BATTLE FATIGUE.

[Ginger.]

Mannock broke down in tears in his friends house before taking over 85 Squadron. Ball asked for a rest as his nerve had gone. Both McCudden and Rhys Davids wrote of their depair at the unrelenting slaughter in private letters home. This quartet could do the job better than most yet still almost buckled under the strain.
Did any of the the German Aces experience or record anything similar, or were they made of sterner stuff due to their Tuetonic mentality?

[StephenLawson]

MvR wrote most of his letters home to his mother and she gave a sanitized version of her son in her published statements. We know that he lost all hope of Germany's victory soon after his wounding. A.E Ferko's book 'Richthofen' does a reasonable job of staying balanced. MvR is referred to as a 'hot headed little turk' in one paragraph. Some of his old form seemed to return in the few days before his death. It took a long cold winter and the solitude he seemed to love to bring him back for one last round. I am told that some of the 'silent old birds' have several of MvRs letters that dissappeared from the mothers home by at least two less than diligent servants.

[Barrett]

Hie thee to ye olde bookshoppe and get a copy of the Osprey D.VII aces volume. Very interesting comments from Berthold's letters. I'd like to see more that kind of material. The man was awesome: living and flying in agony but still Carrying On.

[Ginger.]

Cheers Barrett, just what the doctor ordered. Osprey D.VII and Camel Aces are both on order from Waterstone's as we speak.

Berthold and Nungesser are two of my fav's. These two OBVEOUSLY had battle and BODY fatigue. In Charles' case he seemed to like it(feeling beat up).

[Barker]

Cheers Barrett, just what the doctor ordered. *Osprey D.VII and Camel Aces are both on order from Waterstone's as we speak.

Just r'c'd Camel Aces yesterday - you'll enjoy it thoroughly, G.

Tell me bout D.7 aces and will que that up too.

This is a very interesting question Ginger !.
I was thinking about it while working on something entirely different , but an idea came to me . Of which i freely admit is just speculation . But by airing it , I'm hoping to keep this thread alive incase there are some other opinions out there ?.
I was wondering if in part , this could be put down to political correctness ??.
The Entente ( Allies ) were the winners of the war , this allowed them to be more free in there memoirs and to perhaps be a little more human in there discription of events . For the German servicemen , the loss of the war meant initially that their memoirs would not be in very high demand by the public . In the later half of the inter-war years , most personal accounts by German servicemen that I have read ( due to my inability to read German this means not so many ) reflect the political situation of the time and are very much written in a teutonic warrior vein ( quite similar to the Soviet accounts I have read that were written post WWII ).
It seems that although many times Battle fatigue , and shell shock are mentioned in relation to WWI German Aviators , not often are the symptoms discussed . Perhaps even the thoughts at the time that Battle fatigue was a crime and not an illness swayed some of them to omit memories of it from there writtings ?.
Certainly there are more than enough instances of it in the Luftwaffe , although it could be argued that their extended periods of service would send a robot to " pilots rest homes " .
Anyway , I was just thinking out loud . I was reading about your rifle collection Ginger , so if I hear something whistle by my ear ..I'll know your none too pleased with my thoughts ( i'm sure you'll add that if you have me in your sights , then i won't hear anything at all !! ..heh heh ).
BlackSeptember

[Rick]

There are documented cases of German aircrew men being sent to hospital, or otherwise cashiered, or transferred, for 'nerves'. Explanations are not given in the service records that I have seen. However, it was not at all uncommon for long-serving pilots and/or gunners of the Schusta/Schlasta to be transferred out with a case of 'nerves'. I do not believe that this was looked upon as a case of 'chicken', 'yellow', or 'cowardice', but simply as a fact of life.

Speaking for myself, and never having been engaged in combat, I think I might very well feel the need for a 'break' after a year or so at the front. Just IMHO. R.

hi Rick
Excellent points from you as always . Just one thing I was thinking , and thats about the stigma that some commanders attached to battle fatigue . For sure in most cases i think your right , and also you have a vast library and enormous knowledge to choose from . But in Albert Balls case , his need for a rest was " cured " by being sent to a two seater Squadron to " buck " up his idea's !. So there must have been some of that L.M.F. thoughts in some commanders heads .
As always , I enjoyed your post a lot , and please don't take that as a critisism , as I know that you are far more knowlegable than me in this field ...
But healthy debate is what makes this so much fun !!!!!
BlackSeptember

[Rick]

As always , I enjoyed your post a lot , and please don't take that as a critisism , as I know that you are far more knowlegable than me in this field ...
But healthy debate is what makes this so much fun !!!!!

Not a problem R.