Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-11
Combat Fotigue Found
TO Be Largely Physical
Scientists Test in Kored
Explode 'MentoI' Theory
BY Thomas r. Henry

Combat fatigue Of the last war-pre-
Sumably the same as shell shock of
World War lis definite physical
condition.
Prolonged fear and stress Of the bat
tlefield have much the same effects on
the body as severe infection.
This has been demonstrated by a
group OF Johns Hopkins University
scientists, operating under q contract
with the Army, together with Army
and Navy psychologists and physiolo-
gists, who studied physical conditions
Of men in the front lines in Korea.
There has long been question as to
whether the nervous breakdowns of
soldiers were entirely mental The
present results, recently published at
Johns Hopkins, indicate that they pri-
marily are physical.
12O Men Tested.
The researchers, according to the re-
port. ran detailed tests on 100 men in
three groups. One was combat group
which had been engaged in intensive
fighting for 100 hours during which
they had sustained 70 per cent
casualties.
The second group had been engaged
in less intensive fighting for five days
under almost constant artillery fire,
but with only per cent casualties.
The third was control group of SOL
diers behind the lines.
Measures of blood. urine and saliva
showed that the men who had stood
five days of combat were far worse
off than those who had been in inten-
sive fighting for Is hours. The former
showed severe exhaustion of the
adrenal gland output of hormones. This
output was well below normal and
could be increased very little by stimu-
lation with ACTH, the pituitary gland
hormone which stimulates the adrenals.
The l8-hour men, on the other hand,
were above normal in adrenal activity.
There was severe dehydration of the
body, especially after the intensive
fighting. This showed even when the
returning soldiers had had an ample
water supply in their canteens. APP
parently, the research team concluded,
stress may dehydrate man and at
the same time suppress normal thirst.
There was a violent blood count
change" says the report, Gin that adult
white cells almost disappeared. The
normal ratio of adult to immature cells
is about Is to one. After combat it
dropped as low as one to three, indi-
eating that the adult cells had almost
vanished. Where and how they go is
unknown, but the condition has been
observed previously only in case of
severe burns or near-fatal infections.
This physiological change is the most
striking evidence found of the extrem-
ity of stress which the infantryman
suffers.
There was enormous variation be-
tween individual soldiers. One theory
is that all have the same pattern of
exhaustion but that they tire at diff
ferent rates. The tired man is not af-
fected more, but faster. What he shows
after Is hours of combat another
would show after 30 hours. A second
theory is that the effects vary because
individuals have different feelings about
combat.
obviously the Psychological effects
Of stress are critically important to
soldiers effectiveness. The researchers
did establish that artillery Smelling is
particularly stressful. compared to
small arms fire and hand-to-hand
fighting, presumably because Of the
Illustration in not being able to fight
back"