Front-line Soldiers Research Articles

The final battle: soldiers of the Western Front and the German Revolution of 1918

Preface 1. The divided army 2. The last ditch: German front-line soldiers in the last days of the First World War 3. Caesar without legions: the field army and the abdication of the Kaiser, November 8-9, 1918 4. Legions without Caesar: the German army's response to armistice and revolution, November 9-14, 1918 5. The last march: the German Westheer's march to the Rhine, November-December, 1918 6. Dissolution and conspiracy: the army's homecoming and demobilization, December 1918 7. The last parade: the Guards return to Berlin, December 10-22, 1918 8. The last battle: 'Bloody Christmas,' December 23-24, 1918 9. From debacle to civil war: the aftermath of 'Bloody Christmas,' December 1918-January 1919 10. Conclusion: Frontschweine and revolution.

Frontline Soldiers of the CCP: The Selection of China's Township Leaders

AbstractChina's township leaders have a bad reputation and the CCP is trying to find new ways to select them. This article first presents data on the education and careers of township leaders in one county in Yunnan, and then looks at two partly contradictory trends in cadre selection: exams and consultations.

Frontline soldiers of globalisation: Port–city evolution and regional competition

This paper is an empirical attempt to measure the relative concentration of port–city functions in the context of globalisation. It reviews a number of urban and port issues regarding their complementary and contradictory aspects about the evolution of port cities. The main purpose is to verify how port function is more or less important to local economies, compared to other functions, through a temporal and global approach. Based on a matrix of port–city centrality and intermediacy, the main indicators available for international comparison are urban population and container throughput. An analysis of 653 places between 1970 and 2005 period is provided, using the relative concentration index (RCI) proposed by Vallega. The appropriate geographical scale to measure the relative evolution of port cities at a global level is discussed. Results tend to question previous models which consider functional and spatial separation between the city and its port as an ineluctable process. The port–city evolution appears to be gradual rather than linear or chaotic, and in many cases largely influenced by regional factors and local strategies.

Gender and post-conflict civil society

Women have historically participated in revolutionary/liberation movements. A consensus among scholars working in the field suggests that once the broader aims of the movement have been achieved, women's public role and the concern for gender differentiated interests diminish in the post-conflict society. The aim of this study is to apply this hypothesis using the case study of Eritrea. Eritrea offers an opportunity to study a modern, successful revolutionary movement that relied heavily upon women's contributions both as support personnel and as front-line soldiers. Preliminary evidence suggests that Eritrea is following the pattern of many other post-conflict societies. Several questions are addressed here: Does the hypothesis which suggests women's participation is welcomed during a revolutionary struggle, but discouraged in post-conflict society, hold true in the Eritrean case? What role did women play in Eritrean independence and what role do they currently play? Have the reforms enacted by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) carried forward under the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ)? What role does women's inclusion play in creating a viable civil society? How has the generational aspect of women's military service affected society's overall perception of women?

