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- Rush to become a soldier
- 2nd day of being a soldier
- Given equipment of rifle, canvas pack, ammunition, haversack, bayonet, cap, badge
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- Yday was July 1st
- Bombarded german trenches which resulted in them drawing back and building dug-outs over 12 metres deep
- After that, General Haig sent 13 divisions -200,000 men- over the top
- impaled by lead bullets, blown by bombs, tangled over wire
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- Life in the trenches- a balance of fear, discomfort, boredom, uncertainty
- You never knew when an exploding shell… or a poison gas attack… or a sniper's bullet
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- when there wasn't an attack in progress they could smoke, play cards, do duties
- Duties joke
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- Water- alive with swimming frogs
- Red slugs cover the trench walls looking for lice
- Trench foot (foot swells x2-3 normal size, go dead/ agonising pain and amputated and screams)
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- Trenches were dug 2m deep and wide in a zig-zag shape to confine exploding shell impacts
- 3 lines of trenches- i am in the front
- all over No-Man's Land are dead-end trenches incase we are bombarded
- connecting 3 lines of trenches are communication trenches
- Blind alleys incase of successful attack
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- shells dropped behind our trenches yesterday
- friend is acting weird- steel hat at the back of his head, mouth slobbering, 2 comrades can't hold him still
- in hospital in a coma-like state, i think he's got shellshock
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- everything is getting worse- seems as though more rats/ lice are coming in over the parapets than there are men leaving it
- millions of rats- some as big as cats
- most soldiers have lice form not washing their clothes for weeks
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- 1lb meat
- 1¼lb bread
- ¼lb bacon
- ½ oz tea
- 3/4lb potatoes
- 1lb cheese
- bit of butter, salt pepper
- suppliers quite generous
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- Going over the top is an experience i am yet to endure
- heard stories of men not returning, buried in the no-man's land surrounded by his dear friends who unfortunately had the same fate
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- i wait from the safety of my trench and when i hear the whistle, an enormous wave of soldiers emerge over the top and charge
- blasts of machine gun fire could be heard for miles and wipe out soldiers in their hundreds
- Barbed wire stretched across the vast wasteland and no vegetation
- i dread this day but i will have to follow through
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my dear mother if this is my last letter...
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Yours truly, john
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