# Using bodies as sandbags **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2014, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697 "2014-01-02T13:44:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/1 "2014-01-02T13:44:26Z")
“We used to stack fucks like you five feet high in Korea, use you for sandbags!” growls Clint in the peerless [Gran Torino](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NelBNtNm8l0). But would a human body make a decent sandbag? Doesn’t seem like it would offer much protection from rifle fire and I imagine the authorities wouldn’t approve, sounds like a good way to spread diseases. Was stacking fucks like him five feet high ever done, in Korea or anywhere else? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/2 "2014-01-02T13:54:33Z")
According to my father and Uncle (WW II Pacific) only with enemy dead and on a temporary basis. Unit got attacked, enemy left dead right at the holes, GIs would add them to the pile of whatever they had for cover until it was clear that the active attacks were over. Going by how many “through and through” wounds are reported I doubt they added much protection but it did clear your field of fire to have them “organized” versus just laying at your doorstep. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/3 "2014-01-02T13:59:41Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > But would a human body make a decent sandbag? Better than nothing. Flesh has a density approximately equal to that of water, which is about 2.6 times as dense as solid silicon dioxide (sand). However, sand isn’t solid. If you imagine it to be made of tiny spheres, then they have hollow spaces in between each grain. The concept of a [packing factor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_packing_factor#APF_of_common_structures) is well known to material scientists and metallurgists, but it’s applicable here, too. Looking at the range of packing factors, we might estimate that sand has a packing factor somewhere between 0.5 and 0.75. Call it 0.65, so we can estimate sand has a density about 1.7 times that of human flesh. So if your infantry handbook says to stack sandbags 2 feet thick, you could stack human bodies 40 inches thick and receive a comparable level of protection. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/4 "2014-01-02T14:08:26Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Flesh has a density approximately equal to that of water, which is about 2.6 times as dense as solid silicon dioxide (sand). I think you meant the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/5 "2014-01-02T14:31:38Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I think you meant the other way around. :smack: Yes, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/6 "2014-01-02T14:39:59Z")
I had a friend who was at the Frozen Chosin, and he said they used frozen corpses for cover. A frozen body would stop a bullet better than a fresh corpse. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/7 "2014-01-02T14:49:53Z")
A friend described enemy dead used as furniture at the Battle of the Bulge. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/8 "2014-01-02T15:59:41Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > A friend described enemy dead used as furniture at the Battle of the Bulge. Please elaborate. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/9 "2014-01-02T16:14:19Z")
The British used French dead at Waterloo. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/10 "2014-01-02T16:21:19Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Please elaborate. Arm chairs? ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/11 "2014-01-02T16:32:43Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > A friend described enemy dead used as furniture at the Battle of the Bulge. > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Please elaborate. I don’t know what **carnivorousplant** meant, but I read a first-hand account of the aftermath of a major battle (which very well may have been the Battle of the Bulge). This particular soldier was helping to stack the dead bodies onto trucks for transport. Lunchtime came around, and there was no place to sit–the ground was covered with snow. So he brushed the snow off a body, and sat on the body to eat lunch. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/12 "2014-01-02T16:39:16Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Please elaborate. A patron of the Library where I worked. His platoon had become separated and were plodding through the snow looking for other Americans. They saw a fire, and determining that they were friendly, approached them. Their Sargent greeted them, “Pull up a Kraut and sit down.” They were sitting on the bodies of dead Germans, afraid that if they sat on the ground they would freeze to death. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/13 "2014-01-02T17:05:43Z")
I recall hearing that corpses were used as sandbags/insulation by the Germans or Russians (or both) during WWII. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/14 "2014-01-02T17:13:27Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > . Going by how many “through and through” wounds are reported I doubt they added much protection but it did clear your field of fire to have them “organized” versus just laying at your doorstep. Now I have an image of some bunch of OCD grunts srting them for height, weight, rank and MOS … 😛 > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > A patron of the Library where I worked. > His platoon had become separated and were plodding through the snow looking for other Americans. They saw a fire, and determining that they were friendly, approached them. Their Sargent greeted them, “Pull up a Kraut and sit down.” > They were sitting on the bodies of dead Germans, afraid that if they sat on the ground they would freeze to death. My dad reported that for one of the battles in the Ruhr pocket he was stuck in. He also reported that you could nap through US gunfire but the different sound of some German gun would wake you up. No idea how true this is - it seems to me any gunfire even not from your specific hiding place would wake you up. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/15 "2014-01-02T23:58:50Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Now I have an image of some bunch of OCD grunts srting them for height, weight, rank and MOS … 😛 > My dad reported that for one of the battles in the Ruhr pocket he was stuck in. He also reported that you could nap through US gunfire but the different sound of some German gun would wake you up. No idea how true this is - it seems to me any gunfire even not from your specific hiding place would wake you up. The end of _Band of Brothers_ (at least the book) talks about this; the soldiers are used to the rattle of their own weapons from training but are ingrained that the sound of enemy fire meant deep trouble - after the war, lots of German weaponry was looted, the firing of which still made members of the company jumpy. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I had a friend who was at the Frozen Chosin, and he said they used frozen corpses for cover. A frozen body would stop a bullet better than a fresh corpse. Ah, of course! A frozen body would amount to a bag of ice and bones, I could think of worse things to dive behind for cover. Still, one hell of a grim scene. > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Better than nothing. Flesh has a density approximately equal to that of water, which is about 2.6 times as dense as solid silicon dioxide (sand). One thing I wonder about is how much it would slow a bullet. I’m thinking that it would be far better to take a bullet that’s flown through a dead body even though the last thing you want in a wound is bits of decaying dead guy. Still, the trade off is probably better than taking all of the bullet’s energy. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/16 "2014-01-03T00:08:49Z")
I have read – sorry, no cite – that the troops on both sides during the Civil War also stacked enemy dead to use as barricades. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/17 "2014-01-03T14:55:35Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > One thing I wonder about is how much it would slow a bullet. I’m thinking that it would be far better to take a bullet that’s flown through a dead body even though the last thing you want in a wound is bits of decaying dead guy. Still, the trade off is probably better than taking all of the bullet’s energy. Hollowpoints not being legal for war ---------- even with ball ammo (full metal jacket) I would worry about deflection, deformation or tumbling and the bullet hitting me hard and slow “sideways” or coming in at a funky angle making a worse wound. We were always taught to take “substantial cover” or basically no cover at all. This is 70s when everything was more geared to jungle but I offer it as a general thought. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-bodies-as-sandbags/677697/18 "2014-01-04T22:06:07Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > One thing I wonder about is how much it would slow a bullet. I’m thinking that it would be far better to take a bullet that’s flown through a dead body even though the last thing you want in a wound is bits of decaying dead guy. Still, the trade off is probably better than taking all of the bullet’s energy. Well, a body might not protect you from a machine gun or rifle direct hit. But remember, more people were wounded by shrapnel than by bullets. And a body well might slow down shrapnel enough to make a difference.