Even though I could see the fear and the disappointment in his eyes I realized that I did not have time to consider my situation and I had to take on the next enemy, and the next, and the next. They were growing more and more tired and you could read the desperation in their eyes as they realize that their fate was sealed.
This is war, you can't feel sorry for the people you kill and you can't even think about them. it's the thinking that gets you down and exposes you in front of the enemy. It would be absurd for me to say that I did not want these people to stay alive or that I did not realize that they were people just like me (some of them maybe even better). The British counter-attack felt no compassion and all it could do was stop the enemy from being successful. The number of individuals who went beyond our trenches and into the woods was close to seven hundred -- all of them dead. These...
or, at least, that was what was going through my head at the time when the battle took place.
I was happy…not only because I managed to stay alive, but because I knew that the failure of such an offensive would reflect on the German war efforts and because I believed that the enemy's days were numbered. Unfortunately I was wrong and the war lasted for four more years and the body count reached numbers that seem impossible when I stand to think about them now.
Works cited:
Michelin et Cie, "Ypres and the battles of Ypres," (California University)
"Primary Documents - British 'Eye Witness' Journalist Reports on First Battle of Ypres, 11-12 November 1914," Retrieved March 5, 2012, from the First World War Website: http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/ypres1_swinton.htm
