Can fighting really scare soldiers silly? Why do you understand it when you look at old photos of American soldiers from a hundred years ago?

Whether it is the tragedy of "one general succeeds and ten thousand bones wither", or the hardship of "a general dies in a hundred battles and a strong man returns in ten years", we can all appreciate the cruelty of war. Every war will produce casualties, so how about the millions of soldiers who are fighting for the country on the front lines and feel scared the moment the war starts? Below, we use photos to find out whether soldiers will be scared stupid on the battlefield. (Can fighting really scare soldiers into silence? Look at the old photos of American soldiers from a hundred years ago, and you will understand)

This is a photo captured by a reporter during the Battle of the Somme. The soldiers in the photo are both His eyes were dull and hollow, and there was a weird and inappropriate smile on his face, and his arm had been injured by a shell. He sat numbly in the trench and allowed the military doctor to bandage his wound, but he seemed to have lost his sense of pain. No reaction at all.

The Battle of the Somme took place on July 1, 1916. It was a famous battle recorded in the annals of history during World War I and was famous for its bloody brutality. This battle was huge in scale and suffered heavy casualties. The British and French forces tried to break through the German defenses, but it lasted for four months and still made no effective progress. In this war, the number of British and French casualties reached more than 600,000, including 146,000. The Germans, as the defensive side, had fewer casualties, but 343,000 were injured and 122,000 died.

In that battle, there were many mentally disturbed people. They witnessed how fragile life is under artillery fire. Maybe a teammate who is by your side to remind you to pay attention to bullets one second may be injured the next second. There was an extra hole, and the eyes were closed forever. What's more, an enemy's artillery shell flew over, and more than a dozen of our own people were blown to pieces. However, many generals did not consider the problem from the perspective of soldiers. They believed that this was a sign of cowardice and shot many deserters.

The war equipment of World War II was more complete than that of World War I, and the power of artillery fire was also greater. The photo below was taken after the Battle of Eniwetok Island. Photos captured by reporters. The person in the photo is an American soldier. You can see that his eyes are dull and empty, and he seems to have entered a closed state. He is completely unable to think. Because he cannot walk, he has to be dragged forward by his companions.

This photo is called the "thousand-yard stare", which refers to the fact that soldiers saw too many casualties on the battlefield, and their brains were stimulated, resulting in neurasthenia and inability to think, resulting in fear and sluggishness. Later, Canada also filmed a film called "The Thousand Yard Stare", which tells the story of soldiers who were stimulated on the battlefield and returned home after the war, but were unable to integrate into normal family life. .

In the age of cold weapons, soldiers may still be able to give the enemy a fight, but in World War I and World War II, with continuous artillery fire and hail of bullets, they may know that the danger is coming, but have no choice but to avoid it. Can accept death. With the help of artillery fire, the number of people killed in wars was many times greater than in the cold weapon era. Therefore, the more advanced the weapons, the more people died in wars. This is also the reason why many soldiers were scared to death in World War I and World War II.

Their "silliness" was actually "post-traumatic stress disorder". During World War II, many countries began to notice the mental problems of frontline soldiers and no longer used the word "cowardice" to downplay the suffering they suffered. of harm. With the development of science and technology, war will only become more and more cruel. I hope that in the future world, people can remember the painful lessons of history, work together to maintain peace, and prevent tragedies from happening again.