Title: Dulce et decorum est - School project
by Reuben from London | in writing, fiction
There I was, forcing my heavy rigid boots through the thick sludge of Munich along with 199 of my fellow British soldiers. I would never have imagined things being this bad. There were people crying, cursing and then a BANG.
The bang was a large bomb that pierced the sky like a giant dart. It was symbolising that the German army were ready to fight. I, along with many others turned our backs with fear, but we had to keep marching.
It was cold, I couldn't feel my legs. And the wind seamed eager and determined to keep us struggling, like it was on Germany's side, but I couldn't stop, it would bring shame and dishonour on my behalf. And as much as I wanted to stop, I was surrounded by soldiers and my feet seemed to control me.
'Follow me', said the general, and we took a sharp left turning toward the coast to get our strength and determination back before we forwarded to the battle field.
But what we didn't know is that a selected few of the German army were among the grass of which we were surrounded in. Luckily, someone had spotted an obvious camouflage suit through the lime green grass.
'Quick, on those boats!' he shouted.
Many people had died at this point as there were only 4 boats which were sufficient for twenty each. By this point 96 of our men had died or were unable to move. I had never experienced something so scary or chaotic ever in my life. That was until a few hours later'
'Gas! Gas! Quick boys!' shouted the general as he saw another boat coming into our direction along with a thick green gas which seemed to melt the first boat like a marshmallow on a warm tongue. With approximately 40 men left, 160 were dead, dying or stranded which included the deputy officer.
Then all at a sudden a thought hit me, which made me jump like I was on a execution chair as it was possible that my brother was on that boat that just got destroyed. I crossed my fingers so hard to point of which my blood circulation had stopped and my fingers were a dark purple colour, just wishing that my brother was not on that boat.
As the German boat turned around, many gun shots took places which were all completely off target as the waves were so severe that nobody could get a decent aim. As the boat I was on passed the first boat I could see my brother struggling in the vigorous sea and gagging for oxygen. It was no use, I wanted to go into save him, but something was holding me back, something which I was not sure of.
If you did not experience the war, you will never be able to imagine what it was like. It is more than just oppositions shooting at each other. As your sense of fear takes over your sense of hatred that every gun shot you fire misses as your hands shake rapidly. And as soon as you get a good aim you feel an unbearable pain going through your arm or foot which I couldn't do anything about, apart from carry on in pain.
We were studying World War 1 Poetry at school and our end of unit essay was to convert 'Dulce et decorum est' into a story. Credits: by Reuben 2008-12-04
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