Honey, this has been the longest year of my life, life here is absolutely terrible. It’s only been a year since I have been ranked to Specialist E-7 and sent to Verdun and it has been nothing but pure chaos. As of Last week the 21st of February at 7:12 AM the first shot from a German Krupp landed at Verdun. Lifting up your head you can only see bullets flying everywhere nonstop, it’s a constant battle for land and to weaken the oppositions army. We were told to stay low until ordered to fire, but then our Commanding Officer almost forced us into charging into the Krauts Trenches. Luckily they chose to send a different divisions to risk their lives, God bless their souls. Though since they charged we got bombarded with hundreds of shells the next few days. Disease ran rapid as well, such as Trench Foot it has been a major disease here, my friend Private John Huberts shot himself in his foot after getting this disease, he’s been sent back to Dijon to be treated ever since I haven’t heard from him since. The mud is the second worst part of these trenches, though the constant Rats running around definitely take the cake, every night being woken up from these rats running across you is infuriating for the most part. Also these rats have been eating all our food supply leaving many to starve in the trenches. …show more content…
By now I’d say we lost at least 60% of our first divisions in the first week, this battle is completely brutal, though them Krauts are losing just as many men as well so we’ll hold these invaders back for the Glory of the UK and the
Entente! They said this war would be over by Christmas, that was hardly true this war has been waging over the past 2 years now! All because of the Imperialist ambitions of the Central Powers, those no good Krauts will suffer for what they did during this war! All I could hope for is returning to Plymouth and wait for this war to blow over, though since that’s not the case I will fight till the last man. Though I am currently starving, laying in my bed hoping for at least 2 hours of rest, that could get me through the day. Though there is no rest in war, I’ll just have to continue fighting for my country, for my fellow soldiers, and for my family at home. What has happened here, can never be forgotten all the men who have fallen for a couple inches of land is terrifying, these Krauts caused this unnecessary bloodbath, it’s time we finish it. Once this war is over, I may not be in such well condition, but hopefully I return to you in the best condition I can possibly be in…. I’ll return home, I promise, I’ll continue to write hopefully this reaches you. I love you, God Save the King! God save the Nation! God bless our souls!
Just like you I had once fallen for all of the propaganda going around Germany. An old teacher I used to know named Kantorich had filled my and many of my classmates heads with patriotic reasons to why we should join the army. We eventually gave in to this crazy man and signed in. From the very first battle I have been in all I have been around is horror, bodies tangling into unnatural shapes, blood and tears everywhere, along with watching close friends of mine die horrible deaths. One of my classmates named Joseph Behm was the most reluctant to give into Kantorek’s pressure, he died a very slow and horrible death. Another close friend of mine had received a leg wound and, after treatment, took a day or two to realize that he had his leg amputated. Soon after, he had died also. I have been around many horrific battles where I have found myself diving into unburied graves to just stay alive. Over and over again I see men turned into a mush of blood and splintered bones and I wonder when it will be my turn to get it. Tobacco and card games seem to be my only salvation to maintain my sanity. The only hope that I have seen demonstrated out of any of my fellow soldiers has been scarce talk about who will do what after the war. I personally feel that my peers and I have had the rest of our lives stolen from us. Even if I do get out of this nightmare I realize that I have no established life to come back to, my old hobby in poetry has escaped me as it seems that all of this awfulness has made me a hardened man, ignorant to all of the old interests that I had.
I will use my own knowledge as well as many sources from the booklet provided. The sources that I shall use will come from many categories including primary accounts of soldiers in the trenches, photographs, paintings, propaganda and official government accounts. I will note the uses of the sources including their strengths and weaknesses, their provenance, reliability the importance and usefulness as well as the limitations of their usefulness. In section A, I will look at sources from history textbooks describing what life was like in the trenches. Most of the sources in this section are official accounts produced by the government and are therefore probably reliable however there is evidence to suggest that these are used for propaganda or censored.
From early in the war, in May of 1914, Blunden recalled his experience in the trenches of France. Structured with sandbag walls, the Old British Line in which the men were stationed was only a frail comfort, as the trenches were often only one row deep with no additional protection against debris caused by artillery shells. Communication between the between the front line and the Old British Line was provided some covered by through the Cover Trench, although Prior’s account of returning from The Island, the front line, states that he had to pause every two minutes to lay in a ditch along the road to avoid the infamous German machine guns. The Germans bombarded the Cover Trench with heavy fire and large shells over the farmhouse and its residents, including children. Because the Germans were known for using gas, Blunden and his men underwent training to prepare for attacks. After completing this course, he was sent to the dugout near Cuinchy Keep, which was described as “dirty, bloodthirsty and wearisome,” primarily due to the number of mines which had already been exploded, and that it was not completely finished. However, when fighting in the trenches, “There was nothing for it but to copy experience, and experience was nothing but a casual protection.”
