Breakdown : the crises of shell shock on the Somme, 1916
Downing, Taylor2017
Books
Paralysis. Stuttering. The 'shakes'. Inability to stand or walk. Temporary blindness or deafness. When strange symptoms like these began appearing in men at Casualty Clearing Stations in 1915, a debate began in army and medical circles as to what it was, what had caused it and what could be done to cure it. But the numbers were never large. Then in July 1916 with the start of the Somme battle the incidence of shell shock rocketed. The high command of the British army began to panic. An increasingly large number of men seemed to have simply lost the will to fight. As entire battalions had to be withdrawn from the front, commanders and military doctors desperately tried to come up with explanations as to what was going wrong. 'Shell shock' - what we would now refer to as battle trauma - was sweeping the Western Front.
Main title:
Breakdown : the crises of shell shock on the Somme, 1916 / Taylor Downing.
Author:
Downing, Taylor, author
Imprint:
London : Abacus, 2017.
Collation:
viii, 399 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) ; 20 cm
Notes:
Originally published: London: Little, Brown, 2016.Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9780349141015 (pbk. :)
Dewey class:
940.4272940.427 DOWN
Language:
English
BRN:
989856