Remembrance, continued.

The Offensive.

What it looks like—and what it feels like.

Unfortunately, the second picture was, all too often, more than merely what it 'felt' like- it was what actually happened. At the Battle of the Somme, the British launched the largest artillery bombardment ever at the the German lines. For seven days their guns blasted away non stop in sustained barrage that was supposed to wipe the Germans off the face of the earth, allowing the British to advance unhindered. Then, on July 1st, 1916, the guns stopped, and the men went over the top and were massacred. The barrage had been a failure. It had not blown up the German trenches. It had not destroyed their guns. It had only warned the Germans that an attack was coming, and they reinforced their lines during the bombardment, so their position was stronger at the end of the bombardment than before. The British Generals couldn't believe the massive artillery shelling had not done its job, and continued ordering attacks, resulting in the single bloodiest day in British military history. A year later, they unleashed another massive bombardment in the Ypres sector to clear the path for another proposed advance. They simply could not conceive that such a bombardment would not work, but it too failed, and tens of thousands died for it.