WW1 Mud, Blood and Death 1914-1918

On 22nd Aug 1914 in the little village of Casteau a troop of German Uhlans was seen by C Sqn 4th Royal Irish Dragoons under Command of Major Tom Bridges, Bridges ordered his troop to dismount ready for action, He then ordered 1st troop, mounted behind under Capt Hornby to draw swords ready to go. The Uhlans rode down the road at a leisurely pace, the leading officer in front smoking a cigar, sensing trouble the German's turned back, Capt Hornby was sent after them, 1st troop attacked using their sabres scattering the Uhlans, Capt Hornby gave the order "dismounted action" as the troops sheltered their horse's near the village's Chateau, Trooper Fred Thomas quick and athletic leaped into action, four hundred yds away Thomas saw a German Cavalry officer standing in his stirrups yelling orders to his men to take up firing positions, Thomas took aim and squeezed his trigger and the officer fell from his horse and lay on the road dying..... Unknowingly Thomas had just fired the first rifle shot of the Brittish Army of WW1. Thomas survied the war was promoted to Sgt and awarded the M.M. eventually retiring from the army in 1923. The tune although from the American Civil war was known in WW1 and was no doubt the thoughts of many a man, Just before the battle mother I am thinking most of you. Average of 6125 soldiers from all sides died every day of the Great War, Allies dead 5,700,000 Central Powers dead 4,010,241.............. brutal.

Category:

Film & Animation

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• WW1
• somme
• belgium
• soldiers
• machine-gun
• graves
• death
• trenches
• marching
• germans
• brittish
• french
• world war
• russia
• warfare
• adolf
• death note
• ww2
• wwii

[Kauwhaka]

Two years ago, Harry Patch died. He was the last infantry solider alive that had fought in the trenches and mud of WWI. Earlier this year, Claude Stanley Choules of the Australian navy died. The last known man to have been in active service.

Since it started in England in 1919, this will be the FIRST ever Remembrance day that has NO surviving WWI veterans still alive anywhere. Of all the millions who put on a uniform and went to that war almost 100 years ago, the last one has finally fallen.

[Jakk325]

@irimikid I cried when Harry Patch died,

[ATSF1927]

@TheHeartOfTheDisease I was born in 1927, my father was born in 1884.

[TheHeartOfTheDisease]

@ATSF1927 how could he have been your father? how old are you?

[TheHeartOfTheDisease]

@niteowlification no he wasn't. you're just jealous ;)

[niteowlification]

Harry Patch was revealed to be a fraud,

[Starpilot17]

You mentioned the American Civil War. I always wonder if people from the early years of the 1900s thought of the Civil War like we do of Vietnam. The time frames are practically the same give or take a few years. Its strange to think that someone about the same age as me (34) in 1912 could have had his father fight in the Civil War.

[Adler556]

The last living veteran of WWI was Florence Green, a British woman who served in the Allied armed forces, and who died on 4 February 2012, aged 110. The last combat veteran was Claude Choules who served in the British Royal Navy and died 5 May 2011, aged 110. The last veteran who served in the trenches was Harry Patch who died on 25 July 2009, aged 111. The last Central Powers veteran, Franz Künstler of Austria-Hungary, died on 27 May 2008 at the age of 107.

[bowmaker11]

When asked for his opinion about the first war Harry Patch said "it wasn't worth it "

Not much more to say is there ?

[AbsitReverentiaVero]

whistle blows meaning it's time to run from safety towards a killing field. This wasn't a Cops vs Robbers type shootout, mostly it was certain death just to drain the enemy of bullets or playing the numbers game and the men knew it. The final scenes of the movie Gallipoli shows a good sense of the fear, the reality of knowing that living longer than another 0.1 - 3 seconds was slim to none, the waste of life these charges really were.

It's usually only multiple war vets and special forces typ

[AbsitReverentiaVero]

men will tell you the fear is what kept them alive and fighting the extra distance. The need for the threats stops being necessary after a while and also in certain situations it's just needed because of the powerful natural psychological survival mechanisms we have.

Imagine the times you've stalled just to prolong receiving a tongue lashing or a spanking, or just not wanting to deal with something competitively silky and minor. Imagine the millions of excuses the mind makes up when a whist

[AbsitReverentiaVero]

the trench to hide, that's why it's so rarely awarded. Few men recognize it when they perform it.

Desire is never having to do any of these things, that's why there's Canada and a percentage of those H-Deferments.

You're understandably but badly misinterpreting their words and their meaning, I've never heard a real hero call himself a hero no matter how many medals are pinned on his chest. No sane man runs purposefully into swarms of red hot bullets and exploding grenade shrapnel. The same me