Grandpa collected a series of around 350 photos, reprints and postcards from World War I, when he was a United States soldier. For some reason he wanted to save all images and they fill almost two albums. Maybe it was knowing that one day someone would look me like the pictures and about the true nature of war. Who knows. But whatever his reasons, why I'm glad that he saved. The effect of the views of the albums is sobering.
Not much glory in Grandpa's photo. He looked likeHe could have been all the kids from all states. Or any country for that matter. It was his photo album and the First World War soldier was the event of his life. So it was for many who have survived.
The war ended in 1918 and grandfather died in 1960. Almost everyone that fought in this great war is now dead. This much I do not know. The first album is the soldier buddy recordings and photographs of cities and towns in Europe, especially France fully. The images also numerous photographs of the battlefieldsin Reims and Belleau Wood, two of the bloodiest battle of the war sites.
The second album is almost exclusively battlefield scenes.
It was a war fought not in the air or at sea but on land and in the trenches. Funny how in the trenches "is still with us today. World War I, as the last grave fighting the last war, or remember where you could literally see the whites of the eye of the enemy, albeit perhaps a few hundred yards away. One page is loaded and would capture the other sideDitch. On the other hand, a rapid retreat and it would leave behind, including their dead and wounded. After a while, they would counterattack.Day day. Week after week. Month after month.
The death rate was from the charts. The battlefields were often littered with the dead because they have no time to bury them. And it was not safe outside the trenches. There is a photo of a soldier in a trench behind barbed wire. The barbed wire was supposed to help, othersfrom collecting the right side of your trench. He is barely visible behind the tangle of barbed wire.
The constant attacks of poison gas, the bombings, they all add up to a trip to hell. Not much to laugh. The face is not really clear behind the barbed wire, but it's obvious he is not smiling.
The Germans looked so much like us. How long does it take for a corpse to a mere skeleton? I imagine somewhere a German is now a similar album, and noticed how they see, "saidmuch as we do - how long will it take for the meat to rot on the head and just leave a skull? "
Between the trenches was "No Man's Land" or the area that no one checked. There are numerous photos of dead soldiers and destroyed, and no man's land for the most part landscape. Aerial photographs show it was not just No Man's Land, was leveled much of the surrounding countryside in a battle was also destroyed.
It was standard military strategy to bomb a ditch after day in order to solve andDemoralization of the troops in front of the store. The intention was to destroy the morale, but also destroys most of the surrounding landscape. Shop was often by a scream, got up and runs directly on the enemy trenches, as done done for centuries.
Horses were used to pull wagons and artillery. There is a photo of U.S. troops into battle under the leadership of their guns drawn by horses. A lot of horses also died. A photo shows a dead horse, which was blown up into aTree.
Apparently the First World War was the last war that could poison gas. Curiously, the countries that was perceived mega-bombs and artillery are also deadly gas giant so it was banned by treaty. I'm not sure if technically it is more humane to kill by a bullet or with gas. As a result, only renegades like Saddam Hussein used poison gas.
The real problem was poison gas was heavier than air, so it would sink into the trenches. When a gas canister filled ditch your best defense was toand of course, directly in the line of fire from enemy snipers. This part was the idea of your choice, whiff of gas or a bullet through his head.
Potent gases such as chlorine gas and mustard gas would either burn out of the lungs or immediately destroy the central nervous system. A breath and it was over.
After the war the world was so crazy it made Germany pay war reparations and the German economy collapsed. Destroyed in the early 1920s, inflation, all hopes for an economic recovery andThe conditions were for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party set to take their turn. And they did.
I felt a little uncomfortable after all the carnage photographed above all know, this was not a Hollywood set. No Charlie Chaplin and Tom Mix in these pictures. Just The Boys Next Door, madam. And the boys next door from another country too. Of course, WWI did not end all wars, and there are a number of poor since then. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that it's not been goodWars since. Maybe.
It all depends on our perspectives and what we have learned from the war, Grandpa's.
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