Humans war against each other all the time, and throughout history hundreds of millions of people have died on the battlefield.
This begs the question, what happens to the bodies?
Like on the beaches of Normandy, thousands of people died. But the beaches, to my knowledge, aren’t filled with dead bones and stuff.
So where did they go? Is there a secret service that collects bodies?
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In many cases bodies are recovered for proper burial or disposal of some sort. In some wars temporary truces would be made to allow each side to collect their dead and wounded. Other times the victorious side may bury the enemy dead in temporary (marked) graves until such time that the bodies can be properly buried or sent back home as part of a peace treaty. In some cases the enemy dead are buried in mass, unmarked, graves or burned. If time does not permit, the enemy dead may simply be left for retrieval by their comrades. There are many factors that can affect what happens.
Generally it is in an army’s best interest to properly dispose of the dead. It can improve relations with your enemy (they see you treating the dead with respect), or be a bargaining chip during peace settlements. Most importantly, dead bodies foul the landscape, spread disease, attract scavengers, and reduce morale of your own forces, so proper disposal is a good idea.
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