Battle Exhaustion: Soldiers and Psychiatrists in the Canadian Army, 1939-1945

Sidney Allinson is the editor at the Royal Canadian Military Institute
and author of The Bantams: The Untold Story of World War I.

In World War I, they called it “shell shock”—soldiers’ nervous
collapse as the result of prolonged exposure to death all around. Small
wonder that bloody mass slaughter on the Western Front tore at men’s
very souls, turning tens of thousands of survivors into twitching
nervous wrecks for the rest of their lives. Millions more bore
less-evident mental scars as a result of their service, often the result
of hiding their fear on the battlefield because of the very real threat
of being executed for cowardice in the face of the enemy.

In World War II, a more understanding view prevailed, and the condition
became known as “battle exhaustion” or “combat fatigue.”
Enlightened medical treatment allowed about half the soldiers afflicted
to return to their units. Those judged no longer able to function
effectively on the front line were reassigned to noncombat duties.

As revealed in this well-researched study, Canada can take pride in the
humane advances made by our army’s medical people. Taking a gentler
and more common-sense approach, military doctors developed new
techniques for the diagnosing and treating of psychiatric casualties.

Amid wide-ranging medical explanations, the authors also identify some
scandalous political factors that shared blame for the uniquely heavy
load on Canadian combat troops in World War II. Lack of reinforcements
added to war-weariness and resentment at the front. Copp and McAndrew
document the many innovative treatments and devoted medical care
introduced to help alleviate such stress conditions. As well, many
individual combat anecdotes bring a human focus to the how and why of
shell shock. Well worth a read, Battle Exhaustion helps explain a
little-understood aspect of warfare.