In previous centuries soldiers had confronted each other from fixed places— however certainly not for years at a time and by no means withstanding the physical and psychological circumstances of WW1 1914–1918. The trenches were the front lines: the most treacherous places World War 1 trenches were dirty, smelly and riddled with disease. For soldier’s life in the trenches meant living in fear. In fear of diseases (like cholera and trench foot) and of course, the constant fear of enemy attack. Trench warfare WW1 style is something all participating countries vowed never to repeat and the facts make it easy to see why.
Today is the day before we go over the top. I’m dreading it, dying or
I hope everything is okay at home. I was deployed to Iwo Jima 2 weeks ago and we started to prepare for the American invasion. We dug trenches and set up beach defenses. I fear that these will not be much use because of the massive amount of soldiers the Americans have. We just started digging our tunnels and setting up machine guns and artillery in the mountains. I believe this will be our best chance of delaying the American invasion of the homeland. The moral of the men is very low, we have very little to eat and the bombings have started. We work all day to build up defenses to try and stall the U.S forces but in the end I think that defeat is inevitable. I fear I will not come back, we are suppose to commit suicide if defeated. I hope that I will one day return home
“ I repeat, anyone living within 100 miles of Mt. Everest, please evacuate. This is not a joke, evacuate right now,” the news anchor cautioned.
I have made it to France. They assigned me to the trenches and it?s a nightmare. Mud everywhere, rats, dead people being walked on. Theirs bombs going off every couple of minutes? men crying out, I haven?t been able to sleep. My food is getting stolen from the rats and have to have rations with others and one meal can?t feed all of us. That?s not all. The officers make plan to get across no man?s land, the distance from our trenches to German trenches, jump into the trench and shoot as many as you can. So many men die from this. Most die from disease. Like lice and trench foot. Trench foot is something most or all soldiers get from their wet socks and it makes your foot soft. So soft it starts to fall off or have so much pain that they have to take it off. Last night they put me on watch duty. This is when you have to look over the sand bags and watch for germens coming over. You wouldn?t see it until about five feet in front of you. This was really hard because I didn?t want to get my head blown off. Once you see them coming they
The Creature That Opened My Eyes Sympathy, anger, hate, and empathy, these are just a few of the emotions that came over me while getting to know and trying to understand the creature created by victor frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. For the first time I became completely enthralled in a novel and learned to appreciate literature not only for the great stories they tell but also for the affect it could have on someones life as cliché as that might sound, if that weren’t enough it also gave me a greater appreciation and understanding of the idiom “never judge a book by its cover.” As a pimply faced, insecure, loner, and at most times self absorbed sophomore in high school I was never one to put anytime or focus when it came time
It's so boring here, nothing to do but marching and lookout. Can't see anything at the moment, it's too dark. Half our platoon are under 30 years. No one here was eager to hear that they were being dragged off to New Guinea to fight against the Japs. It's been a while since the last letter Janine sent me and I'm waiting for the next.
Dear mom and dad, life in the trenches has become harder and harder. Its horrid. The smell of bodies burns through the cloth I hold over my nose and the rats, the rats are the size of cats from the amount of corpses they eat and they do not fear humans. My feet are never dry and I fear I’ll contract Trench Foot.
A city was fast asleep as the night shrouded it. The only ones awake were those who belong to the night. A young man ran down the sidewalk, panting heavily.
I’ve been listed into the Canadian army because I saw this war as an exciting opportunity to go overseas with my chums and fight for our nation! Unfortunately, I was unaware of the reality which lied ahead in the war. Throughout the war, we currently live in the trenches and the conditions are terrible. During the day, we wait for an enemy attack, but if it doesn’t occur, we are obligated to do boring chores. This involves cleaning our equipment, filling sandbags and repairing boards.
I just received my ANZAC biscuits their quite nice thanks to you for adding extra sugar this time. The battle of Passchendale has been going for 3 months now and its coming round to time for me to leave. I am quite desperate for it to finish before I leave because I don’t want to leave my mates behind and them be called into help because its very brutal and its not going very good on either side. Good news the battle finished just before I was set to leave. I have two days till I am leaving for London. I’ll let you know when I get to London.
Typically when people think about me their thought process inevitably leads them to ponder on violence which appears to be caused by religious disputes, most notably of these occurrences being the Crusades. This often leaves individuals questioning my inhabitants and quartering them off into rigid binaries of Christian and Muslim: us versus them. This fixation scholars and thinkers have had for centuries is incredibly frustrating, as it delineates from understanding my true identity, but it also perpetuates misconceptions about my Islamic citizens which continue to exist to this very day. This misjudgment of my character doesn’t allow individuals to realize that my existence has encouraged and at times forced the cooperation between civilizations