German Ambush Description

On October 3rd, 1918, Major Charles White Whittlesey, along with 500 soldiers of the 77th division, was trapped behind enemy lines without much food or water. Surrounded by hundreds of thousands of German soldiers, many of his men were killed or wounded.2 Within 24 hours, roughly 200 of the Allied

Not only did German soldiers exhibit struggle and perseverance, but so did the prisoners they captured, such as the Russians. The Russian prisoners were now reduced to wearing poor clothing, and they had to scavenge for minute morsels of food in garbage cans, yet they did not give in (189-191). Likewise, Paul Baümer and Albert Kropp did not give in when they were injured in French fire in Chapter Ten. They ran for cover and eventually found a dug-out for protection. Their perseverance and hard work may have saved their lives, for each’s injury placed them in the hospital (240-241).

In-depth stories describe their lives as soldiers: their military prowess, their treatment as prisoners of war, casualty rates, and how

Don’t leave me here alone.’ The narrator simply shakes him off and moves on. The soldiers have been trained like beasts and they have been dehumanised; they have been taught that no life is to be spared. Death is now the norm and they have been desensitized to it. The narrator relates an incident where he volunteers for a raid on the German trenches. He experiences much trauma; he kills a soldier, Karl. Karl’s death is terrible- the bayonet is trapped in Karl and eventually the narrator has to shoot him. When he returns to the trenches with two German prisoners he tries to suppress what has happened: ‘It is better not to think’. The narrator knows that he would indubitably go insane if he thinks about his action. Karl’s death epitomizes the fact that soldiers on both sides are killed in horrific way for no discernible reason. There is definitely nothing glorious or heroic about war.

“Discovering Dad.” Guideposts, vol. 71, no. 5, July 2016, p. 48. MasterFILE Premier, proxy.lib.wy.us/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=11 6404283&site=ehost-live. Accessed 16 Mar. 2017. Accession Number: 116404283; Issue Information: ; Subject Term: EDMONDS, Roddie; Subject Term: WORLD War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners & prisons; Subject Term: PRISONERS of war -- History -- 20th century; Subject Term: ; Number of Pages: 4p; ; Document Type: Article; ; Lexile: 830; ; Full Text Word Count: 1630; A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of discovering the experience of his father Roddie Edmonds, as an American prisoner of war in Stalag IX-A in Ziegenhain, Germany after the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, who protected Jewish-American prisoners of war.

Memoirs of war often reflect the positive or negative experiences endured throughout battle. Considered by many to be one of the best memoirs of World War I, Hervey Allen’s “Toward the Flame”, recalls his own experiences of battle. His recollection of events shows that he had a negative image of war and that there was nothing glorious about it. What started out looking like a man’s greatest adventure turned into a shell-shocking reality that war is actually horrible and trying. Allen’s experiences with consistent hunger, mustard gas, and artillery shellings led to his disillusionment with war, and left him with a permanent hatred of battle.

Emotion and reaction is part of human nature; it is absolutely natural for one to be traumatized by the harming and killing of fellow comrades. War is still with horrific events that cause soldiers to this day to have post-traumatic stress disorder. Erich Remarque exhibits a soldier’s perception of how the value of Life can change when put on the front. German soldiers in All Quiet on the Western Front face abysmal conditions. They partake in extremely violent tasks in order to defend themselves.

Accompanying the great horrors of the war was an extraordinary sense of comradeship that was forged between the soldiers as they went through countless hardships and unimaginable suffering together. Throughout Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul and the men of the Second Company received strength, both mentally and physically, from one another. As the war created a sharp distinction between soldiers and civilians,

Every morning we had the counting of the prisoners. We were arranged in groups of five with just small distances between us. The SS trooper would come by and start counting one, two, three, four, five. If he miscounted, he went over it again. Sometimes we stood there two hours. I kept wondering why none of us tried to overpower this lone guard who had just a small pistol. But what could we have done? There were guardposts on either end and high tension wires in between. We would all have been killed.

During the time of World War II, America fought to end the tyranny of Nazi Germany by using its most valuable tool, the Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne. The author Stephen Ambrose catches a glimpse of what these heroic soldiers accomplished in his book Band of Brothers, by providing readers with interviews of first hand encounters on the battlefields of Europe, from former paratroopers that served in the 506th Regiment. Ambrose’s book depicts how the spectacles of war create everlasting scars on soldiers mentally and physically, that never fully heal.

A true war story is rather difficult, if not impossible, to share when it goes beyond one’s imagination. Regarding such a story, one morally sound aspect about it is that it lacks morality or meaning to it. Extracting facts from a true war story is a daunting task because what seems to happen is what actually occurs. In what is to follow, I will tell one awful true war story.

Although Russians and Germans were on opposing sides of World War II, they experienced a great deal of situations that were similar if not the same. Their emotions and reactions were comparable during this depressing time of war. Physical responses to the rigorous journeys, emotional responses to the horrific events that occurred and the overall circumstances that these men were, majority of the time, forced into; forever changed who they were. With mechanized weapons ringing in their ears and nationalism in their hearts the war was not easily forgotten by these men.

We waited to receive the orders from the lieutenant, but in my head i was already saying my prayers. He had told us to retrace our steps. I ran with everything I had in me, the proper duckboard made it somewhat easier to run but didn't take away from the fact that i was running with about 50kg of ammunition with me. We ran and arunned until we found the sap, while lieutenant provided shelter fire. We got out of the enemy trenches and crawled through the enemy's barbed wire. In the process of me going through the barbed wire, I cut my eye. Within seconds it was swollen shut and I thought I was in a dream. Maybe all of this was just a nightmare. I was later told i was suffering from extreme blood loss. Soon i felt something pull me i honestly thought i was being taken for german prisoner. But i heard a familiar voice. It was the lieutenant telling me to wake up. With whatever strength i had left and the help of the lieutenant,i staggered across no man's land And made it to our trenches were i was rushed to the infirmary. Not to soon after we arrived to safety, well as close to safety as we could have gotten the germans released fire on us. Although my eye is severely damaged, it couldve been alot worse; I am grateful that i returned all in one piece. I miss you dearly and am waiting to see you. If i do not make it hone in time for your birthday i shall wish your blessings upon you now. I

Both animal and human world were very precious to Robert. He wouldn’t harm anyone from either world. However, as he was witnessing and experiencing the World War I, he became more drawn to the animal world. The reason for this was that all of the despair and grief in his life was inflicted by the human world. In the end, he thought animal’s life was more valuable than a human life. Robert even considered himself as some kind of animal and not a human. Therefore, Robert became a misanthropist in the end.

Everyone experiences emotional and physiological obstacles in their life. However, these obstacles are incomparable to the magnitude of the obstacles the prisoners of the Holocaust faced every day. In his memoir, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, illustrates the horrors of the concentration camps and their mental tool. Over the course of Night, Wiesel demonstrates, that exposure to an uncaring, hostile world leads to destruction of faith and identity.