I'm asking about dirt, specifically dirt in Northwest Europe. I realize that probably all dirt in the area was not the same, but what kinds of soil are prevalent in Northwest Europe? I ask this, especially of the vets who did the digging, wondering how hard it is to dig a hole there. The dirt where I live is red clay and when it gets dry, it is almost as hard as concrete. Really. Digging a hole with a shovel or entrenching tool, large enough to contain two men, is a monumental task at best, bordering on impossible. I have seen this stuff bend the edges of shovels and posthole diggers and break handles on picks and hoes. When it is dry, you have to break it up into pieces to get it out. Wet, it sticks to the tools like glue, making you stop each shovel full to scrape it off and it will hang onto a pick-axe like tar. If WWI had been fought here, it would have been over in a hurry because the trenches would never have been dug. Is the soil in NW Europe difficult to dig in?
According to my sources, the soil types varied, and, in fact, some of the participants considered it as a possible future career...... “Me future is sealed, Willie. I'm gonna be a perfessor on types o' European soil.” -sorry.... couldn't resist! -whatever -Lou
On a more serious note, I have often pondered the same thing. Watching Band of Brothers and them showing the guys digging in the frozen ground at Bastogne - and also on qoa's (Kelly's) photo album (that she linked to on her introductory page [Flickr: Kelly Versmisson's Photostream]) there are some great pictures of some pretty substantial foxholes from that area that survive to this day. Dad always said the captured German foxholes were better (mostly, because they were already dug, but also because most of them had some form of roof). Probably another un-anticipated advantage of the proximity fuse! (The American GI's got better foxholes when they captured them from the German's, who had to put roofs on them to protect them from the shrapnel from the airbursting American artillery.) I'd also be interested to know: A) Did the artillery shells leave craters? B) With a little 'straightening up', could they be used as foxholes? C) Did they stink? Actually..... I can probably answer that last one on my own. -whatever -Lou
Hi scarface and Slipdigit, I can give you some basic information about the Belgian/Dutch soil. In the northern parts of Belgium and the southern and eastern parts of Holland you will find mostly sand and polders (if you want more information about that last term, just ask). This also explains why a lot of tanks found it hard to move about during Operation Market Garden: the rain made the soil very muddy and moist, which made it very difficult for the tanks not to 'sink' into the mud. (I'm not sure if I'm using the correct term here). As you can see on the map of Belgium below, it's mostly the green area (also the lowest area) that contains sand in its soil. I don't think this is the best area to dig in, as the soil isn't firm enough and you'll probably be ankle-deep in water very soon after digging, especially in the Scheldt area. In the orange area, you will find the most fertile soil in the land, that mainly consists of loam (a mixture of sand, clay and silt). It retains water easily, which makes it very moist but better for digging in (for as far as I can tell, of course) - it's not too hard, not too weak. The red area, where, as you can see, a big part of The Battle of The Bulge took place, is actually in my opinion the most difficult area to dig in during winter. It consists of a very moist clay, that, during winter, freezes up and gets rock hard. This probably explains why a considerable amount of foxholes still exist. I believe once you dug in deep enough, you really had a good foxhole with very strong walls. As far as I can tell, artillery shells could make some holes back in those days, but they weren't big enough to be considered as a future foxhole. You would probably still have to dig for a while until you could really 'fit' into it. The dirt was simply too hard. Another interesting note; there are still trees in the Bois Jacques at Foy that show signs of explosions of artillery shells. Very eerie. I hope you find this information useful Greetings
Thanks for the info, Kelly. I spent some time looking for maps exactly like you provided. Do you think you could find a similar one for France? In WW1, that's where most trenches would have been. If possible, could you let me know where you found the one you used? I was a geography teacher before I retired, so I am always interested in maps.
Thanks Kelly, I appreciate your info. The clay in the Southeast of the map sounds like the red clay we have here. Once you get a hole dug, it's gonna be there for a while. What color is the clay, do you know?
You're welcome! I found this map very easily through Google Images, but I used Dutch terms so that could explain why you have had a harder time tracking this map down. This map is a very basic geography map of Belgium which I found at an amateuristic weather site. Here's one I found of France: I have found this website for you, which contains a lot of soil maps from around the world. These are all European and contain some very interesting maps of France. If you would like a translation of some of them, you can always ask me EUROPEAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE ON SOIL MAPS OF THE WORLD - Soil Maps of Europe I hope this is any good to you!
With most of the clays that I'm familiar with, if you get any water in the bottom of a hole dug in clay..... well, it goes nowhere fast..... you're pretty much stuck with that water for the duration. Combine that with the worst winter weather in years, and the unsuitable American footwear and it was kind of a 'Perfect Storm' for trenchfoot. Misery piled upon misery...... ..... and then the tanks came! I'll bet the GI's morale was right at the breaking point. -whatever -Lou BTW - Nice maps, Kelly - that link has every soil map you could possibly want!
Indeed scarface, I just watched a comparative test between the German and American boots, which obviously proved that the American footwear was nowhere near suitable in those weather conditions. The water got in, but never got out. And because the soldiers couldn't take their boots off for various reasons, their feet could never dry either. It must've been horrible. And you're welcome about the maps I hope this helps a lot of you guys!
That is fine, thanks for looking. I was just wondering if it stains clothing (which it probably does), what color the stain would be. The red clay around here has ruined many, many articles of my clothing throughout the years.
Funny that you ask, because the only picture I managed to find was with a guy in it, covered in clay here it is:
