A Description of Life in the Treches During WWll
A Description of Life in the German Trenches during WWI In an age driven by technology, the face of war has changed so dramatically that wars can now be fought on digital battle fields from ships that volley missiles capable of devastating entire armies at distances measured in hundreds of miles. It is far cry from life experienced by soldiers in WWI whose only protection from the nearby enemy lines merely feet away were miles of cold and shallow trenches that zig zagged their way across Western Europe. Carl Zuckmayer, a writer and WWI veteran, describes his experiences in the trenches on the Western front of the war and the effect it had on his life and political views during post war years in his autobiography entitled, "A Part of Myself." Born in 1896 and only seventeen at the outbreak of war in 1914, Zuckmayer was a gifted poet whose leftist political views had a major influence on his initial disapproval of the war. "I will never kill anyone. I would rather go to prison" (Zuckmayer 141) was his response when asked about whether or not he would join the army. However, upon returning home from his summer vacation, he was quickly swept up in the patriotic euphoria of the German people were. He writes "I remember precise
He goes on to describe in greater detail that, as early as the Christmas of 1914, soldiers in the trenches west of Roye ceased the nightly barrages that were standard even on quiet fronts. Upon entering the suburb, Zuckmayer and his companion noted only one building that had been left standing, a Portuguese tavern now occupied by a number of infantrymen with nerves shot by the battle. Over the course of the war, every schoolmate who was with him on the day of his enlistment perished in battle. After that, the soldiers began laughing wildly and greeted him with open arms. He advocated peace and justice in a time when his country was still recovering from the devastations of war. In February 1915, Zuckmayer was on a routine patrol along the quiet sector of the front. He was searching for a man who was left behind in the wake of the blast. After Walther Rathenau's assassination by a group of nationalist young men in 1922, Zuckmayer was sitting in a park with his friends when they witnessed a group of fraternity men marching around. However, the hours spent in class studying this volatile period in German history has made me appreciate even more the freedoms I possess and the men who died to preserve them. The memory of that moment was forever burned into Zuckmayer's mind. This renewed sense of national pride was fueled by the mass belief that a war with France and Russia would be a quick and victorious one. In April 1918 during an offensive against Armentieres, Zuckmayer sheds some insight into the current state of mind of many German soldiers, by recalling an event that happened after he was sent out to set up quarters in a specific suburb of Armentieres.
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