Monologue From 'My Dearest Hana'

Men were living outside for days or weeks on end, with limited shelter from cold, wind, rain and snow in the winter or from the heat and sun in summer. Artillery destroyed the familiar landscape, reducing trees and buildings to desolate rubble and churning up endless mud in some areas. The incredible noise of artillery and machine gun fire, both enemy and friendly, was often incessant. Yet soldiers spent a great deal of time waiting around, and in some quiet sectors there was little real fighting and a kind of informal truce could develop between the two sides. Even in more active parts of the front, battle was rarely continuous and boredom was common among troops, with little of the heroism and excitement many had imagined before the war. The Italian infantry officer Emilio Lussu wrote that life in the trenches was ‘grim and monotonous’ and that ‘if there were no attacks, there was no war, only hard work’.[1] The order to attack – or news of an enemy assault – changed

upon the men along side me. Some of the men so I have been told have

Being in these trenches are not only dark, wet and smelly, but there are rats everywhere. These rats are not normal size they are the size of cats. They feed off of the dead bodies in the trenches. One of my fellow cabin mates is in charge of killing the rats. Yesterday I witnessed a rat eating his way through a human body while that person was still alive. These rats are causing as much stress as the Germans. Rats are not the only pests in the trenches. Another pest is lice. I cannot stop itching my head and body. The lice have affected everyone. I hope this letter finds you well. Please pray for me. Your son

It is March first, I miss you so much it is unbearable. Sleeping can be awful out here in the trenches only because I want to be home in a comfy bed again safe and sound where war isn’t the only thing on my mind. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I can’t breathe because I dream someone has invaded our trenches and shot me. It isn’t easy being out here but if it means fighting for you then it is what I will do.

“Trenches were relatively new for soldiers arriving on the front & were worse than expected, “Dear diary,

It was poorly constructed, polluted with human excrement and contained pools of water. Buried about a foot deep, hundreds of Germans and French lied in the trench since last October. Mud was my best friend, and sleep was interrupted by the booming of German shells. There was infection everywhere. Men were blown or shot to pieces, and their bodily fluids fed the rats. Those malicious critters were immense, crawling on and eating the decaying bodies. Some of the men had gotten a nasty disease that ate away at their feet. Trench foot, they called it. Unless we could dry our feet, our feet began to rot. Making up the majority of our diets were stale bread. With no appetite, I starved for most days. And containing no proper washrooms, we had areas in the trench where we relieved ourselves. Oh how the banging never ceased for sixty seconds! Some men were terrified of fighting, mama. Their minds went crooked, and their bodies twitched and trembled constantly. They wouldn't fight, or listen to orders. Most of them were executed, unless they had an injury that could send them home. Mama, Riley was shot in the heart yesterday. But, he died grateful. "It's an end to those shells, bombs, rats, lice and mud," he spoke his last

Yesterday I was at work from sunrise till it was pitch black dark. Today I am completely wrecked and can’t be bothered doing anything but tomorrow and for however long the war goes for I will be at it again and again day after day. The days that follow after the battle are a thousand times worse than the days of the battle and it’s not the physical pain that hurts the most it is the mental pain that leaves the mark. The dead people look sickening but they don’t suffer any pain, But the poor wounded soldiers that still have their life are suffering both physical and mental pain and are living through what some people would call hell. I pray to God that this ferial event will stop. Our Regiment started this morning for Harpers Ferry. I am told with a few others and the nurses to remain here until the wounded have been removed then to join up with the Regiment again. I am expecting there will be another massive fight at Harpers Ferry again soon. My Dear Wife I dream of the day I pass the Hibbards house and see you and Amy waiting outside our house welcoming me with open arms, I also dream of the day I am lying next to you in front of our open fire with our beautiful daughter. You

I made it through the first wave I am alive, The sights are not so great as you can imagine it is a war after all. I am currently in a trench writing this letter. There is a fat rat right in front of me. I hope I don’t get trench foot because if I do you’ll never see me walk again. All my friends I made are dead I miss them they were the only ones I had left going for me in the war.

