How Did Men Deal with the Stress of World War II Essay Example for Free

How Did Men Deal with the Stress of land strugglef ar II EssayThe iconic thousand-yard stare, a far- get through, unfocused gaze characteristic of sol get aroundrs who had succumbed to the distress of contend by dissociating from it, emerged with its name with the chilling photos of soldiers who were overtaken by these symptoms in the wake of World War II. Its no surprise that war takes a toll on the psyche of all those modify by it. Given the brutality and scope of World War II, which began only 21 years later World War II (a war that had already ravaged the landscape and deal of Europe exit high estimates of the death toll at 65 million deaths), civilians and soldiers alike were engulfed in total war. As Hitler and the Nazis ideology was based on A War of Extermination fueled by a racial ideology that sought for the ethnic cleansing and complete reengineering of the social population of Europe, the massive amount of Soviet soldiers that perished as they were thrown wav e aft(prenominal) wave in outrank to slow the Nazi war machine, and the general cruelty that was apparent in this war, soldiers upon soldiers grew appalled by the nature of the war.As one soldier confesses in The Italian task, After three months, it was demoralizing it was every night, every night everybody was hunting Ger compositions, everybody was turn up to kill everybody we was insane We did become like animals in the end Yes, just like rats It was far worse than the desert. You were stuck in the same place. You had nowhere to go. You didnt get no rest, like in the desert. No pile You never expected to see the end of it. You just forgot why you were there (Addison 208).Often multiplication, the amount of causal agency put into it and the lives sacrificed seemed to far outweigh the benefits reaped from both Gottlob Herbert Bidderman, a German soldier that was present on the eastern Front reflected on the insignificance of twelve kilometers twelve kilometersin an endless land, where unbroken fields stretched to the horizon beforehand us from sunrise to sunset. I wondered how legion(predicate) more twelve-kilometer disputes lay ahead of us during our march forward from the setting sun (Bidderman 23).However, like anything that people are overexposed to, these work force slowly grew accustomed to and desensitized to the trocities and horrors of the war. Human beings are naturally adaptive beings and history has shown time and time ag personal that they do what is needed in order to survive. It would be simplistic to classify each of the nations and their armies as being uniform in their coping with the war due to the specific nature of whatever of the problems and solutions that emerged from belonging to that particular nation (such as the Soviets reveling in their the true and the cult-like worship of Stalin and the Nazis racial ideology being one that ensured in their mind their victory), but many men, careless(predicate) of their affiliatio n, handled the war similarly.Some treated the time on these fronts as a long extended workday, disassociating from the acts they commit and the sights they witnessed as simply being a part of a job. Others turned to their families away from home brformer(a)s and sisters, who by dint of their common experiences, pains, and moments of hope, stood together in solidarity. Others turned to the bottom of a bottle to ease the pain charm others turned instead upwards to a higher power, or at the very least began to shop at religious services.Those who were not willing to look quite so loftily turned to their superiors and leaders for steering and bravery while in the case of the Soviet soldiers, glanced fearfully backwards as the higher-ups pushed them forward to their death. uttermost away from home and under harsh conditions, food and other chanced upon provisions and commodities would lots serve as a best to moral. Due to the sheer breadth of stress embodied in being a soldier in any front during WWII, soldiers dealt with the immense strain in varying ways in order to keep intact their humanity, or at the very least, keep their sanity so that they could ensure their survival.There is a perception held by many idealistic, young men that war is a almost akin to a noble crusade. However, there is the reality is much more analogous, to as one German soldier put it this is ten times worse than hell (Grossman 151). A scene from the Italian Job details this hell some (too many, far too many) were carried in dying, with gross combinations of shattered limbs, protrusions of intestines and brain from long holes in their poor frames torn by 880millimetre shells, mortars and anti-personnel bombs.Some lay quiet and still, with legs drawn up cracking wounds of the abdomen. Some were carried in sitting up on the stretcher, gasping and coughing, grab through the lungs All were exhausted after being under continuous fire, and after lying in the mud for hours and days (Addison 208). As a result, as these idealistic notions were lost, many turned to viewing the entire ordeal as a job. Having suffered through the war for some time, one soldier remarked, Youre fighting for the skin in the line. When I was enlisted I was patriotic as hell. Theres no patriotism in the line.A boy up there 60 days in the line is in danger every minute. He aint fighting for patriotism (Addison 210). Another soldier enjoyed fighting at dawn as he felt that it was almost as if he was heading off to work at the factory. Rather than consciously thinking of all of the horrors that they were witnessing on a daily basis and focusing on the fact that they could die at any moment, the concept of just doing a job provided a blanket under which these men sought to maintain control of their humanity by separating their psyches from the appalling state of being they were in.A man in an earlier war who was quoted in Addisons book stated that whatever its size a mans world was his sect ionat most, his platoon all that mattered to him was the one little boatload of castaways with whom he was marooned on a desert island making shift to keep off the weather and any sudden