S. L. A. Marshall’s Men Against Fire: New Evidence Regarding Fire Ratios

The findings of journalist-soldier S. L. A. Marshall about combat fire ratios--particularly that in World War II less than 25 percent of American combat infantrymen in battle fired their weapons--have been controversial since Marshall published them in his 1947 book, Men Against Fire. (1) He continued to apply his methodology--the after-action, group interview with enlisted men--during the Korean War, where he concluded that more than half the front-line soldiers were firing their weapons. In the past 20 years, Marshall's controversial figures have come under more intensive attack, in part because, after his death in 1977, his papers did not include statistical analyses or more than a couple of the field notebooks produced during group interviews. (2) Yet Marshall continues to have supporters as well as detractors, and the controversy rages on, fueled by emotional beliefs, individual vested interests, missing documents, and absent statistics. (3) One of the key questions concerns where Marshall obtained his figures about the ratio of fire, the proportion of a rifle unit firing its weapons in battle. Marshall claimed it was derived from his group after-action interviews, a method he developed as a field historian in World War II and which as a civilian journalist, Reserve officer, and military consultant, he employed and advocated for use by the US Army and later by the Israeli Defense Force. Although the ratio-of-fire figure was his most famous product, Marshall was proudest of his methodology--informal, open-ended, group interviews of enlisted personnel, as soon as possible after a particular combat action, to learn about the actual behavior of the soldiers in battle. Timing was sometimes but not always on his side. In the Pacific in November 1943, he was with G.I.'s when a forward unit at Makin Island in the Gilberts sustained a Japanese counterattack at night, and Marshall could interview American survivors the next day. But in the European Theater of Operations the following year, he was not able to interview the combat troops involved in the Normandy Invasion in June 1944 until several weeks afterward. (4) In each case, however, he would interview the men and, he said, take contemporaneous notes and later write up his report on the action. The following oral history provides some fresh insights into Marshall's methodology and findings. It also raises troubling questions about the reliability of Marshall's statistics on fire ratios. The oral history comes from a citizen-soldier, Frank J. Brennan, Jr., now a retired high school and community college history instructor and administrator. As a young junior officer in Korea in 1953, Brennan accompanied S. L. A. Marshall on some of the journalist's after-action group interviews along the Main Line of Resistance, including the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. A native of New Brunswick, New Jersey, Brennan graduated from Rutgers in the spring of 1951 with a B.A. in journalism. Having completed ROTC, he received a commission as a second lieutenant in the infantry. After additional training, including Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia (where Marshall's Men Against Fire was among the required reading), and in Japan, he arrived in Korea in May 1952, assigned to the 7th Infantry Division, a Regular Army division that had been fighting in Korea since September 1950. Lieutenant Brennan was sent to the front line with the 32d Infantry Regiment in the 7th Infantry Division's central sector near the 38th Parallel. For six weeks on the line, he served as a rifle platoon leader. His unit was engaged in patrols and in repelling attacks on its position along the Main Line of Resistance. Perhaps partly because of his journalism degree, Brennan was assigned to G-3 (Operations) at Headquarters, 7th Infantry Division, in late July 1952. He was subsequently promoted to first lieutenant. At G-3, Brennan's main responsibility was to prepare the monthly reports of the division's activity and send them directly to Washington, D. …

Confronting Bioterrorism: Physicians on the Front Line

The events surrounding September 11, 2001, and its aftermath have compelled the public health and medical community to face the hitherto unfamiliar reality of bioterrorism. Physicians and public health personnel are frontline soldiers in this new form of warfare. This article provides a general overview of the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management of patients infected with the 6 highest priority agents that could potentially be used in bioterrorism. The diseases discussed include anthrax, smallpox, tularemia, plague, botulism, and viral hemorrhagic fevers. Despite the unpredictable nature of bioterrorism, disaster preparedness and knowledge of essential diagnostic and epidemiological principles can contribute substantially toward combating this new threat.

Should women be soldiers or pacifists?

Even with the upsurge of feminist scholarship in the last 25 years relatively little attention has been given to war's impact on women. Some feminist historians and sociologists have nevertheless contributed some important research. Cynthia Enloe, in particular, explores the roles the military assigns to women in her books, beginning with Does Khaki Become You? in 1983. Others such as Sara Ruddick and Jean Bethke Elshtain have examined the actual theme of women and war. Nevertheless, debates on the theme have largely stalled around the starkly opposed views among Western feminist activists about women's future roles within wars. Liberal feminists promote women's equal right to become front line soldiers, while many women who flocked to peace movements in the 1980s view war as a masculine enterprise, and urge women to reject war and work for peace. So which side is right? Should women press for full equality in the armed services or should they campaign against militarism? Unfortunately, feminist theory th...

Delayed and immediate onset posttraumatic stress disorder: The role of life events and social resources

The present study examined the role of life events and social resources in the development of combat-related delayed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after homecoming. For this purpose, life events after homecoming and social resources (social integration, loneliness, satisfaction with social network, and family environment) were assessed 2 years after the 1982 Lebanon War (August, 1984) in three groups of male Israeli frontline soldiers who participated in that war and who were matched for military and socio-demographic background: (1) delayed PTSD group, (2) immediate PTSD group, and (3) control group. Findings indicated that both control and delayed PTSD casualties reported similar and fewer life events at homecoming than did immediate PTSD casualties. However, delayed PTSD casualties evinced less social resources than did controls.

Delayed and immediate onset posttraumatic stress disorder

The current study examined the role battle experiences and personal resources play in the development of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For this purpose, battle experiences (battle stress, military unit environment) and personal resources (coping styles, causal attribution) were assessed two years after the 1982 Lebanon War in three groups of male Israeli frontline soldiers: 1. soldiers who sought treatment 6 months or more after the war (delayed PTSD); 2. soldiers who sought treatment during the war (immediate PTSD); and 3. control soldiers. Findings indicated that both immediate and delayed PTSD casualties reported similar and higher levels of battle stress than control subjects. In addition, delayed PTSD casualties evinced less personal resources than control subjects, and immediate PTSD casualties evinced still less personal resources than delayed PTSD casualties. The theoretical implications of the findings were discussed.

