The unburied dead
A major problem for soldiers fighting during the First World War was that of the unburied dead, lying in trenches and in 'No Man's Land' — sometimes for months on end.
The corpses attracted rats, and their presence cannot have helped the morale of the troops still fighting.
Lance Corporal Ramage experienced these horrific sights almost every day. On 23 April 1915 he remarked in his diary:
'Dead soldier on his back 10 yards in front of our parapet — also dead kiltie lying on face 100 yards to our right front — have been lying there since 14th December … During previous night party from our coy placed several kniferests [supports for barbed wire] before our parapets and came across many dead Royal Scots, unburied for months.'
