What happens to dead bodies on the battlefield?

If one were to die outside of battle, no such tombstone would be given and the person would simply be buried in an unmarked grave. If this wasn’t possible, the bodies of soldiers killed in battle would be collected and given a mass cremation or burial.

What happened to the dead bodies after battles?

After being stripped of their belongings the dead, and occasionally still barely living, would often be buried in mass graves (sometimes with bodies from both sides unceremoniously thrown in). However, there are accounts of battles where thousands of bodies were simply left to the elements.

What happened to the wounded soldiers in the Civil War?

If the wound was minor, the soldier could walk to the nearest first aid station for bandaging and then return to the battle but the more severely wounded had to be removed from the field. Field hospitals were established as close to the battlefield as possible without being in artillery range or at risk of capture.

Was Augustus buried or cremated?

More than forty years later, Augustus was buried there in AD 14. He had been preceded by his nephew Marcellus, who died in 23 BC, the first member of the family to be interred.

Are there still bodies in Flanders Fields?

Despite it being more than a century since the end of the First World War, bodies of those who fell on Flanders fields are still being found to this day. The poignant ceremony formed one of the final chapters of the Dig Hill 80 project, which discovered the remains of 110 soldiers.

What do soldiers do with the corpses of dead bodies?

It depends heavily on the age and situation. Some historic battles hundreds of years ago? They’d either leave the corpses on the field to rot or they might pile them in heaps. It was common that corpses were looted of course. They might carry money and valuable items with them that could be sold to merchants following the army or in the next city.

What happened to the bodies after the Battle of Waterloo?

After the Battle of Waterloo, local peasants were hired to clean up the battlefield, supervised by medical staff. The allied dead were buried in pits. The French corpses were burned. Ten days after the battle, a visitor reported seeing the flames at Hougoumont.

What would happen to the bodies of the dead in war?

Bodies were stripped of any valuables, clothes included, and were either burned ( most often), or buried in mass graves, or sometimes just left for nature to reclaim. Depended on the combatants, the seasons, and location of the battle. This being the outcome for the losers of course, the winners would handle their own dead Much differently.

Were bodies left to rot on battlefields?

Bodies would also be left to rot on the battlefield. Daniell says that it “was very rare for a person not to be buried” but that one major exception was when bodies were left to rot on battlefields. If the battle was very large or if the winning side wanted to disrespect the bodies of the fallen enemy, they would simply leave them to rot.