Shell shock
‘Nobody ever used the phrase ‘shell shock’. Somebody was wounded – but never ‘shell shocked’’
Private Harry Patch, the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry
Shell shock was not well understood in 1914. Men stressed by the shelling, by seeing a friend blown to pieces, by killing a man at close quarters, were seen as weak and lacking moral fibre.
The lack of understanding meant that some men were court-martialled for cowardice, when they were actually suffering from what we would now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Brothers Alfred and Arthur Jefferies joined the 6th Battalion, the Somerset Light Infantry. Alfred fought at Ypres and was wounded, then returned to the battle of Loos in 1915. He was hospitalised with shell shock, and discharged. Both brothers fought in the Somme offensive of 1916: Alfred was reported missing in August, Arthur was killed in action in September.
Alfred was charged with desertion. Shell shock was no defence for him: two officers spoke up for his good character, but higher officers deemed him a coward. He was shot at dawn on 1 November 1916.
Shell shock was not well understood in 1914. Men stressed by the shelling, by seeing a friend blown to pieces, by killing a man at close quarters, were seen as weak and lacking moral fibre.
The lack of understanding meant that some men were court-martialled for cowardice, when they were actually suffering from what we would now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Brothers Alfred and Arthur Jefferies joined the 6th Battalion, the Somerset Light Infantry. Alfred fought at Ypres and was wounded, then returned to the battle of Loos in 1915. He was hospitalised with shell shock, and discharged. Both brothers fought in the Somme offensive of 1916: Alfred was reported missing in August, Arthur was killed in action in September.
Alfred was charged with desertion. Shell shock was no defence for him: two officers spoke up for his good character, but higher officers deemed him a coward. He was shot at dawn on 1 November 1916.