War Story (Need a Hand)

[manchester blue]

Don't use the mistake you've made above [using "of" instead of "have"] in your essay or you'll be marked down. They probably would not say much in a war situation. Exchanging pleasantries probably would have led to death.

What Prestwich said is correct. You could add that they went over the top to certain death. Anyone who refused was shot dead by their own commander. WW1 was a truely horrible and hopeless war.

 

[LongsightM13]

End it with 'and then I woke up. It was all a dream!'

 

[scall11]

Basically they'd go over the top, and face a barrage of machine gun fire. They'd hear bullets whizzing past their ears and the screams of comrades who had been hit. They'd be running over dead bodies, some of which could have been there for weeks. They could end up standing on the body of one of their mates (a lot of regiments were formed at workplaces and towns, and everyone in a town would sign up together, go to war together, and die together) charging forward. Bombs and mines would be going off too.

If they were lucky enough to make it even close to the enemy trench they'd have to jump down into the enemy trench, get through barbed wire, and stab the enemy with the bayonet at the end of their rifle, as they probably used up all the ammunition they had in the charge over No Mans Land.

Very few people got this far, so they could find themselves in the enemy trench, surrounded, one their own and wouldn't last long at all.

It would take months and months to advance mere metres. As Manchester Blue said, it was a pointless war. And going over the top probably meant certain death.

The way Blackadder finished off, summed it up perfectly:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IglUmgYGxLM[/youtube]

 

[Newlunar]

You could begin your story with the events on the Messines ridge on the Ypres salient, 7th June 1917 (I think). The British sappers (RE), after tunnelling under the German lines for months detonated 19 huge underground explosions. There were 21 but two didn't go off. One went off years after the war and the remaining one is still under Flanders somewhere, unexploded but noone knows where it is!

I visited the crater pictured below. When it was detonated it killed thousands of German troops in a heart beat. Some were found in dugouts near to the explosion sat up without a hair out of place, the shock killed them stone dead. Many others were so stupified they surrendered immediately. The British advanced several miles that day (dispelling the myth that no one ever gained any territory) the Germans took it all back in their last major Spring offensive in 1918.

The Great War of 1914-1919 is a source of neverending facination to me. If I can help you anymore send me a pm and good luck.

 

[lunebleu]

You could begin your story with the events on the Messines ridge on the Ypres salient, 7th June 1917 (I think). The British sappers (RE), after tunnelling under the German lines for months detonated 19 huge underground explosions. There were 21 but two didn't go off. One went off years after the war and the remaining one is still under Flanders somewhere, unexploded but noone knows where it is!

I visited the crater pictured below. When it was detonated it killed thousands of German troops in a heart beat. Some were found in dugouts near to the explosion sat up without a hair out of place, the shock killed them stone dead. Many others were so stupified they surrendered immediately. The British advanced several miles that day (dispelling the myth that no one ever gained any territory) the Germans took it all back in their last major Spring offensive in 1918.

The Great War of 1914-1919 is a source of neverending facination to me. If I can help you anymore send me a pm and good luck.

?
Is that Hooge?

 

[chedinho]

You could begin your story with the events on the Messines ridge on the Ypres salient, 7th June 1917 (I think). The British sappers (RE), after tunnelling under the German lines for months detonated 19 huge underground explosions. There were 21 but two didn't go off. One went off years after the war and the remaining one is still under Flanders somewhere, unexploded but noone knows where it is!

I visited the crater pictured below. When it was detonated it killed thousands of German troops in a heart beat. Some were found in dugouts near to the explosion sat up without a hair out of place, the shock killed them stone dead. Many others were so stupified they surrendered immediately. The British advanced several miles that day (dispelling the myth that no one ever gained any territory) the Germans took it all back in their last major Spring offensive in 1918.

The Great War of 1914-1919 is a source of neverending facination to me. If I can help you anymore send me a pm and good luck.

tunnelling in this fashion was a speciality of the oldham pals as a lot of the men were coal miners.i dont know if they were responsible for this particular action but digging trenches and tunnelling seems to have been a big part of their work.much to the annoyance to the people of rochdale,who thought they were losing a lot of their own men by having to go over the top.
oldham also has one of the best war memorials in the north of england which again annoyed the people of rochdale,who thought the oldham pals had it easy and didnt do any proper fighting.

 

[NPBlue]

Altrincham has what was described by King George V in a letter of thanks to the town in 1919, 'the bravest street in England'.

Chapel St, which no longer exists, contributed 161 men from 60 houses.

29 died.

There is a plaque on the wall of 'The Grapes' restaurant on Regent Road in memory of the men.

 

[stony]

Great poem and a great help too. Does anyone know what one would of said when they seen an enemy?

"Eat lead Fritz"

 

[tueartsboots]

<a class="postlink" href="http://classiclit.about.com/od/allquietonthewestern/a/aa_allquietquot.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://classiclit.about.com/od/allquiet ... etquot.htm</a>

 

[Newlunar]

You could begin your story with the events on the Messines ridge on the Ypres salient, 7th June 1917 (I think). The British sappers (RE), after tunnelling under the German lines for months detonated 19 huge underground explosions. There were 21 but two didn't go off. One went off years after the war and the remaining one is still under Flanders somewhere, unexploded but noone knows where it is!

I visited the crater pictured below. When it was detonated it killed thousands of German troops in a heart beat. Some were found in dugouts near to the explosion sat up without a hair out of place, the shock killed them stone dead. Many others were so stupified they surrendered immediately. The British advanced several miles that day (dispelling the myth that no one ever gained any territory) the Germans took it all back in their last major Spring offensive in 1918.

The Great War of 1914-1919 is a source of neverending facination to me. If I can help you anymore send me a pm and good luck.

?
Is that Hooge?

It's Spanbroek Molen (Lone tree crater). I also went to Hooge, it was the first cemetary I saw, some of the graves have the remains of a dozen men in them because over the four years the area was repeatedly fought over, so the graves were dug, then bombed again.
Birdsong is a good book about tunnel warfare. I'm reading Sapper Martin at the moment from the diaries of an RE signaller who survived. All good stuff.