| Grandpa collected a series of 350 or so photos, | | | | In between the trenches was 'no man's land' or the |
| reprints and postcards from World War I when he | | | | area that no one controlled. There are numerous |
| was an American soldier. For some reason he wanted | | | | photos of no man's land and dead soldiers and mostly |
| to save all the pictures and they fill almost two albums. | | | | destroyed countryside. Aerial shots show it wasn't just |
| Maybe it was knowing that one day someone like me | | | | no man's land that was leveled, much of the |
| would look at the pictures and reflect on the true | | | | surrounding countryside in a battle was also destroyed. |
| nature of war. Who knows. But whatever his reasons | | | | It was standard military strategy to bombard a trench |
| I'm glad he saved them. The effect of looking at the | | | | for days to loosen it up and demoralize the troops |
| albums is sobering. | | | | before charging. The intent was to destroy morale but |
| Not much glory there in Grandpa's photo. He looked | | | | it also destroyed most of the surrounding landscape. |
| like he could have been any young kid from any state. | | | | Charging was often done by letting out a yell, standing |
| Or any country for that matter. It was his soldier's | | | | up and running straight for the enemy trenches, just like |
| photo album and World War I was the event of his life. | | | | it had been done for centuries. |
| It was like that for many that survived. | | | | Horses were used to pull wagons and artillery. There is |
| The war ended in 1918 and grandpa died in 1960. | | | | a photo of U.S. troops headed to battle pulling their |
| Almost everyone that fought in that great war is now | | | | artillery with horses. A lot of horses also died. One |
| dead. That much I do know. | | | | photo shows a dead horse that was blown up into a |
| The first album is full of soldier buddy shots and shots | | | | tree. |
| from towns and cities in Europe, mostly France. The | | | | Supposedly WWI was the last war that poison gas |
| pictures also include numerous shots of the battlefields | | | | was allowed. Oddly enough the countries that used |
| at Rheims and Belleau Wood, two of the war's | | | | mega bombs and gargantuan artillery felt gas was too |
| bloodiest battle sites. | | | | deadly so it was outlawed by treaty. I'm not sure if |
| The second album is almost entirely battlefield scenes. | | | | technically it is more humane to kill by bullet or by gas. |
| It was a war not fought in the air or sea but on land | | | | As a result only renegades like Saddam Hussein use |
| and in the trenches. Funny how 'in the trenches' is still | | | | poison gas. |
| with us today. World War I will be remembered as the | | | | The real problem was poison gas was heavier than air |
| last trench warfare or the last war where one could | | | | so it would sink into the trenches. If a gas canister filled |
| literally see the whites of the enemy's eyes, though | | | | your trench the best defense was to get out and of |
| maybe a couple of hundred yards away. | | | | course right into the line of fire from enemy snipers. |
| One side charged and would capture the other side's | | | | That was part of the idea; your choice, whiff of gas or |
| trench. The other side would make a hasty retreat and | | | | a bullet through the head. |
| leave everything behind, including their dead and | | | | Potent gases like chlorine gas and mustard gas would |
| wounded. After a while they would counterattack.Day | | | | either burn the lungs out or instantly destroy the central |
| after day. Week after week. Month after month. | | | | nervous system. One whiff and it was over. |
| The casualty rate was off the charts. The battlefields | | | | After the war the world was mad so it made |
| were often littered with the dead as they did not have | | | | Germany pay war reparations and the German |
| time to bury them. And it was not safe outside the | | | | economy collapsed. In the early 1920's inflation wiped |
| trenches. | | | | out any hopes of an economic recovery and the |
| There is a photo of a soldier in a trench behind barbed | | | | conditions were set for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party |
| wire. The barbed wire was supposed to help stop the | | | | to take their turn. And they did. |
| other side from charging right into your trench. He is | | | | I felt a bit queasy after viewing all the photographed |
| barely visible behind the tangle of barbed wire. | | | | carnage especially knowing this wasn't a Hollywood |
| The constant attacks, the poison gas, the | | | | set. No Charlie Chaplin or Tom Mix in these pictures. |
| bombardments; it all added up to a trip to hell. Not | | | | Just the boys next door, ma'am. And the boys next |
| much to smile about. The face is not real clear behind | | | | door from another country, too. |
| the barbed wire but it's apparent he is not smiling. | | | | Of course WWI did not end all wars and there have |
| The Germans looked so much like us. How long does | | | | been a number of bad ones since. Or rather it might |
| it take a corpse to become a bare skeleton? I imagine | | | | be more correct to say that there have been no good |
| somewhere a German is looking at a similar album and | | | | wars since. Maybe. |
| remarking how they 'look so much like us -- how long | | | | It all depends on our perspectives and what we |
| does it take the meat on a head to rot and leave just | | | | learned from Grandpa's war. |
| a skull?' | | | | |