Marching to Vietnam

Marching chants induce recruits to sever ties with a civilian past and to embrace, however reluctantly, a martial future. In wartime, these recruits adopt thepersona of frontline soldiers, though they may never see combat; in peacetime, they chant of their predecessors. While some Vietnam cadence calls reflect conventional attitudes about training and combat, others draw the grotesque picture of the enemy as helpless civilian child.

PTSD and social functioning

This longitudinal study assessed long term social functioning among two groups of Israeli soldiers: (a) front line soldiers who had been treated for combat stress reaction (CSR) during the 1982 Lebanon war (n = 213); and (b) matched controls who were front line soldiers participating in the same battles, but did not sustain a CSR (n = 116). Subjects were screened one, two, and three years after the war for PTSD and social functioning. Results indicated that CSR and PTSD casualties reported more problems in social functioning than controls. The link between PTSD and social functioning was stronger among PTSD veterans who had suffered an antecedent CSR episode. Time had a differential effect on the social functioning of CSR and control subjects.

Characteristic expressions of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder among Israeli soldiers in the 1982 Lebanon War.

This study assessed the clinical picture of two groups of Israeli soldiers: front-line soldiers who had been treated for combat stress reaction during the 1982 Lebanon War (n = 382); and matched control front-line soldiers who did not sustain combat stress reaction (n = 334). Subjects were screened one year after the war for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychiatric symptomatology using the symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90). Results indicated that anxiety, depression, hostility, and obsessive-compulsive problems were the most salient features of PTSD among combat stress reaction casualties. The contribution of DSM-III criteria as well as their limitations in the diagnosis of PTSD are discussed.

Combat Stress Reaction and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder as Determinants of Perceived Self-Efficacy in Battle

This study assessed the extent to which perceived self-efficacy (PSE) to function in battle was related to combat stress reaction (CSR) and to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Frontline soldiers who were treated for CSR during the 1982 war in Lebanon (F-group) were compared with a matched control group of soldiers who participated in the same battles but did not reveal overt signs of CSR (C-1), and to a second control group of soldiers who were combat-alerted but did not actively participate in battle (C-2). All subjects responded to a series of questionnaires assessing PSE, PTSD, and the Impact of Event Scale (IES) one year following the war. Results indicated a lower level of combat PSE for the F-group compared to the C-1 and C-2 groups. Analysis of PSE by current PTSD status produced an interaction between PTSD and study group. Only soldiers in the F-group diagnosed as PTSD reported a low level of PSE. The remaining soldiers did not differ regardless of PTSD status. A similar interaction was obtai...

Posttraumatic stress disorder among frontline soldiers with combat stress reaction: the 1982 Israeli experience.

One year after the 1982 Lebanon War, the authors assessed the prevalence, type, and severity of posttraumatic stress disorder in a large representative sample of Israeli soldiers who had been treated for combat stress reactions. Comparisons were made with a group of soldiers who had fought in the same battles but had not been treated for this reaction. A dramatically higher percentage of soldiers with combat stress reaction (59%) than of soldiers without combat stress reaction (16%) developed posttraumatic stress disorder. Age was significantly associated with posttraumatic stress disorder. The authors discuss the differential quality of posttraumatic stress disorder among both groups as well as the factors facilitating recovery.

Two World Wars and the Myth of the War Experience

Much has been written about that continuity between the two world wars which seems immediate and direct: the second world war broke out as a result of the failure to restore an equilibrium after the violence, cost and passion of the first world war. The continuity between the first world war and the inter-war years has struck not only modern historians, but was on the minds of both the victims and the instigators of violence. Thus in 1934, the newly exiled German theatre critic Alfred Kerr wrote that what he was witnessing was not war once more, but a mental confusion and universal chaos which were an extension of the first world war. At the same time, one of his nazi persecutors wrote that the war against the German people was continuing, that the first world war was only its bloody beginning.2 I do not intend to make a general comparison between these wars in keeping with such perceptions of the continuity between them; instead, I want to centre my analysis upon a comparison between the wars through a consideration of some of their consequences. While I will confine my analysis to examples drawn mainly from England and Germany with some attention to France, my conclusions could then be applied, modified or rejected by those familiar with the history of various individual nations which took part in both wars. Moreover, I will not be concerned with the perceptions of those soldiers who were at the rear and never experienced fighting at first hand, but only with front-line soldiers. The front-line soldier in the first world war created the Myth of the War Experience, and, as a 'new race of men', symbolized the war's promise. When the borders between the front line and the home front became blurred, as in the second world war, it affected the way in which the conflict was seen in retrospect. This essay is intended to put forward certain hypotheses about the impact of the wars upon people's perceptions, which might help to explain some of their political consequences. The first world war was an unprecedented experience in men's lives, one which had to be confronted and dealt with on a personal,

Discriminant analysis of posttraumatic stress disorder among a group of Viet Nam veterans.

