"Three hundred yards farther we came to the top of another knoll and looked down the other side, a smooth space of about a hundred acres. Never have my eyes rested on such a sight. May they never again behold one like it. The hill was literally covered with dead men, side by side, head to head, little or no space between, practically all of them American doughboys. They had died in droves charging German machine gun nests left behind to cover the retreat. Right in front of us were a German and an American who had actually pierced each other with their bayonets and neither bayonet had been withdrawn." Major Harold Hartney, 27th Aero Squadron, August 1, 1918 reporting upon searching for any survivors of a battle, somewhere on the Western Front, France.
In less than 200 days, 53,402 American soldiers would be killed in combat during WW1, almost reaching the numbers of U.S. deaths suffered during the entire Vietnam War. Food for thought in case your day sucks. #ww1 #history #survivor #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #reality