I really don’t see the humor. The trenches of WWI were horrific, and the slaughter unimaginable. Really easy to laugh at these poor sods from the luxury of your house.
16 years old
When I went to the war
To fight for a land fit for heroes
God on my side
And a gun in my hand
Chasing my days down to zero
And I marched
And I fought
And I bled
And I died
And I never did get
Any older
But I knew at the time
That a year in the line
Was a long enough life
For a soldier
We all volunteered
And we wrote down our names
And we added two years to our ages
Eager for life
And ahead of the game
Ready for history’s pages
And we brawled
And we fought
And we whored ‘til we stood
Ten thousand shoulder to shoulder
A thirst for the Hun
We were food for the gun
And that’s what you are
When you are soldiers
I heard my friend cry
And he sank to his knees
Coughing blood as he screamed
For his mother
And I fell by his side
And that’s how we died
Clinging like kids to each other
And I lay in the mud
And the guts and the blood
And I wept as his body grew colder
And I called for my mother
And she never came
Though it wasn’t my fault
And I wasn’t to blame
And the day’s not half over
And ten thousand slain
And now there’s nobody
Remembers our names
And that’s how it is for a soldier
1916 - Motorhead
And what the hell for?
> The trenches of WWI were horrific, and the slaughter unimaginable. <
Yes, indeed. The average French soldier performed heroically in WW 1.
But he was poorly lead.
The average French soldier performed heroically in WW 2.
But again, he was poorly lead.
The unfortunate (and false) narrative of French cowardice comes from France’s quick collapse in 1940. That had nothing to do with the average French soldier. France was simply beat by superior German strategy.
Agree!
I remember reading a WWI account of French reinforcements moving forward it might have been for Marne or Verdun. An officer watching the scene wrote about a strange sound being made by these men. He listened more closely and realizing they were making the sound of bleating sheep. They were protesting to their officers that they were- sheep for the slaughter! Still they were going forward!
I lot of people here routinely make fun of French courage. If you read anything about WWI you wouldn’t! Not just brave but crazy brave, even in WWII! The reality is the French have always been individually good soldiers, they are usually failed by their leadership with one very notable exception!
I agree. We have little room to talk about that anyway after our debacle in Afghanistan.