Humanity Hist 1004 X : Introduction to European History Marius Bausinger Letter from a German soldier to his family August 9, 1914 Dear father, We have been bombarding the Belgian forts continuously but the beggars refuse to surrender. The air reeks of gunpowder and smoke raises from their fortifications, the clatter of the new guns keeps me up most nights. The guns are proving to be exceptionally powerful ; I don’t think that any fort can withstand them. They have no chance at victory. Liège will soon fall. Sometimes I wonder what kind of victory would this be for us? The morale is high and our men in high spirits. Ask mother and Bertha to pray that the situation remains favorable for us and that by God’s grace we always have the upper …show more content…
He refuses to speak to anyone and his nerves rack up at the slightest disturbance, it seems to me that he has lost much hearing. This is deeply depressing, such brilliant young men, their youth taken away by steel and the violent ambition that is driving the people. How must the Germans soldier feel about all this I wonder? We are firmly entrenched and the men are constantly digging out more. The smell is foul and the area the most unhygienic. The stench of rotting flesh is now starting to get to me as well. The men hope for victory and have conducted themselves most valiantly. What wrenches the heart is to see the dead bodies of these starry eyed ones, which I think, will kill me before the Hun’s bullet or shell. It is too terrible to be called a human affair; I pray it ends soon, so must you. The Germans try to capture our trenches and we try to capture theirs, with no one actually being able to get hold of the other’s. A futile exercise, slaughtering dozens of men in but a few minutes. Marie Edamer Notes of a German Munitions Factory
These trenches are filled with the unexpected and the diseases are beginning to take power. Sadly, my friend Parker, fell ill and died yesterday. I did not realise how deadly trench fever caused by the lice could be until yesterday. Also, day after day, countless soldiers fall and these fat disgusting rats eat away at the dead remains of my brave fellow soldiers.
In the late 1944, during the wake of the Allied forces’ successful D-Day Invasion of Normandy, it seemed as if the Second World War was over. On December sixteenth, with the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler’s favor. The battle that ensued is known historically as the Battle of the Bulge. The courage and fortitude of the American Soldier was tested against
A 4 foot deep trench was dug into the ground miles wide. Swerving through trees and hills. The smell of worms filled my nose as the fresh earth lay behind the trench. Proper defences were created to give us a better chance at defending the German attack. At 10:00 a.m. the first German soldiers were spotted. I held my rifle at my shoulder and looked through the small cut out in the trench. Thousands of Germans were running through open fields. Red mist coming out of most. A deafening array of gunfire to my left and right. With the rifle’s sight up to my eye, German soldiers were put into picture, and with a squeeze of a trigger, and a loud scream, they would fall over. Flashes of light came from 300 meters away. German snipers were picking out targets from an almost unreachable distance. Helmets were flying off left and right. My friends dying in front of my eyes. A single bullet was forced through the barrel of a Gewehr 98 rifle. Traveling at 878 meters per second, an 8 millimeter cartridge hit my helmet. It continued through into my skull, shredding my brain. Feeling nothing, my body lay on the ground dead. Blood spilling from the side of my head out of the helmet. The rats came running. Dead meat attracted hundreds of them. Crawling in and out of bodies, getting free meals along the way. A funeral wasn’t held for myself and the other casualties until after the war. The Treaty of Versailles was signed 5 years
I had never smelled a corpse before today, but now it fills the air like poison, as cruel to the mind as it is to the nose. It’s pungent, rotten, and sickly sweet, the smile on an assassin’s face before he kills your soul. I don’t want to open my eyes to see the source, but it must be nearby, as I feel his cold skin, roughened by the last few months that probably made him grateful of his death, against my own. My eyelids are heavy, begging me not to lift them, not to move at all, to lie there until God takes pity on me too, and lets me go.
My analysis has led me to advance the afterward apriorism The role of the trenches during the ww1 attack deserves greater acceptance because they not alone just lived anticipation the altitude and the dangers and getting stationed in the siht of adversary blaze . A lot of men in the trenches aswell accomplished abounding of concrete and cerebral traumas in the trenches .
