KILLING MENTALITY: WWI Soldier's Combat Experience

The Allied Commanders and psychiatrists of WWI believed that soldiers broke down, or suffered shell shock, because in their minds, men in the trenches had not been "hardened" enough. Their thinking was civilians which was what the Canadian Expeditionary Force was comprised of were not made to be natural warriors and that it would take a great deal of training to make these men into proficient soldiers. Training was to be simple, continuous and varied and were to be trained for one purpose only which was to fight.

SHELL SHOCK WWI

Background:  During 1915, the French Army established "forward psychiatry" to slow the loss of their troops to the base hospitals. The British soon followed.  It was widely accepted as an productive intervention, forward psychiatry was not manageable to random-controlled trials and only one controlled outcome study has taken place.

The Ross Rifle - WWI

"Give me one million men who can hit a target at 500 yards , and we would not have a foe who would invade our country" - Minister of Militia and Defence Sam Hughes.

Rifles were produced at the Ross Rifle factory in Quebec City and numbered 420,000 with versions 1-5. The cost to build the rifle was $28. The rifle weighed 8 1/2 pounds. It could fire 20 rounds a minute. It was accurate up to 1,800 feet. The bayonet was 10" long.

This rifle was given to the infantry and snipers and they loathed it.

THE BATTLE TO DESTROY THE ENEMY ABOVE, ON AND UNDER THE ATLANTIC

War was declared by the United Kingdom against Germany on September 3, 1939, and the Battle of the Atlantic would began the same day. One week later Canada followed the United Kingdom and declared war against Germany. This dangerous threat from the U boats began on September 3, 1939 with the sinking of the              SS Athenia from the torpedoes of a German U Boat. The Athenia had approximately 1,400 passengers and crew onboard and the death toll was 117 passengers and crew. There were American citizens on board at the time of the sinking.