The spreading of disease through rats and lice, often killed many men in the trenches.
DISEASE
The effect of disease on the soldiers and armies was devastating. Diseases such as Venereal disease and Frostbite absolutely ravaged the various armies, and ensured a slow and painful death for anyone who crossed it. 45,508 people were admitted to various hospitals around Britain for Venereal disease in 1917 alone, and no doubt a big portion of them ended up dying.
When the public started losing sons, fathers, brothers, nephews and uncles to these diseases, they started to realize that the trenches weren’t as sanitary and luxurious as previously claimed.
Also, many soldiers would get trench foot, a horrible fungal infection that was caused by waterlogged boots. The soldiers would hardly take their boots off, and this caused rubbing and infection to grow. The infection frequently got so bad that the foot would have to be amputated. Paul Baumer’s friend, Kemmerich, had this happen to him. They go and visit him in the hospital, and they realize “Kemmerich no longer has a foot. His leg has been amputated” This put a lot of emotional strain on soldiers, because they knew that it could easily be them.