TerrorHenk:
"In a foreign field he lay,
lonely soldier, unknown grave.
On his dying words he prays,
tell the world of Paschendale."

The third battle of Ypres, commonly known as the battle of Paschendale, took place from July to November 1917. Battle in the trenches can be described as nothing but horror. Developments in artillery meant that trenches could be reduced to mud, and a combination of bullet rain and barbed wire would often leave soldiers locked in shell holes, praying that the next shell wouldn't be their last. Soldiers were exhausted and starving. Heavy rain resulted in many a soldier drowning in mud; the battle over a few kilometres of land is one that should never be forgotten.

In this entry I have depicted the perilous crossing of "no man's land": the land inbetween two trenches that was reduced to heaps of mud and barbed wire. Attempting to cross this land would result in certain death, either from machine guns, barbed wire, artillery fire, or drowning in mud. Yet at the sound of a whistle many brave men made futile attemps to cross it.

I have put a few references to the novel "All quiet on the western front" in this entry. If you happen to have read the book you may recognise them.