War, a ferocious fight between man that not only physically but mentally damages everyone. Men who have families, wives , kids are lucky enough to go back home with all their limbs and wit to them . It was said to be the war to end all wars, THE GREAT WAR OF WORLD but there was nothing great about it . I was a young man at the time of my enlistment into the army and had to leave my little town of Clarksville ,Tennessee . I hugged my mother and father like it was the last time I would ever see them.
I remember the ride to the shipping port where I would be shipped off the Europe it was a mixture of the excitement of seeing new places and serving my country and the fear of not coming back to see the ones I love . I was assigned to the 30th( Old Hickory) Division under the commandment of Horace Frierson. As I got out of the taxi I saw the ship and was in awe of how large the ship was and the weapons on it, i mean i’ve seen some big guns but these were the size of our hometown bank and i was supposed to fire THAT!? I met a man aboard the ship who was from Georgia his name was private Richards but he preferred to go by Dick.
Dick was 16 as I later found out but lied to get into battle, he said it would make him a hometown hero. I just went with it because there was no point in scolding him for his decision because the ship was already at sail. The ride to Europe was long and hard with an occasional storm here and there but the worst thing that happened was me getting sea sick. Have you ever been somewhere where you knew you didn’t belong? Well that’s how i felt when i took my first step off the ship into what was to look like a death sentence and in the distance you could hear the bombs, guns, and men it sounded like bloody murder.
I remember the one thing that no one should ever have to see … I saw a man kneeled over a body and kept crying and yelling “ HELP MY BROTHER! HELP MY BROTHER PLEASE! ” it brought tears to my eyes . Colonel Frierson directed us to where we were to sleep and we were instructed to report to the frontline at 700 hours. That night I couldn’t sleep knowing the fact that i might be killed by artillery overnight. Early the next morning we suited up and met up with the rest of the battalion that i was to work with.
As we moved into position the tanks rolled in behind us and you could hear the aeroplanes and i swear on the life of my mother if you looked close enough you could see the Red Baron , one of the most feared and respected men in the skies. It twas a rainy day, some clouds here and there not a lot of sunlight but just enough to see the hell on earth that we’ve just walked into. Bodies of both allies and central powers soldiers faced down in the mud, men running at each other bayonet in hand stabbing his foe to the ground leaving him to die or brutally beating him with a shovel, mace , rock and even their bare hands .
The explosions of the artillery shells hitting the ground were either followed by a loud scream or the rag dollish figure of what was left of a man who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Every man was either running towards the enemy or back to his trench only to be shot by his own men for being a coward in battle. We set up the cannons as the Colonel blew his whistle to let the “rats” as some men would call them to charge the enemy. Shortly after the thundering sound of the tanks rolling in and over the trenches and on the side of one it was named Big Bess.
We got into position and awaited the signal of our commander. Even though it was only five minutes it felt like forever with the constant shouting and the screaming of the bombs hitting the ground. Over the loud noises we heard the whistle blow and the colonel yelled for us to “ MAKE IT RAIN HELL” the men and I loaded the cannon and adjusted the cannons to the coordinates that we were to bomb and fired and then hearing a loud boom. I looked off into the distance to see a huge tank with the central powers logo on the side slowly rolling towards us destroying every barrier and soldier in its path.
You could hear the whistling sound of the mortars fall from the sky and direct impact the tank. As the smoke cleared the tank still sat there , I thought it was impossible that it was still standing until i saw some ally soldiers charge the tank only to be blown to smithereens along with the tank, it looked to be a misfire from a hostile tank. We kept firing wherever the coordinates they told us until there was a brief moment of quiet. No guns were firing , no men screaming, no tanks or aeroplanes anywhere.
We thought that the Germans have retreated , I too believed them until , out in the trenches a man yelled “ ARTILLERY HIT THE DECK!! ” I looked up only to be propelled 1 mile away , I hit my head on a rock and all I saw was a black abyss. I opened my eyes to a blur my ears were ringing and I thought I was in hell. Fire was everywhere and everything was muffled. I got up and stumbled to get ahold of myself only to fall back over again. Despite everything that was going on there was only one thing on my mind was to find Richard. I knew that the kid was assigned to the front line with the rest of the trenches.
I got up and shambled the the battlefield , through the mud and blood of men who once were honorary soldiers, husbands, and fathers. Many of the men were half of what hey used to be and I mean that in the most literal way, it sickened me every step into another person’s blood, uniform , and photographs of their wifes and kids that had not clue of what was coming home to them that instead of a heart warming reunion they would be stricken with the grieving new of the man they once knew demise. As I climbed over the last barrier, i thought the coast was clear until i heard the sound that to this day still frightens me.
