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Thats Britain down to just a single veteran of the Great War now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8168691.stm

Sad news.

Well, I'm going to play Bolt Thrower's "Those Once Loyal" again in tribute.

70,000 people killed in a battle? Holy crap that must have been a nightmare.

That was Trench Warfare for you.

It was also the last real war Britain fought using commisioned officers, where rather than rise up through the ranks, your family bought your commission. Thus the men had very little training, and their commanding officer might have had no formal training at all.

But I feel the Great War really says something about mankind, in that it took 4 years to figure out standing in a hole in a field is a really crap way to win a war. Was meant to be the future!

The War to end all Wars..

Was certainly the War to end Empires, I'll give it that.

Seriously, if Britain had won the war quicker, or if it had never happened we'd be living in a markedly different world. Indeed, the US might never have achieved dominance. Or at least, not so quickly.

Eh, they would've one way or the other.

Sad times. Rest In Peace, let your experiences, memories, and personal pain serve as a lesson to us, and to all mankind.

sA

WW1 as a military history enthusiast (heck I'm a Wargamer, we all love a good war story) remains fascinating to me. At the time technology was progressing faster than any theory regarding it's application and as a result WW1 was the breaking point where old school methods of warfare met modern weaponry and neither side had any real idea of how to cope. The only real long term strategy of either side was the bleed the other white.

I read Harry Patches book last year and it's a cracking account of a battle through the eyes of a single infantryman and it's very emotionally engaging.

He left a great legacy in that many others will remember his story and, in a way, the story of the other members of the infantry in WW1. 111 is a fine old age to reach, RIP.

He had a book?

Damn. I'll definately pick that up for summer reading.

sA

He did indeed.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Fighting-Tommy-Surviving-Trenches/dp/0747593361

A cracking account of life in the trenches, well worth a read.

Just caught paer of an interview with Harry on the BBC.

If I can die with even the tiniest fraction of his bravery and dignity I'll have done well.

Such a pointless War. To this day I'm still baffled as to the point of it.

And even as a pacifist, I do make a point of acknowledging the sacrifice of those who have gone before. It was their actions that gave me the choice of going to War or not. As much as you might think me a coward, if I received call up papers, I would run like a bitch.

I remember my teacher telling my class about who ever thought up trench warfare is an idiot.

"Whoever thought up trench warfare is an idiot. I mean the officers blow a whistle so the soldiers know to get into position thus alerting the German machine gunners. Then the officers get out of the trenchs, wave there arms and yell. Then the the soldiers move slowly towards the Germans."
Quoted, not exactly what he said but close enough, from my teacher.

No one thought of trench warfare. it just happened.
It was a byproduct of increase in fire arm tech but not transportatian.