Amidst all the misery and horror of World War One, it's always so nice to get glimpses of the breaks the troops got from all of it. In this post, photos of soldiers swimming, bathing, and/or playing (usually all three) in the water during WWI. They look like they consider it the best thing ever, which, in that period of their lives, it probably was. I'm glad they got it.
Note: Most of these fellows were not at all shy about stripping all their clothes off for a swim, so there is some nudity ahead!
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| © IWM (Q 19041) |
British soldiers splashing in the water at Corfu. Source
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| © IWM (Q 25257) |
British troops in the River Tigris, Baghdad, 1917. Source
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| © IWM (Q 54298) |
Piggyback wading (location unspecified).Source
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| © IWM (Q 42248) |
German soldiers in the Aisne River, 1915.Source
Australian soldiers in a thermal spring bath (location unspecified). Source
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| © IWM (Q 13283) |
Men playing in the water at Gallipoli, 1915. Source
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| © IWM (Q 11194) |
Patients from a convalescent hospital playing in the sea, France, 1918. Source
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| © IWM (Q 19043) |
British soldiers playing with a ball in the water at Corfu. Source
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| © IWM (Q 14248) |
Not exactly swimming and actually 1919, but too great not to include. Members of an army entertainment troop posing after a swim in the Sea of Marmora, Turkey. Source
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| © IWM (Q 19040) |
More swimming at Corfu. Source
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| © IWM (Q 913) |
Soldiers smile for the camera during a swim in the Somme region, France, 1916. Source
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| © IWM (Q 914) |
...and immediately afterwards splash each other. Source
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| © IWM (Q 57797) |
British soldiers in the sea at Mahamdiyeh, near Romani [Egypt?], February 1917. Source
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| © IWM (Q 77014) |
Romanian soldiers in a pond in the Balkans. Source
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| © IWM (Q 5500) |
Soldiers in a farm pond near St. Eloi, Flanders, 1917. Source
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| © IWM (Q 2381) |
Enthusiastic splashing in the sea at Etaples, France, 1917. Source
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