Trenches

Was being in the Trenches, the worst point in history, even worse than today?

Re: Trenches

Wow - thought provoker. I think the only redeeming aspect of such horrible warfare as happened in the trenches was that the enemy was clearly defined. Nowadays the 'enemy' comes in many different guises with some hidden from view. OK, we have animosity towards Muslims but has someone caused this on purpose? What are they doing here for that matter? Has someone also orchestrated our incredible insistence on a lofty high moral stance as being something to die for above all else?

There are so many questions now with regard to who is really pulling the strings and from when? I feel we are being manipulated and have been for many years.

Re: Trenches

Hi

I would have hated it, incoming artillery fire and then the whistle blows, over the top knowing you are running into machine guns.

Sod that for a game of marbles.

A time long gone, thankfully, very brave men led by Upper Class Twits, simple Cannon Fodder.

Now we are much better organised, seek to reduce our casualties, which is how it should be.

Re: Trenches

A lot of lessons were learnt from ww1 by the British army, in the early part of the war the generals were planning the attacks from several miles behind the lines , and, as in war things change quickly and what was a well defined plan soon turns into chaos as things change, plus with no means of communication, as telephone lines were often cut in bombardments there was no way to change the plans, officers who went over the top with the men were often targets and their survival rate was very poor, was it the worst time in history? well for a soldier, I suppose it might have been with slaughter on an industrial scale, but nowadays weaponry has evolved so much and you can be killed from many many miles away,

Re: Trenches

It must have been horrific being in those trenches, men around you being killed, having to climb over them, foot rot from being in wet mud, having to eat and sleep in it. It's must have fell like hell.

Re: Trenches

War horse film , life in the first world war , difficult to watch but I think possibly true to life.

My grandad was gassed in the trenches , survived the war but could never work again . Died quite young unable to have a decent life.

Re: Trenches

I always cry watching Warhorse, it definitely makes you realise how awful it was.

Re: Trenches

The difference between any events in the war and now is that despite the terrible conditions, people believed they were fighting for the good of their Country. In those days you were imprisoned for not killing the enemy. Now, it's the opposite. I can't help thinking that those unfortunate souls died for squat.

Re: Trenches

One of my grandfather's was in the trenches during WW1. He never recovered from the experience of being gassed, and died at the young age of 48 during WW2.

Re: Trenches

Maybe not gone completely - a young friend of mine who fought in The Falklands in 1982, told me that the "gung ho - up and at 'em lads" spirit still survives. He told me that a certain (posthumously decorated) young officer - killed in a frontal attack on a gun emplacement which got many of his men killed (when an air strike could have been ordered in) was a cause of serious concern to the experienced soldiers in his unit and some were seriously considering "fragging" him before he killed them all.