Attack

Attack
An Infantry Subaltern's Impression of July 1st, 1916

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Attack by Edward G. D. Liveing

Published:

1918

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Attack
An Infantry Subaltern's Impression of July 1st, 1916

By

4
(1 Review)
Mr. Liveing's story is very well told. It is a simple and most vivid account of a modern battle. No better account has been written in England since the war [19]began.

Book Excerpt

s been killed and four men wounded."

The whole tragedy had happened so swiftly, and this sudden announcement of the death of one of our best N.C.O.s had come as such a shock, that all we did was to stare at each other with the words:

"My God! Corporal G---- gone! It's impossible."

One expects shells and death in the line, but three or four miles behind it one grows accustomed, so to speak, to live in a fool's paradise. We went round to see our casualties, and I found two of my platoon, bandaged in the leg and arm, sitting in a group of their pals, who were congratulating them on having got "soft Blighty ones." The Company Quartermaster-Sergeant showed me a helmet, which was lying outside the billet when the shells came over, with a triangular gash in it, into which one could almost place one's fist. At the body of Corporal G---- I could not bring myself to look. The poor fellow had been terribly hit in the back and neck, and, I confess it openly, I had not the courage, and felt that it wo

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A remarkable account of going "over the top" during one of WWI's great battles. It is well written in a conversational tone which is in stark contrast to the horrors and terrors that the author is describing. The events described seem to occur over days and it is startling when you realize it all happens in less than a day. A quick read that does a good job of describing the indescribable.