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The most drastic change in military tactics that affected the masculinity of a soldier was the use of Trench warfare. Trenches were ditches that extended on for miles, that were suppose to be used as protection from gunfire. They promoted disease and infection due to drainage and sewage. Many soldiers died from malnutrition, due to the lack and intake of rotten food. In between the trenches of the opposing sides was a massive stretch of land that was filled with barbed wire and explosive mines. This land was called No Mans Land and was where soldiers were ordered to leave the trenches and march to their doom. Eventually this barbaric war led many of the men to suffer mental breakdowns, making it impossible for them to remain in the frontline. Doctors came to the conclusion that the men's condition was caused by the enemy's heavy artillery, a condition known as "Shell Shock." The arrival of Trench warfare and new military technology caused many officers to go into this state, loosing their courage and bravery as men. .
Pat Barker's novel Regeneration is focused on the cause, effect and treatment of shell shock therapy and how the mental disease affected the male ego during World War I. Dr. W.H.R. Rivers is a psychiatrist at a mental hospital in Craig Lockhart, Scotland, who is experimenting with a new method for curing "damaged" officers. Officers were "trained to identify emotional repression as the essence of manliness," although since they suffered a break down they have to face the humiliation of being "feminine" (44). Within the first couple of pages of the book Sassoon asks Bryce, "Can you imagine what our dear Director of Medical Services is going to say, when he finds out we"re sheltering "conchies" as well as cowards, shirker, scrimshankers, and degenerates" (6)? It seems ironic though that River's method of treatment involves seemingly even more unmanly actions, as the patients are forced to express their emotions and feelings, which went against the "whole tenor of their upbringing"(44).
