Dearest mother and father, 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 …show more content…
I hear gun going off all the time and when I wake up I?m in a different room. Some soldiers say its shell shock where you think your still in war when you?re not. I just hope this war ends soon I can?t take it anymore. I feels like I haven?t slept in forever. I think they will put me back in the trenches soon. Their starting to keep the wounded there in the trenches where they end up dying. The hospital is getting too full of men. Nurses say they amputate at least 20 legs and arms a day. In the back they have bodies covered to bring back to where they lived. I miss the family. I hear brother had to enlist too. I tried my best to have him located in communication but I don?t think they got my message. I have been looking for him and hoping I don?t have to pick him up. At some times I want to go back into the field but other times I am glad they located me where I
Lewis Milestone’s “All’s Quiet on the Western Front”, based on Erich Remarque’s novel, is an incredibly disturbing and effective anti-war film. The grainy black and white film is still not outdated and carries a breathtaking initial impact. The prologue that introduces the film gives its anti-war intentions immediately and beautifully.
In the poem “At The Somme: A Song of the Mud” by a woman named Mary Borden, the author describes what really happens during battle to help reader realize the terrible conditions soldiers must endure. At the beginning of the poem, the author explains how the mud in the war zone is very difficult to deal with. The mud gets in the way of everything and makes fighting hard. The explains that it gets in the way by saying, “His coat that once was blue and now is grey and stiff with the mud that cakes it.”
A prominent theme in A Long Way Gone is about the loss of innocence from the involvement in the war. A Long Way Gone is the memoir of a young boy, Ishmael Beah, wanders in Sierra Leone who struggles for survival. Hoping to survive, he ended up raiding villages from the rebels and killing everyone. One theme in A long Way Gone is that war give innocent people the lust for revenge, destroys childhood and war became part of their daily life.
The day to day life for the regular soldier was not glorious. Many times the regiments were low on supplies such as food and clothing. They lived in the elements. Medical conditions were grotesque because of the lack of advanced equipment and anesthesia. “Discipline was enforced with brutality” as if all the other conditions were not bad enough.
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.
In my opinion the trenches were terrible in most case, from the awful stench and the infestation of rats to the lice and shell shock; the front line trenches were unforgiving, brutal and cruel. In opposition, not everything was terrible, the trenches were for many, the first time many soldiers had the chance to have a three course meal, and they could rest and make letters. However these sources are limited by the fact that it focuses on only one aspect of the First World War and hence leave out the full picture. Overall, the sources are reliable and as such help me to understand the conditions of the trenches through the experiences of the soldiers of the First World War.
It is evident that WW1 soldiers were deeply impacted by the war. Historians have found numerous journals and diaries that tells personal experiences from soldiers. Especially since this was a war that had a lot of new inventions, these soldiers had a lot to write about. Trench warfare changed the war entirely. Generals had to come up with better fighting tactics to make advances during the war. Prior to WW1 battles were fought out in the open and with less protection. There was no barb wire or sandbags to protect these soldiers. Life in the trenches were rough with constant firing occurring every few seconds. This made it very difficult for them to rest. In the trench soldiers are active all day and have to be ready for combat at all times. The daily journal of Pvt. Donald Fraser gives great detail of what actually took place on the battlefield.
Living in a time of war is not easy for anyone, and the expansive nature of the current war can make it even harder. Though many people in America may not feel as if they have been effected by the ongoing war, it is likely that everyone has in some way, shape or form. One group most effected are those who have loved ones serving in the military. People with family members that are serving have to face significant hardship and challenges as they cope with a person they care about being in danger. Being away means that family members often don’t have as deep of emotional relationships and while technology can sometimes make that easier, it can also be more frustrating. I don’t know where my uncle is now, and millions of others have the same issue. War truly is hell, for the people fighting and the families back at home. It effects everyone.
What World War One soldiers faced during the war was unimaginable for anyone to go through. A lot of the fighting was trench warfare. The conditions of the trenches were horrible and disgusting. Trenches smelled like chemicals like creosol and chlorine that was used to keep diseases and infections from spreading. The smells of dead rotting flesh of men who died, men who had not showered in weeks or months, and the smell of sweat and sour feet odor was prevalent throughout the trenches. The stability of the trenches was not the greatest establishment for men to be living and fighting in because they could easily collapse due to rainfall. The thick mud that they would constantly have to stand in was causing many soldiers to develop trench foot..A constant battle they faced in the trenches were rats and mice. Rats would grow to sizes of cats and crawl across the chests of men when they were sleeping. Lice would never stop breeding; they would nest in the seams of clothing and they would never go away, they would cause the men to itch. In the western front during World War One, at least one third of allied deaths happened in the trenches. (Life in Trenches). The fighting and death they saw would be hard for anyone to see. In the article...
Today on April 10th, 1775 I awoke with a terrible hangover. Last night I was at the pub and already had a lot to drink, when a gentlemen approached me from the Royal Navy’s Recruiting Squad. I accepted the “kings Shilling” I was so naïve to fall into their trap. What have I done? I am now enlisted for life. I’m so upset; I can’t believe this is happening now. I feel as if my heart is in my stomach, and, my stomach is on the floor. This fells like a nightmare that I have yet awoken from. I just keep thinking what can I do to get myself out of this terrible nightmare? I was naïve enough to accept the kings sign on bonus, Since I accepted the sign on bonus, theirs no backing out, for the rest of my life!
Diary of a Soldier Fighting Against the Japanese July 2, 1942 Dear diary, Another bloody day! I can't wait to get home and take a long bath. News has it that the Japanese are slowly moving their way down 'ere. Just recently they took that island Guadalcanal.
During his leave, perhaps Baumer’s most striking realization of the vacuity of words in his former society occurs when he is alone in his old room in his parents’ house. After being unsuccessful in feeling a part of his old society by speaking with his mother and his father and his father’s friends, Baumer attempts to reaffiliate with his past by once again becoming a resident of the place. Here, among his mementos, the pictures and postcards on the wall, the familiar and comfortable brown leather sofa, Baumer waits for something that will allow him to feel a part of his pre-enlistment world. It is his old schoolbooks that symbolize that older, more contemplative, less military world and which Baumer hopes will bring him back to his younger innocent ways.
Trench warfare was introduced in order to bring a barrier between forces. They were dug by soldiers and were very lengthy, but very cramped. Soldiers crouched down for extended periods of time to keep their heads blocked from being a target for the other side. They sat their watching their friends die from disease and from being shot, bombed, or poison gassed while they waited to fire their weapons at the enemy.
The ceaseless slaughter, which occurred on the Western Front during World War I, raised uncertainty among the colonies regarding Europe’s suitability to rule. Due to the unnecessary and extensive death of youth in Europe, the famous image of Europeans being superior and civilized beings slowly diminished. As a result, some of the top thinkers and political leaders among the colonized individuals of Africa and Asia openly criticized the Europeans and expressed their overall disillusionment with the West. In the excerpts on page 658 titled, “Lessons for the Colonized from the Slaughter in the Trenches,” the writers from these civilizations champion various aspects of their own culture, both explicitly and implicitly, as alternatives to the West;
While defending their country in wars, thousands of brave souls perish, forcing their loved ones to move on without them. Others are lucky compared to these soldiers because they get to return home suffering from minor things such as disease, injury, or nightmares. In combat, warriors are forced to see horrific things that scare them mentally for the rest of their lives. Others are physically scarred and are constantly reminded of their treacherous memories from serving in the military. Often times, sleeping turns into a hassle for the veterans because they re-live the atrocities that occurred on the battlefield.