WW1’s mental strain

Part one: the conversations and notes of soldiers

The soldiers of World War one, were known with great honour, and they deserve
all the honour they received, but there are some discrepancies with the notes
some soldiers have be it in their journals, notes to their families, or just
conversations they have on record/tape.

Sometimes the notes and communications soldiers have are a lot different to the
common imagery of the public, there are some notes talking about soldiers
retreating, breaking down and crying hands in the air, and the soldiers shooting
and killing them anyway, even describing it as if they had enjoyed it, one quote
being ‘there’s nothing like seeing a bayonet sink deep into the enemy’s flesh’.
these notes almost sound like something stated out of psychosis, even though
they are not murderers, rather soldiers fighting for their country.

In conclusion, this sparks the thought on the mental corrosion of the mind and
the thoughts a soldier may have when fighting for the country in the first wave
or frontline, along with any other waves of soldiers coming soon after.

Part 2: Possible reasons behind mental corrosion:

There are many possible reasons behind why the mental state of a soldier in
1914-1918 was so horribly twisted and broken, some of the main reasons are
related to, the strain of the possibility of being gassed by the other side, the
physical strain of the trenches and trench foot along with the mental effects of
constant death and dying people along with dead bodies littering the frontline,
shouting and conflict between the allies and the axis.
(I have got no internet when writing this so some quotes may be slightly
distorted from the real counterparts