I
found this image on line – recently added to the collection at Ancestry.com
under UK Army Register of Soldier’s effects.
This
is a record of my uncle Harry, killed at Hohenzollern Redoubt in 1915 – a battle
for a fucking useless mound – where Harry and his friends were ordered to run
uphill into machine gun fire.
This
from Wikipedia:
The final British assault on 13 October failed and resulted
in 3,643 casualties, mostly in the first few minutes. In the British Official
History, J. E. Edmonds wrote that "The fighting [from 13–14 October] had
not improved the general situation in any way and had brought nothing but
useless slaughter of infantry".
Then, a year later his father gets paid
whatever was due. I imagine the accompanying letter read something like:
“Yo! George
Thanks for your lad, here’s ten quid. Got
any more?”
At least the record keeping was accurate.
One hundred years ago, and I weep for
this senselessness.
