Old soldiers never die

If one were to ask what uniforms artillerymen in casemates wore while firing cannons, the answer would be….. almost none. Extremely difficult conditions of fight made them wear only shirts; sometimes they would tie their shirts around their heads to protect their ears from deafening noise and covered their mouths and noses with wet rags. They also used to urinate on such primitive swabs because urine absorbed gunpowder fumes better than water. Experienced soldiers, not only those who served in fortress artillery, had to learn such techniques to survive in such extreme conditions. There was a saying “An old soldier never dies. He only goes to hell for a while to realign and come back!”