The 43rd Infantry Division: Unit Cohesion and Neuropsychiatric Casualties.

Abstract

This study investigates unit cohesion as it relates to neuropsychiatric casualties in the 43rd Infantry Division in World War II. The 43rd was a National Guard Division federalized in 1941 and sent to the South Pacific, where it sustained over 15 percent neuropsychiatric casualties in its first action on New Georgia Island, The Solomon Islands, from July to September 1943. The study explores the multiple causes of these casualties, to include ignorance of lessons learned regarding neuropsychiatric casualties in World War I, general unpreparedness, poor training, and inexperienced leadership. The study emphasizes the importance of knowledge of the enemy and of basic military psychology in developing units capable of performing well under the stress of combat. Lacking in cohesion, the 43rd was susceptible to the large number of neuropsychiatric casualties it sustained.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 04, 1999
Accession Number
ADA367913

Entities

People

  • K. G. Fuschak

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Birds
  • Business Administration
  • Employment
  • Health Services
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Science
  • Navy
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychology
  • Second World War
  • Social Psychology
  • Students
  • Terrain
  • Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Warfare

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Library and Information Science/ Studies, Southeast Asia Studies, Bibliography of Vietnam and Lao Studies.
  • Military Science