WWI+RAFT+G+Soyon

R= British reporter A= German soldier (picked it up during battle) F= Diary entry T= What's going on the battlefield, life at the battlefield

March 6, 1916 Good day to you! I haven't written a diary is such a long time but I believe I need to write one now. Who knows when I'll die? It is currently March here at Verdun. We are quite close to Paris. The German Fifth Army have just attacked us again (us as in me and the French Army.) It looks like it'll be a bloody long war. In case I haven't mentioned this before, this is my first time reporting on the battlefield. I first thought that it would be thrilling, great, I though that I would feel like a hero, delivering news straight from the battleground. How wrong I was. Now, I long terribly for home while grenades and gun shots can be heard above my head. I am standing in a trench, being stained by the blood of those dying around me. Sometimes I feel like a coward. I shouldn't feel this way though. There are those who are in a worse situation. Such are the situations of the soldiers, especially the colonial soldiers. As you may know, colonies have given loyalty to the allies in exchange for rights, respect, freedom, etc. To me, it's quite obvious that the allies won't keep their promises, I mean who would? Anyways the colonial soldiers are terribly mistreated here. They are put in the front ranks (can you imagine the horror!) I can see many of them lying dead around me. God, the trenches are disgusting! They're filled with blood, you can smell iron in the air. There's body parts everywhere, the hygiene is quite bad. As for how the war is fought... Well, I can tell you that it's pretty stupid. I mean we're using old strategies with new technology. Machine guns and soldiers in trenches don't really work together. It's a mess here. Oh god, it seems, like we're being pushed back. I...

Comment: Later, a German soldier picked it up from the dead reporter... That's why it end so abrubtly.