Over The Top
You weave your way along the trenches, pausing momentarily to take cover whenever a shell is heard screaming overhead. To your surprise, the bombardment is a very short one as it practically ends by the time you have reached your own dugout.
Hundreds of men have filed out of the dugouts and stand along the firesteps. Everywhere, you can hear the sound of rifles being cocked and machine-guns being loaded in preparation for the inevitable attack. Lieutenant Jarvis himself has pulled out a revolver from his holster and, upon seeing you, motions for you to take your place along the line. Grabbing your rifle, you stand behind the parapet, and wait for the battle to begin.
The wait is excruciating and it is only now that you take time to remember your friend George. Another death. Another friend lost forever. It also saddens you to think how his wife and family will take the news.
– “Here they come!” someone yells from further down the line, waking you from your reverie.
pace. But out in the open like that, they are merely cattle being led to the slaughterhouse. An eerie silence descends upon No Man’s Land as they are now just moments away.
Just as they reach the wire entanglements in front of your trench, every machine-gun and rifle opens up along the entire line. The murderous hail of bullets mows down the attacking Germans as a scythe cutting through grass. Waves upon waves of men fall to the ground from the deadly fire.
A few Germans manage to clamber over the barbed wire and throw hand-grenades into your trenches. The ensuing explosions knock out a nearby machine-gun post, killing every man around it.