Write a journal entry from the point of view of a French soldier in 1916. In this entry, describe battlefield conditions, weapons being used, and feelings about the enemy. (This should be written in paragraph form.)

July 2, 1916.

After spending all night in the dark, tiredness consumes me, but it is necessary to be persevering and strong, to endure the terrors that we will still witness. It is necessary to defeat the German army and expel their troops from France, but this is difficult in view of how technological the German army is. But we are not that far behind. Our artillery is strong and heavy and we have the machine gun, a novelty for us, but which proves to be very efficient and incisive in combat. However, I cannot help thinking about the situation we are in, with bodies thrown everywhere, blood splattered on the ground and the number of hungry, sick and injured soldiers.

Explanation:

The Battle of Somme took place near the River Somme in France and was the most violent and deadly battle of the first world war. It was fought between the British and French army against the German Exirto, with the aim of expelling German troops (one of the most modern at the time) from French territory.

All the army was well equipped and a great novelty of the moment was the use of the machine gun as artillery. The death toll was the highest seen so far and was reported as 207,000 deaths among British fighters, 67,000 deaths among Frenchmen, and 170,000 deaths among Germans.

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