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Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen
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Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,And towards our distant rest began to trudge.Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hootsOf gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!--An ecstasy of fumblingFitting the clumsy helmets just in time,But someone still was yelling out and stumblingAnd flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.--Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.In all my dreams before my helpless sightHe plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could paceBehind the wagon that we flung him in,And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,If you could hear, at every jolt, the bloodCome gargling from the froth-corrupted lungsBitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory,The old Lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori.* *it is sweet and right to die for your country
Victor Wheeler, privé Canadien, a aidé dans la construction des premières tranchées. With pick and shovel we dug trenches through beautiful fields of grain, fully realising what damage we were doing to the farmers' hopes of reaping small harvests that would enable them to stem hunger during the coming winter. The patriarch with his ox-drawn plough, the matronly gleaner, and the young woman gathering grass and leaves, roots and truffles, stood arms akimbo, wordlessly, helplessly, hopelessly watching. The depressing effect on the morale of the men - to many of whom raising grain on the Western prairie also meant their livelihood - could not be easily dismissed.
Les troupes allemands se sont mis à construire des tranchées pour maintenir leur position en France et en Belgique. Les tranchées ont offert immense protection contre les avances alliées. Les Alliés ont appris que la ligne était impénétrable et par conséquant ont creusé leur propre système de tranchées. À la fin de la guerre le système des tranchées s’étendait, sans arrêt, 40 000 km de la Belgigue en Suisse.
Photo aerienne des cratères d’obus complètement inondés–Comparez-les à la taille des personnes
Fils barbelés protègeaient les tranchées des avances ennmies
Conditions dans les tranchées • L’ennui • Bruit • Rats • Poux • Maladies • De l’eau partout • Mauvaise nourriture (qualité et quantité) • PEUR