“We set to work to bury people. We pushed them into the sides of the trenches but bits of them kept getting uncovered and sticking out, like people in a badly made bed. Hands were the worst; they would escape from the sand, pointing, begging, even waving. There was one which we all shook when we passed, saying ‘Good morning’ in a posh voice. Everybody did it. The bottom of the trench was springy like a mattress because of all the bodies underneath.”
British Soldier Leonard Thompson.
In many cases, removing the dead from frontline-trenches was simply not possible. Corpses would either be buried in/around the trenches or lay in the open to rot in whatever the weather conditions may be. Above is a transcript from one of Leonard Thomson’s experiences during the Gallipoli campaign.
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