The authors designed a study to identify those independent variables which would statistically discriminate between a group of Viet Nam veterans who were experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder and those who were not. DSM-III criteria for diagnosis were used to measure and operationally define posttraumatic stress disorder. Five variables distinguished between groups: veterans with the disorder reported a negative perception of their family's helpfulness on return home, a higher level of combat, a more immediate discharge after the war, an external locus of control, and a more supportive attitude toward the war before they entered the service. The authors discuss the implications and limitations of these findings.

The Recollections of a Signal Officer

THS RECOLLECTIONS OF A SIGNAL OFFICER Edited by Lester L. Swift Countless Civil War participants penned memoirs. Not surprisingly, most of those who felt they had something to say—to die public or to posterity—either had sat in high places or, if of lesser military status, wished to recapture for readers the comradeship and the hazards of camp and batdefield. We consequendy possess numerous reminiscences by generals, on the one hand, and front-line soldiers on the other. The complexities of command and the color of combat are thus well-documented by witnesses. Relatively rare, however, are the memoirs of men who fought the war, often just as devotedly, in less dramatic circumstances. The writer of these hitherto unpublished recollections served as a Federal Signal Corps officer for two years, 1862-1864, during which time the fledgling technical branch came into its own as an invaluable mditary service. Besides giving us an excellent picture of the often rigorous routine of a flagman, he provides some unusual commentary —from a junior officer's perspective—of Federal operations in two lesserknown theaters of the war: along the southeast coast and on die James. A lucid writer, his observations about commanders and events may not always be profound, but are never without interest. His glimpse of the unlikable General Ben Butler field-testing a Gatling gun on some unsuspecting Confederates is alone enough to make these memoirs worthwhile indeed. Gustavus Sullivan Dana was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1839. He served an apprenticeship as a machinist in Springfield, Illinois, before returning to Hartford. As a three-month volunteer in the 1st Connecticut Infantry, Dana became acquainted with the war at First Manassas . He then reenlisted in the 6th Connecticut, where—already a "veteran "—he was immediately made a company first sergeant. The regiment subsequendy took part in the successful Port Royal Expedition, the reduction of Fort Pulaski, and several other coastal operations. Lester L. Swift is a metallurgical engineer and inspector with the Solon Manufacturing Company, Chardon, Ohio. 36 The Department of the South, of which the 6th Connecticut was a part» began expanding northward along the coast toward Charleston, South Carolina, early in 1862. Dana gained promotion to regimental sergeant major on January 17, 1862, and was commissioned a second lieutenant on March 23 following.i The narrative that follows consists ofportions of Dana's undated "Personal Recollections." The first part of the "Recollections" is omitted, and we start with Dana's narrative in September, 1862, when he became interested in transferring to the Signal Corps. On Gen [Ormsby M.] Mitchel's first trip of inspection to Beaufort [South Carolina], Lt [Franklin E.] Town, in charge of the Signal Station , borrowed the 6th Connecticut] V. [olunteers] garrison flag. It accidentally happened that I knew just where it was and no one else did. After getting it for him and while returning from the S.[ignal] Department ] s Quarters with Town, he asked me if I would like to be detaded in die Signal Corps. I told him I would and in coming down the river to H[dton] H[ea]d with dispatches a few days before, I had noticed officers communicating from Kane Island to the steamer I was on by waving their caps & I thought it was pretty slick and I would like it very much if I could know what they were so merry about. He said they were about to order a detail of 4 officers under instruction and he guessed he could get me in. No such luck for me I told him and didnt give it another thought till nearly the last of Sept when Col Chatfield called me in his private office and asked me why I was desirous of leaving his regt when I knew he had tried to do what was right by me. I told him I was not trying to leave his regt. "Well what does this mean then" he said and handed me a special order from Dept. Hdqrs detailing me in the Signal Corps and ordering me to report at H.Hd. Oct 1st. I explained to him how Lt Town bro't the matter up and that it...