How often did the soldiers take a bath?

Answer 1

Servicemen took baths when the opportunity arose. You have to remember that there were a little over sixteen million of them in World War Two.

When you were in this country you were usually in a barracks with several hundred other guys and a shower room that would accomodate only a half dozen to a dozen or so at a time. There were only limited opportunities to take a shower -- most of the time you were somewhere other than the barracks. You couldn't take baths on any kind of a schedule.

Aboard ships you still had crowded showers. Often water would be rationed and you would have to (1) Wet yourself down with water. (2) Shut off water - lather and scrub. (3) turn on the water and rinse yourself off.

There were usually salt water showers available on ships but a salt water shower is a very unpleasant experience. It's hard to get suds using salswater. There was a saltwater soap but it was a worse experience than the shower. It was like trying to bathe using a short piece of two by four lumber instead of soap. (Well --- maybe the two by four might just generate a little more suds!!)When you dried off after a saltwater shower your skin was sticky, tight-feeling, uncomfortable. Personally I would rather smell a little ripe than take a saltwater shower.

When you were in active combat you could forget bathing -- there were more important things to worry about. There were no bathing facilities on or near the front lines (Unless you could call your helmet a bathing facility!)-- you had to wait until you were relieved and sent back behind the lines where you might find a thrown-together contraption that passed a shower,or an honest-to-goodness shower. (That officers weren't in control of)

So you can see that a regular schedule of daily or weekly showers was almost impossible. You showered when the opportunity arose. It was like working on a goat farm -- you got used to the smells.

They were the bad old days. But I wouldn't trade them for anything.