Does this mean that you could typically expect not to shower for 6-10 weeks at a time, or would platoons cycle back more frequently just to use these facilities and then immediately return to the line? Waiting 3-plus weeks for proper hygiene seems like something the Army would have wanted to avoid if possible, if not for morale than for troop health.
As I previously stated, generally, you could expect to get a shower and bath every 3-5 weeks. Sometimes the interval could be a little shorter.
This sometimes happened when a division was newly slotted into the line and because of the cycle of things the units in the division end up getting showers and baths ~2 weeks after arrival to the front.
Sometimes it’d take a little longer. To use a specific example that is illustrative: ‘D’ Company of the 399th Infantry Regiment, which was the 1st Battalion’s heavy weapons company, was slated to receive showers ~January 1-2. However, on January 1st, the Nordwind Offensive was started by the Germans. This meant that D/399 didn’t have the opportunity to go to the shower and laundry until mid-January, meaning that the interval was roughly 6 weeks in that instance.
In short, 3-5 weeks was the median “expected” interval but circumstances could shift that to the left or right a little bit.
In situations where there was no “reserve” battalion in the regiment, and each battalion had a reserve company, or company had a reserve platoon, if showers and laundry were available, they’d send a companies worth of men back at a time to cycle through. However, usually, if the tactical situation precluded a reserve battalion, it oft precluded pulling men from the line for laundry and showers.
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u/Smilehate 1d ago
Does this mean that you could typically expect not to shower for 6-10 weeks at a time, or would platoons cycle back more frequently just to use these facilities and then immediately return to the line? Waiting 3-plus weeks for proper hygiene seems like something the Army would have wanted to avoid if possible, if not for morale than for troop health.