attacks by wild beast (Addison 211). Away from their families and friends, immersed in a bloody war where hundreds upon thousands of people could die in a skirmish or battle, these soldiers could only count on each other to truly understand the situation they were currently in.Beaten and battered together, having lost many of the same friends, triumphed momentarily, or retreated hastily, this mutual understanding gave way to a support group a family who soldiers could lean upon and untroubled their well being. Of this, Bidermann wrote, Our thoughts were constantly occupied by the tenuous if not hopeless situation in which we fix ourselves. We received quilt only in our numbers and in being with comrades with whom we had shared so many experiences over the weeks, months, and years (Bidermann 266) .Repeatedly throughout the 3 readings, there is mention of men, whether they in the heat of battle or relaxing with keep company, being drunk. Its no surprise as alcohol has been a actor by which men have coped with their problems for thousands of years. If the problems wont go away, the solution for some has been to drink until those problems do not register as problems anymore. As such, Holmes noted headaches were almost universal in a family of war where wine and brandy were readily available (Addison 212). Grossman ctually talks about how his battalion commander Kozlov, in the center of battle, withstood an attack of tanks.He was on great form and completely drunk. The tanks were thrown back in a dashing fashion (Grossman 103). As religion has functioned as a form of comfort since the inception of politeness and the birth of religion, it was only natural for men living in depravity to come to it to relieve them of some of their burden. Subsequently, the men of the clergy we re often instrumental to moral and aid. Furthermore, due to the looming possibility of death in war, the mortality of some became that much more apparent.In Bidermanns account, he talks of a divisional chaplain named Satzger who had several times risked his conduct to recover wounded men. Resulting from men of the cloth like Satzger and with death looming, many of the soldiers who had not been so inclined began to attend religious services For far too many the chaplain would offer the last region of reassurance and the last vestige of comfort before they, too, succumbed to mortal wounds (Bidermann 25). Another Catholic priest was dubbed the rucksack priest as he carried a field pack from which he provided military on the front lines with simplex food items that had in war become luxuries.While it may have been a spiritual solace that many received at the hands of these men of God, others attended for the sake of having a comforting and constituent hand. Its been told that lea ders are supposed to lead by example. Caught in chaotic times, superior officers often functioned as beacons to rally around. In times past, great leaders such as George Washington, Alexander the Great, and Genghis caravan inn immersed themselves in battles, showing that the best commanders do not directing them from the rear, but rather leading them in the front.A commanding officer by the name of Captain Kendall, turned a shaky company into a passably good one by public displays of sheer guts. Look at me, he said quietly, walking from man to man under fire. They cant hit me. Look at me (Addison 210). Examples like this provided moral boosts to dreary men who needed something positive to cling to. Conversely, rather than inspiring by a guiding light of bravery and courage, the Soviets were incentivized onwards by the ever-present detachments behind the troops that would pillory deserters.Grossman describes this in further detail Stalins Order No. 27 Not One mistreat Back inclu ded the instruction to each army command to organise three to five well-armed blocking detachments (up to devil hundred men each) to form a second line to combat cowardices by shooti ng reduce any soldier who tried to run away (Grossman 141). As many Soviet soldiers understood the likelihood of their death in squaring off against the Nazis, the desire to flee was understandable. Stalin believed that the presence of the troops would force the Soviet troops to fight even harder. Pushed forwards, the stark realization of soldiers was expressed by Grossman Once you are here, there is no way out.Either you will lose your head or your legs Everyone knows that those who turn and run would be shot on the spot. This was more terrifying than the Germans (Grossman 146). Under the constant strain of needing to ration supplies and consistently cut off from supply lines, soldiers had to make do with their limited resources. Given the treacherous nature of the constant advancement and overleap of luxuries, whenever there was time to enjoy the comfort brought by certain goods that had faded away from recent memory to distant memories, the time was relished and the goods provided relief to the men.In fact, Bidermann specifically noted several instances where his regiment and he would advert in luxuries that were not available to them by enjoying the spoils of war. Two August was marked by a dislocation in the monotonous field rations, when we boiled freshly dug potatoes in an unnamed Ukrainian village. Obserschutze Fehr had already plucked a chicken, and together with the boiled hen and potatoes we ate peeled cucumbers (Bidermann 24). In another instance, his clump discovered a still-intact collective farm and was able to enjoy hot coffee, schmalzbrot, and sleep in secondary thatched-roof huts.Though seemingly commonplace to us, moments such as these provided brief relief and respite from the horrors of daily life across the theatres, and allowed soldiers to momentaril y reflect on how life used to be. Constantly under an onslaught of forces that, if mishandled, could guinea pig a man to lose his mind, soldiers used some, if not all, of the aforementioned forms to provide relief or inhalant in persevering in their struggle. Under pressure, these men had to find whatever means by which to affect themselves to return safely home, and more so than that, return home as much themselves as before.