It is July 1st, 1916, the start of the Battle of the Somme, we had to go out of the trenches and walk into No-Man's-Land and through the French river in the north called the Somme. The aim of this battle is to draw German forces away from Battle of Verdun, where the French forces are suffering severe losses. We are going to get out of the trenches and charge to the enemies. I hope that our machine gunners hold the Germans off, as it is not a good idea to be overwhelmed and taken out by the Germans. I heard from the Commander that we were going to shell the German dugouts. When the whistles blew, we rushed out through the ladders, some of the men in our platoon were shot down just as the climbed up the ladders, it was a really horrible sight, seeing so many men die in just a few seconds. My diarist, who was walking within a meter with me, was shot in the arm, where he immediately fell down so I helped him back down to the trench so the medics could bandage him up.
Battles like this continued, it started to wear me and the other men down. Throughout the 4 months in the battle, we pushed on forward like this, it really is starting to wear me down, it made me really regret joining the army.
At last, the battle ended on 18th November, with 5800 troops (a third) killed on the first day. Our total losses were 420000, the French had 200000 casualties, while the Germans had 500000. I did not think that the battle was a success, even though we won. We lost too much men and it wasn't very rewarding.
It was not worth the effort and the casualties.
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War is a fascinating subject. Despite the dubious morality of using violence to achieve personal or political aims. It remains that conflict has been used to do just that throughout recorded history.
Your article is very well done, a good read.
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