What happens to dead bodies on the battlefield?

Typically in modern times the bodies are buried by the local people or military units after identification as much as possible. Most modern western armies return the bodies for burial in their home nation, other armies they are often buried in cemeteries within the the battlezone.

What happens to 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 dead bodies after ww2?

After the battles, the Americans collected the dead and buried them, mainly those who were Americans, but also the bodies of those who fell nearby who were even of the enemy. Those who were killed at sea were buried at sea with appropriate ceremony. Many who died remained unknowns.

What happens to enemy bodies in war?

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.

Who cleaned up ancient battlefields?

So, we don’t have a whole lot of information about what happened to all those corpses. But we do have some. Malory himself gives us one image of the less than glorious fate of some battlefield bodies.

How was battlefields cleared?

The clearing up was broadly done in 3 steps, involving different people and time schedules : During the war and up to 1920 in some areas : It was done by the soldiers themselves (engineers helped by Battlefield Clearance & Salvage platoons).

Who cleared battlefields?

Clearing the Battlefields. The clearing up was broadly done in 3 steps, involving different people and time schedules : During the war and up to 1920 in some areas : It was done by the soldiers themselves (engineers helped by Battlefield Clearance & Salvage platoons).

What happened to all the bodies at Waterloo?

Historian John Sadler states that “Many who died that day in Waterloo were buried in shallow graves but their bodies were later disinterred and their skeletons taken. They were ground down and used as fertiliser and taken back home to be used on English crops.