It was the buzzing sound of enemy bomber planes rolling in to finish what they started. I ran as fast as I could to a nearby trench as bullets were shot at me that sprung up in the mud behind me. I jumped into the trench and to my surprise there was men in said trench one of which with a rifle pointed at my face the asked who I was and what platoon I was assigned to. My mind spun because if i told them that I abandoned my post I would be arrested for deserting and i would never find Richard. Luckily I had the same name as our commander and managed to fool them.
I asked them where private Richard was and they told me that their mission was to break through the German line and advance to a nearby town where other allies set up camp and Richard was sent out as a runner before the bombs fell. I cursed under my breath knowing that he would be near no man’s land that stupid kid was going to get himself killed. I grabbed a rifle and ran out of the trench with artillery and bullets close behind in the distance I saw the german front with ally soldiers charging the front line with everything they had i gave the cover fire by killing a few of their heavy gunners and men who were on the cannons.
I made my way to a nearby shelter to reload when a bullet shot me right in the shoulder. I collapsed into the trench looking up at the sky , the sky that was once blue a with fluffy clouds now riveted with bullets and planes. I layed there looking up thinking of howmy life led to me bleeding out in this trench mud bombarding me with every mortar hitting the ground ,and for the first time in my life I was truly scared. Scared I wouldn’t see my family, my friends, my lovely wife Annabelle and most of all i was scared that my unborn child would grow up with no father.
I closed my eyes and waited for death’s cold hand to take me into a deep slumber that i would never return from. “help” I opened my eyes to see a man covered in mud I crawled towards him and wiped his face off. To my relief it was Richard! But something was wrong with him he looked paler and i soon found out why, his right leg was gone probably from the artillery strikes but what was left was loosing blood fast. I looked him in the eye and said “ Now you listen to me kid, i’m not dying in this trench and neither are you! We need to find a way back to base to get you patched up you understand me!? . He nodded and slowly pointed to a crate in the corner.
I crawled to it and opened it to find the armor of an Italian Arditi that was a bulletproof soldier who could wipe out an entire battalion without a single dent. I knew what I had to do to get us back in one piece , I geared up picked up Richard and climbed out of the trench. Due to my injury i could not run only simply walk while the germans fired at will , every bullet just bouncing off me some even killing them. I walked back through the mud of which I came from with hundreds of tanks,planes, and men running by me.
Each step I took I grew weary but i kept going not even the artillery shells could stop me no matter how close they were to me i was going to get us back to base and i was making sure that i was not gonna die in this stinking mud not HERE not NOW not EVER! We reached the base and I collapsed tossing Richard on the ground. Nurses and doctors rushed him and got him a bed while the rest tended to me by getting that armor off of me. They patched up my leg and did the best they could with Richard. In the medical quarters I got a bed next to richard who was still unconscious from the medicine I rested onto my bed and fell asleep.
I dreamed of the battlefield and the trenches, the men both enemy and ally dead i was the only one I fell to my knees and all i could say was “Why me? ”. Richard died in his sleep, his family was to be notified of the tragedy. I was shipped out of Europe the following day wanting to forget everything I had witnessed. War is not a forgiving time my grandchildren. It is a nasty thing that no man should ever endure, because of war i am forever scarred by the sounds of the bombs dropping but fear not there is hope” One day all this will be over.
The war to end all wars will be won by one side or the other. The guns will rust. Grass will grow and there will be nothing left of any of this. The land will heal itself as everything does in the end. We’ll be long gone by then, but maybe not forgotten. History only remembers 1-1000 of us, then the future will be filled with stories of who we were and what we did, how we fought and how we died. When all this is over and the war is won-they will remember us. But until that day comes, we will stand, we will look death in the eye and we will FIGHT.
The End The war to end all war never really ended anything. But the men who gave their lives to fight for what we believe in memories are almost forgotten. People will have to learn about what they did and why it made a difference in history. I wrote this short story to show that the culture and history behind this war is not forgotten and I hope that those who read this will consider what these men had to endure and I assure you to look into your history and see who fought and give him peace that he may be gone but he is not forgotten.
The man in this story is real and his name is Horris Batson he is my great grandfather who fought in this war but was ultimately effected by this because after he got back he was petrified of thunderstorms and would hide in the closet because he thought that it was another artillery strike. Thanks to him i respect my history and have researched every aspect of what he did and the battalion he fought in.
