Shell‐shock on the Somme

Abstract

The term ‘shell‐shock’ is forever linked in our minds with the perception of the horrors of trench warfare of the First World War, leading strong men to break down after hours of shelling facing incomprehension and charges of cowardice from the High Command. But how many cases of shell‐shock were really mentally and physically affected by the rigours of combat and how many capitalised on a popular new term to escape the fighting? Taking one of the worst incidents of reported shell‐shock on the Somme in 1916, Ben Shephard here explores the phenomenon, drawing on the medical and psychological background to the issue, the impact of public opinion and the responses of the Army and Army Medical Corps when faced with the results of large scale ‘shell‐shock’ cases. He concludes that changes implemented after the Somme in procedures for dealing with reported cases at the front made a substantial difference; with a marked reduction in numbers by the battle of Passchendaele in 1917. Whatever the reality, however th...