In 1915, the Battle of Ypres affected many Canadian soldiers during the First World War and many endured harsh environments. Using historical perspective allows one to understand and appreciate the sacrifice they made for their country. Men entered the army expecting a quick and exciting adventure, but were quickly shown the brutal truth. They were immediately thrown into the relentless environment that was filled with artillery, blood, and death and they would have to endure for the next five years. Trench warfare was brought up during this time where soldiers practically lived in mud and disease. There were rats and lice, diseases such as trench foot, and unbearable weather; every morning the troops would wake up in the unforgiving trenches

The trenches would smell like blood, gunpowder, and everything that was rotting in there. After the gunshots have stopped, and the air is filled with silence, the remaining soldiers drop onto the dirt ground, realizing they have survived another day. I always get this uneasy feeling, knowing that although I have survived another day, there is much worse to come. Even though I have survived, every shred of my sanity is gone. Before I go into another restless night, I think about my friends who have died for this war, and finally get the chance to mourn about them.

The war has been dragging on for far longer than predicted. Life in the trenches is dreadful. The constant bombardment from the enemy causes many to run and hid, along with many getting what we are calling shellshocked. We use it to describe when one can’t move with no visible injury or when they mentally can’t fight. But the worst has to be the rats, the rats are over the size of our house cats, we call them corpse rats for the soul reason that the rats eat the dead that laid in no man's land. Some of us shoot them for sport. The lice and trench foot is minor. But the Storm Troopers that we’ve been hearing about are fighting, their lightning quick attacks that demolish the line is one thing I don’t want to see. I hope Erik is okay, and well.

I hope you are not distressed, nor should you worry about my return. This will be my 11th and the final letter I am sending home, my dearest apologies for the lack of letters, the war isn’t the place I thought it would be, the climate and conditions are horrid. The rest was the worst part, having to switch patrol areas to protect the frontline for hours, and then rest for a minimal time. Poor Jimmy died later earlier today, they say it was from diseases and sickness. I’ll need to be careful down in these trenches, fleas, and bugs crawling all over me. The ground is like quicksand, all the missiles, explosions and gunfire have turned the dirt into a sinking pile of mud all over the battlefield. My team, my second family are mostly gone… I don't

Hey honny im sending you this letter for valentines day cause i know you love to hear about what goes on out here on the frontlines of the war. Its been mostly good for now weve been winning as i've been told but almost everyday theres a new disease trying to get to us everyday, mainly because of the rats. These rats even eat all of our food and sometimes i've seen some that are the size of full grown cats its dusgusting and there eating everything and spreading more disease then ever right now. The day is now november 18th and my commander says that the battle we just fought was called the battle of Somme and that there has been at least 1.2 million casualties on either sides of the battle but it has for the most part ended. Most of these

It has been months since I’ve seen you or dear Abigale. The life in these trenches aren’t exactly what I expected it to be. It’s far worse than I would have imagined. Day by day, our men die, holding the same position without advance, poor Joseph, he was shot in the leg after advancing from the front trench. The doctors say he won’t be coming back with two legs, they’ve tried all they could. He’s been in the medical tent for days, all of us sit in the messhall, quite. Nathan disobeyed the order to advance, and he was taken from our squad, we haven’t heard anything about him ever since.

By the time we got to camp we were all out of ammunition, hungry, thirsty and one of the doughboys forgot to let us know he lice so he shared that with us to. That was about a week ago today actually when we got there the French had us taken to the nearest American camp like twenty miles north west. When we got there we were bombarded with questions like where had we come from to people asking us if we are deserters to the cause. Tomorrow, the 30th of August, though my squad and I go back into the war after the commanding officer gave us a few days after our journey. I swear though I will be part of the group to take back that camp. Today is the 5th of September and the trenches here are even worse than where my squad and I were here they are standing on dead bodies of fallen soldiers some people are killing rats for fun. The worse part about it here is at a certain time every day the Germans try to cross No Man’s Land behind the brigade of bombings from air planes and tanks and the poisonous gas of the Germans. I’ll send this letter to you out of here on September 18th. Hello Mr. Bringit, I’m sorry to tell you this but your son has passed the Germans had taken over the camp on the French front and today we had just taken it back and I found this