"Life in the trenches was hell on earth. The stench of the dead bodies now is awful as they have been exposed to the sun for several days, many have swollen and burst.
The trench is full of other occupants, things with lots of legs, also swarms of rats. I saw some rats running from under the dead men's greatcoats, enormous rats, fat with human flesh. My heart pounded as we edged towards one of the bodies. His helmet had rolled off. The man displayed a grimacing face, stripped of flesh; the skull bare, the eyes devoured and from the yawning mouth leapt a rat.
We were filled with an instinctive hatred of them, because however one tried to put the thought of one's mind, one could not help feeling that they fed on the dead. What happened to the rats under heavy shell-fire was a mystery, but their powers of survival kept place with each new weapon, including poison gas." - Pvt. George Coppard, Royal West Surrey Regiment, Cambrai, France, 20th November, 1917. #ww1 #reality #stayzero #zerofoxtrot