The distances the charging men had to run to get to the enemies trench was
far enough for the enemy to use it's constant shelling and it's machine gun fire
to dwindle the attacking army significant enough for the attacking army to
retreat. Counter attacks were quickly attempted after the attacks. The counter
attacks were similiar to the actual attacks except the difference was that the
counter attack involved the killing of the retreating of the enemy instead of
attacking someone under the cover of the trench. During the war all soldiers
were affected either physically or phsycologically. Shell shock was an ongoing
sickness affecting many soldiers in the trenches.
The constant bombardment of
mortar shelling became so defeaning and monotonous the sounds of shelling
remained with the soldier even when there was no shelling. Such cases became so
severe for some the soldier would go in fits of rage and fear at the very same
instantance. Virtually all soldiers felt homesick at one time or another. The
soldiers being out on the battle fronts for a long time soon forgot the
propaganda beliefs the country had instilled the soldiers, instead the soldiers
just wanted to survive their tour of duty however long it would be. Death had
been experienced and seen by the soldiers on the front for a long time that the
themes had become relative to their daily life on the front. Coming back to
their homes the soldiers had received and learned of a new perpective on war. It
was that when face to face with death the political beliefs that were held were
irrevalant when trying to survive in the war. Glorification of death is
ridiculous unless you were being attacked and threat of death was present that
would be another story but to die for a something many miles away is something
that the individual must take in consideration in when making his or her
decision. I personally would not risk death if friends and family were not at
risk. Since our country has become less militarized since WWII the need for
military personnel has not been as necessary. But as mentioned before if the
country I lived was under a threat of takeover I believe I would take up arms to
defend against the people who would try to attack. Other than that the
physcological and physical damages soldiers endure would deter me from joining
any army.
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