Further contributing to the crisis with the heavy losses taken by the First Canadian Army in the Battle of the Scheldt, in what was easily the most difficult and bloody battle fought by the Canadians in north-west Europe with, for example, the Black Watch regiment and the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry regiment both suffering 50% casualty rates while fighting by the banks of the river Scheldt in October 1944. As more and more Canadians were killed or wounded during the Battle of the Scheldt without anyone to replace them, the survivors were required to do more with less, which imposed major psychological strains on the front-line infantry. Many soldiers were psychologically broken by the stress of the bloody fighting by the Scheldt, falling victim to battle exhaustion as they curled up in a fetal position and refused to move, which made the manpower shortages even worse. Such were the shortages of manpower that the Army refused to provide proper treatment for men suffering from battle exhaustion, giving them the shortest possible period of rest and treatment before sending them back to the front, a policy criticized by the Army's psychiatrists as inhumane. One soldier, Major Ben Dunkelman of the Queen's Own Rifles regiment wrote at the time: "We knew why leaves were so scarce. Thanks to Prime Minister Mackenzie King's handling of the Conscription issue at home". Another soldier serving in Italy, Brigadier Bill Murphy wrote to his wife: "I personally will never cast another Liberal vote as long as King as anything to do with the party. Of the armies in Italy, only that of Canada has no provisions for home leave", the reason for which was "that there are no men to replace them-except the Zombie Army. And to preserve the Zombies' precious skins the volunteers just have to take it".