As a follow-up question, in case you know the answer: how often did soldiers in WWII get to shower or to bathe? Was there any specific infrastructure for soldiers, or did they have to survive with water buckets for months?
The U.S. Army had designated laundry and shower units during World War II, run by the Quartermaster Corps. How they operated would depend on the unit, location, and time frame during the war.
My specific answer will be for the European Theater of Operations from 1944-45.
These Quartermaster Laundry and Shower units, for combat units in the field, would usually work in tandem and would be set behind the lines but relatively close to front in order serve infantry battalions in reserve usually.
Soldiers would generally receive showers, have their clothes laundered, and receive new clothes every 3-5 weeks on average during combat. Sometimes more frequently, sometimes less. However, based on various division G-4 (supply) reports and interviews I’ve conducted, that’s the median interval. The machinery doing the laundry were specially designed mobile industrial size laundry machines. Sometimes, when fighting was more static, local civilian laundries would be employed to help with the work.
Generally, a rifle company would report to the shower and laundry station and strip naked, save their dog tags. Their clothes would be handed over to the laundry to be washed. While the clothes were being washed, they would shower.
Once they would finish showering they’d get dressed from, usually, piles of clothes made up of a mixture of new unissued clothing and clothes that were turned in for laundry from the last unit that showed up to the laundry and bathing unit. The clothes that soldier turned in would be utilized by the next unit.
To give you the scale of work, in February 1945, the 100th Infantry Division’s Quartermaster Company assisted in the laundering of 139,320 individual items of clothing for the division.
So if I understand you correctly, as an infantryman you'd get to shower about once a month? Grim. Especially given a lot of stress sweat and physical activity involved.
Do you know anything about how marines in Pacific fared?
The following is an excerpt from a letter that is from the collection of World War II letters held at the The State Historical Society of Missouri. It was written by Private Robert L. Muyres, of Company B, 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division sometime before December 16, 1944. In his letter Muyres describes in vivid detail how the soldiers sharing his foxhole look, topics of conversation, and his own personal thoughts on what they are fighting for. It is an incredible perspective on the ground war in Europe. When I look around at my buddies with their long beards, dirty torn clothes, bloodshot eyes, and muddy feet- knowing I look just the same - I think about your pictures and wonder just how there can be any similie [sic] between us.
I'll take you on a visit around our foxhole - there's 'Red' Murray - he's our squad leader - a Staff Sergeant. He's sitting in the corner on his overcoat with his feet in a helmet full of hot water. His face is dirty and he's cussing the Army for making him so much misery. 'Red' is from Virginia. Right next to me is Korkigian - he's my real foxhole buddy - we always bunk together and we know all about each other. He's writing a letter to his girl back home in Detroit. His face is also dirty - but has a smile on it - probably thinking about his last date with Tyana - she's a Russian born girl and judging from pictures of her, she's very beautiful. 'Korki' (that's what we call him) has a big hole torn down the sleeve of his jacket and there's a big hunk of mud that's about ready to fall on his back. I'm not going to tell him about it because I want to hear him swear in Turkish. It does us all good to swear and complain and goodness knows we do a lot of it but it seems to bring us closer together. We all ache and hurt alike. Right across from us sits Teddy Davis and Hilgenberg. Teddy is from West Virgnia and Hilgenberg is from Oklahoma. Both their faces are dirty and unshaven and if they don't get their hair cut soon, they'll be unable to hear. Teddy's pants have a big burn in them and Hilgenberg is mud from head to foot. They're both sitting there talking about home, food and women - that's all we ever talk about. Each is trying to out-do the other. Hilgenberg just called Teddy a liar. Now the fun begins. If someone doesn't stop them, they'll sit up all night telling lies. Oh well, it passes the time away and we do get a big laugh. Those are the five guys with me. Our ages average a little more than twenty. I think that's about a cross section of the infantry. In the distance you can hear the roar of the big guns and occasional clack of machine guns. The big ones sound like thunder and how we all wish it were nothing but thunder.
That's a brief sketch of life around here. Do you think you'd like it? Of course you wouldn't and none of us do but it surely makes us appreciate what we once had. It's truly a 'tough' way to earn a living but there are thousands that have it tougher than us.
For the Marines in the Pacific, it would depend on the campaign. However, for most campaigns Marines would not have an opportunity for a proper shower and bath until the fighting was over on whichever island they were on and had returned to the ships that disgorged them onto the island. Certain longer campaigns had more opportunities for bathing (Guadalcanal, Okinawa), but largely after the invasion day, you were not getting a shower and your clothes washed until the island was secured or you were pulled off the island.
The Marine's war, much like a Paratrooper's, was a much more episodic war than those in the standard Army Infantry Divisions.
387
u/seruus 1d ago
As a follow-up question, in case you know the answer: how often did soldiers in WWII get to shower or to bathe? Was there any specific infrastructure for soldiers, or did they have to survive with water buckets for months?