I'm having a difficult time finding information about how the Wehrmacht dealt with cases of shell shock/PTSD among its ranks. One of the problems is that German soldiers always seem to be depicted in American history books as nameless, faceless, stoic, and fearless. I assume Germans were just as susceptible to shell shock as anyone else. Can someone please steer me toward a helpful source about this topic? Thank you.
This thread might help you. http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=11899 Some of the works recommended in it. Antony Beevor´s "Stalingrad" 'Homecomings: Returning POWs and the Legacies of defeat in Post-War Germany' by Frank Biess
This is anecdotal, but Standartenfuhrer (Colonel) Joachim Peiper of the 1st Waffen SS Panzer Division had two nervous breakdowns fighting in western Europe in 1944. The first time, in Normandy, he was evacuated back to Germany with a diagnosis of "Jaundice" to cover the blot on his record. He was given a couple of months of rest and returned to duty. In December during the evacuation from La Gleize he broke down again and this time it was handled internally within the division. He was kept off the line for a while, which would have been the case anyway since his regiment had almost ceased to exist. Peiper is probably not typical since he was a protege of Himmler, but certainly the Germans made allowances for battle fatigue. I would think the second episode (quietly kept off the line for a period) would be more typical.
KB I believe hit the nail on the head. I've read many German soldier accounts of suffering battle fatigue and were simply taken out of forward positions to combat the symptoms.
