43rd Division Paper on Unit Cohesion and Neuropsychosis

[postmanusnac]

This is a pretty interesting paper written by Major Fuschak in 1999 that I mentioned when posting my 43rd uniform.  He analyzes their preparation for war and ultimately why the 43rd was ill prepared for combat, which led to the high number of psychosis, shell shock, PTSD, etc.

 

One of the items he point out, I noticed when reading a history of the 1st Connecticut (169th Infantry).  The book would detail who the particular officers of the regiment were at various times during WW2. One particular list was of interest to me and it was of the company commanders when the regiment  entered combat in mid-1943.  I bounced that list off of the company commanders who were photographed for the 1942 pictorial review at Camp Shelby.  One all companies only a few names remained from their time in training.  All others had been ripped out for various purpose, but ultimately the men didn’t go Into combat who the leaders they trained with, which was one of several reason the division as a whole lacked unit cohesion.

 

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a367913.pdf