...
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...
Slow, Big Shivers. "Another bomber roared overhead, quite low, and I saw the first string of flares splash into flame; it was dead ahead of me and it looked close enough to touch. I flopped back on the bottom of the trench and began to shake. The whine started again and I thought, 'They are going to get me this time. . . .' I tried to sink my head into my shoulders, turtle fashion, and I closed my eyes. The whine crept down the scale and I shook, not like shivering from cold but slower and bigger. Some...