This bit of satire made the rounds of the trenches. "Chatts," as the lice were called, and rats were the two things soldiers simply put up with. The lice were so bad that in 1915 the War Office decided they had to be combatted and established "Divisional Baths" where the men could go once a week and wash in hot, soapy water and have their clothing deloused. The eggs, or nits, were hard to kill, however, and after a few hours back in the trenches, the men were itching again.
