duckboard

Platform of wooden slats built over muddy ground to form a dry path. During World War I, army engineers used duckboards to line the bottom of trenches on the Western Front, as these were regularly flooded. Mud and water would lie in the trenches for months on end. Although duckboards kept the soldiers dry most of the time, and helped to prevent the development of trench foot caused by prolonged standing in waterlogged conditions, they were ineffective when water levels rose during bad weather or flooding. Duckboards also encouraged rats, as they, too, were able to keep themselves off the bottom of a flooded trench.