It is with a heavy heart that I write to you all, but I do hope you all are well. It has been a rough three months since I've joined the other nurses in aiding this war and needless to say I have settled in and adapted to the conditions. Since the beginning, nothing has changed within these 3 months, neither side had gotten much advantage of the war. It would be as if a back and forward tug of war between the two sides. Everyday I watch from the tent as hundreds of men rot away in the horrid conditions of the trenches. Many were brought in but many doesn't mean all. After barely being treated and having about a week of recovery soldiers were sent back to suffer in the battlefield. A few weeks ago a huge storm crossed the battlefield. The trenches
The preface states that Belgian civilians tried to “hinder the German advance” however possible, presenting their brutality in an attempt to justify events. The justification, however, did not help the German’s case as the impact of the Bryce Report’s findings in ‘proving’ the German’s committed murder and rape had already swayed the neutral United States against
“The English are fools!” Sprawled upon a sign hoisted above the German trenches. A hiss escaped behind me, ready to order gas masks I was surprised to find one of the senior commanders quietly laughing to himself. “ Is something funny sir?” I queried as he struggled to control himself. Regaining composure, he turned my shoulders to face the German trenches speaking to me quietly, “James, look out…. can’t you see the death and destruction? In this hopeless mess they try to provoke us with silly signs.” Leaving me with those words to ponder my senior officer disappeared further into the trench. Silly sign it may be, I ordered it shot down. Rifle shots made quick work of it, but not before one of the more junior members became over eager and exposed himself.
The United States remains a country with a rich history in several issues including strong military activities including their incursion in Iraq, Afghanistan and other volatile countries around the world. However, the devastations of the Battle of the Bulge make it as one of the deadliest and bloodiest wars that the U.S has ever witnessed in history. It led to various war tactics with artillery emerging from it and other military operation challenges. Despite its unpredictable nature and the large casualties that it realized on the side of the Americans, it positively contributed to various efficient military operations in the contemporary war battles like those taking place in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan among other places globally. Therefore, this essay purposefully discusses the history and outcome of the role of artillery in the Battle of the Bulge and how it relates to the evolution of the contemporary military operation.
Battle of the Bulge was one of the most unforgiving engagements that the United States military has been involved with. Sacrifices on both sides were nearly unfathomable for that time period. In the past 15 years that we have been at war with the Middle East we have lost around 5,000 brothers and sisters in arms. Battle of the bulge was only one month in length and the Allied forces lost over 90,000 troops. War has evolved over the years to include planning and execution, by becoming more precise. Technology and lessons learned have profited our military actions in a sense that lives are no longer wasted. Although there were so many casualties during the battle, more lives could’ve been lost if not for the successful employment of indirect fires to stop German advances.
This is my interview with Dr. Alfred Meckel and his World War II experience. He was born in 1924 when Germany was still in hard times due to the harsh sanctions from the rest of the world after World War 1. As a young boy at the age of 9 Hitler came to power. At such a young age he thought that Hitler would be the man who could lead Germany out of its tough economic hardships and bring them up to the rest of the world’s standards. It was not until several years into the war that he was more critical and found out that the regime was brutal and faced many problems with no human rights and oppression against others with different political and religious views.
Blind to the truth of what really happens. It’s times like this where I am forever grateful for the experience I have already been faced with gruesome events. Yet that hateful feeling of dread continues to tower over me each and every day. It’s challenging to recall what it was like for me the first I set foot on the battle field, as it seems like a lifetime ago. I suppose that I have lived a lifetime in these trenches. I wish that with every enemy I shoot it shall not say with me. A constant reminder of our sacrifices, I’m on edge as it feels like a continuous want for death. Bewildered as to when it will strike again shaken by the fact that it could be me carried away, or left in the barbarous
Five years into World War II the future of Europe hangs in the balance. Hitler’s Nazi occupy the mainland, together with its allies America is spearheading the fight. Its 6 am on the French cost, 8 companies of American troops, the first wave to go into battle. As they approach the landing beach code named “Omaha” hundreds of men are praying knowing what awaits them is a wall of guns, killing zones and possible death. 1220 Germans have
The fighting was non-stop and many men were killed. They had maintained control of the king’s castle but no one was calling it a victory. People looked on at the field of bodies outside the castle and sorrow overcame them. They would pray for the families of the brave men who protected them during the battle but didn't come back out.
2823 Primrose Street Eugene, OR 97402-1716 November 20, 2017 Mr.Andrew Chaney 324 Brookside Avenue NW Salem, OR 97304-9008 Dear Mr.Chaney Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak to our Aspiring Musicians Club. It was great learning more about the “Masters” from you.