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Whenever we hear about just how terrible and horrific the trenches were for soldiers in WWI, it's almost always from a European account, which makes sense as WWI, while certainly a world war, primarily devastated Europe. The US of course didn't enter until April 1917 and the first American battle didn't take place until May 1918, a mere 6 months before the Armistice (at least 3 regular army divisions were at the front beginning in October 1917, however).
However though, for the average American WWI foot solider, how long would he have spent in the trenches and what would be the likelihood that they would have experienced the same horrors that their French, British, German, Australian and Canadian counterparts endured?
Whenever we hear about just how terrible and horrific the trenches were for soldiers in WWI, it's almost always from a European account, which makes sense as WWI, while certainly a world war, primarily devastated Europe. The US of course didn't enter until April 1917 and the first American battle didn't take place until May 1918, a mere 6 months before the Armistice (at least 3 regular army divisions were at the front beginning in October 1917, however).
However though, for the average American WWI foot solider, how long would he have spent in the trenches and what would be the likelihood that they would have experienced the same horrors that their French, British, German, Australian and Canadian counterparts endured?
And yes, my username checks out, lol.
Just like the French, British and German trenches, ankle deep in water with rats feces and trench foot
Just like the French, British and German trenches, ankle deep in water with rats feces and trench foot
Given how short the US involvement was, would they have been there long enough to feel the psychological trauma the same way as other armies did, though?
Given how short the US involvement was, would they have been there long enough to feel the psychological trauma the same way as other armies did, though?
I would say absolutely not but of course, I wasn`t there. We entered that war just in time for mop up duty and for Wilson to get a seat at the table. Our allies weren`t exactly thrilled with our participation.
In 1918 the "Pershing Boot" was introduced with better support and more water resistance to help reduce trench foot.
But really, it was hell on earth; in some US units in the Meuse–Argonne offensive (Sept to Nov. 1918), the casualty rate was 70%. In that single offensive, the US lost over 26,000 dead and over 95,000 wounded.
Pershing did not see US involvement as a simple competing of the job the Allies had done. On the last day of the war, thinking the Germans would not honor the Armistice, he ordered an attack and over 3,000 US soldiers died on the last day of the war.
Given how short the US involvement was, would they have been there long enough to feel the psychological trauma the same way as other armies did, though?
Personally I don't think I would have needed to have been in the trenches for very long before I started to feel the psychological trauma of it!
In 1918 the "Pershing Boot" was introduced with better support and more water resistance to help reduce trench foot.
But really, it was hell on earth; in some US units in the Meuse–Argonne offensive (Sept to Nov. 1918), the casualty rate was 70%. In that single offensive, the US lost over 26,000 dead and over 95,000 wounded.
Pershing did not see US involvement as a simple competing of the job the Allies had done. On the last day of the war, thinking the Germans would not honor the Armistice, he ordered an attack and over 3,000 US soldiers died on the last day of the war.
Those 3,000 soldiers who died on the last day of WWI were not solely American.
It was without a doubt the arrival of the Doughboys which eventually convinced the Germans to chuck it in. By 1917 losses on all sides had been terrible. The Russians who were being slaughtered just shot their officers and leaving the trenches started to make their way back home. The British Navy had blockaded the main German ports and the people were starving.
There were still some old vets from WW One around when I was a kid growing up in England. Some had been gassed and their lungs were all shot to hell.
Personally I don't think I would have needed to have been in the trenches for very long before I started to feel the psychological trauma of it!
If you were badly shell shocked they would ship you back to England for treatment. If you approached your platoon Lieutenant or Sergeant and complained that you were suffering trauma you would have gotten short thrift from either. It was in fact skating on thin ice because many kinds of mental stress were often looked on as a form of cowardice/unsoldierly behavior.
It was without a doubt the arrival of the Doughboys which eventually convinced the Germans to chuck it in. By 1917 losses on all sides had been terrible. The Russians who were being slaughtered just shot their officers and leaving the trenches started to make their way back home. The British Navy had blockaded the main German ports and the people were starving.
There were still some old vets from WW One around when I was a kid growing up in England. Some had been gassed and their lungs were all shot to hell.
My question was more about how the conditions of the war affected American servicemen and if the average American who served in WWI would have been as psychologically scarred as soldiers of other belligerents involved seeing how short the US involvement was. It's one a few things I wonder about this kind of topic, since there is so little research and extensive information out there in regards to America's involvement in the Great War.
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