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Great War - Journal #12

Death of Poilu

The Moment of Death

This image--thought to be a still from a German film about the Battle of Verdun--captures a French soldier being thrown back by the force of a bullet. He was just one of over 500,000 French casualties of the battle.

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Journal

It has been said that during war, the difference between a hero and a fool is one well-placed bullet. What does this mean to you?
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Letter

Guy Chapman, A Passionate Prodigality: Fragments of Autobiography (1933)

One morning, while I was inspecting the rifles of the sentries on duty, I was startled, not to say alarmed, by three whizz-bangs bursting as it seemed all round my head. I heard one coming very close, caught a glimpse of it out of the tail of my eye, and at that moment slipped. I picked myself up, but before I could reach my full height, the minnie burst. A furious hot whirlwind rushed down, seized me and flung me violently back against the earth. I lay half-stunned while a rain of earth and offal pattered down on me, followed by something which whizzed viciously and stuck quivering in the trench wall; it was a piece of jagged steel eighteen inches long.

  • What was Guy Chapman doing in the front line?
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  • What is a whizz-bang? What is a minnie?
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  • Describe the artillery attack.
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