III - A Soldier's Lot

Summary

The thoughts on the mind of soldiers going off to the war were how to win, how to survive to the end, not to be wounded or taken prisoner. Most were not thinking of deserting, at least not in the initial phase of the war. But there were not many lucky enough not to be injured, fall ill, or be taken prisoner.

1. The wounded

The statistics for the wounded were far higher than for those who were killed. In the German army to the end of 1915 the figures for the dead (killed or dead of their wounds) were 628 thousand; while the figures for the wounded were 1,595 thousand. By November 1918 the numbers injured in all the armies exceeded 20 million. In Britain there were 27 thousand veterans receiving invalid pensions still in 1980. Medical staff tried to help soldiers recover as fast as possible, so that they could return to the front. The numbers serving in a division depended on the rate at which convalescents returned to the front, which in turn determined the outcome of combat. In the German forces 52% of injured officers, and 44.7% of injured men recovered enough to resume service; in the British army the figure for officers and men averaged about 45%. Many of those injured more than once returned to the front. The record-holder was Bernard Freyberg, a Briton resident in New Zealand, injured 9 times.