Attitudes to war (3)

SOURCE 7 a) Lance Sergeant Elmer Cotton

I was leaving a wife, home and friends and all I held dear to

me behind and departing for an unknown destination with

all the apprehension of death, wounds and hardships ahead.

Brown (1986: 39)

b) Private W T Colyer who was previously a guard atthe Tower of London

This was indeed a noble adventure, an adventure such as I

had never dreamt of in my humdrum life before the war. I felt

immediately elevated and inspired, and thanked Heaven for

being where I was.

Brown (1986: 41)

c) German soldier writing in hospital 29 August 1916

I will get along as best as I can, for I no longer have pleasure

in anything. We are already sick of the damned war, for I

think it will go on through winter. My feeling about it is

such that if I am to go back, I shall serve for three weeks and

then go sick again, for there’s no object in fighting anymore.

The Somme 1916, Jackdaw No 111

SOURCE 1 Poem by Sergeant Leslie Coulson

Who made the law that men should die in meadows?

Who spake the word that blood should splash in lanes?

Who gave it forth that gardens should be boneyards?

Who spread the hill with flesh, and blood and brains?

Brown (1986: 13)

SOURCE 2 British song

Far, far from WipersI long to be,Where German snipersCan’t get at me.Damp is my dug-outCold are my feetWaiting for a whizz-bangTo put me to sleep.

Brown (1986: 60)

SOURCE 3 Extracts from two letterswritten by German civiliansto soldiers

a) It is high time we had peace.

b) If only this wretched war would cometo an end.

The Somme 1916, Jackdaw No 111

SOURCE 5 Letter from a German soldier to hisfamily 10 September 1916

When you read these lines, I shall no longer be among the

living. I shall have breathed my last breath before the

enemy on the Somme. I could not prevent Russian

militarism from driving me to death. Oh, from the very

beginning, I had the sad feeling that I should not see my

dear ones in this world again. You can form no idea what

the poor soldiers have to go through here in this place and

how cruelly and uselessly men are sacrificed; it is awful.

The Somme 1916, Jackdaw No 111

SOURCE 6 Coppard’s description of anewly-arrived SecondLieutenant

The poor devil was paralysed with fear …

Not even the urge of nature would tempt him

out of the place [the entrance of a collapsed

dugout], and he did his business there. He lost

his appetite … At times, to my embarrassment,

he would burst into tears.

Coppard (1986: 118)

SOURCE 4

We had now been in France eight months … deep down in me I was scared of the future. For the

first few months, trench warfare had been a kind of dangerous fun to me … It was still fun when

not in the trenches. Up in the front line, however, anything approaching merriment was dead.

Rude jokes, yes, but no merriment … The dreadful winter, coupled with the constant fear of death

and insufficient food, produced a yearning for England and home.

Coppard (1986: 62)

Attitudes to War (4)SOURCE 1 General Pershing’s arrival in France 1917

Shermer (1973:207)

SOURCE 3 The Americans in the Argonne, 1918

Taylor (1963: 181)

SOURCE 2 German soldiers return home 1918

Taylor (1963: 202)

SOURCE 4

London, 11 November1918

Taylor (1963: 193)