The First World War witnessed unprecedented bloodshed. New weapons including poison gas, airplanes, and submarines made mass killing easier. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers died in ghastly trench warfare. Although it took the United States several months to recruit, train, and deploy an army, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) played an important role in the Allies’ victory. In May 1918, AEF forces helped to stop German advances at Château Thierry and Belleau Wood. Four months later, 1.2 million Americans joined Allied troops in the bloody battles of Meuse-Argonne. At the same time, the U.S. Navy aided the British in a transatlantic convoy system and mining the North Sea. Their combined efforts defeated the German submarine campaign against Allied merchant ships.In an excerpt from his diary, Clarence J. Richmond, a Marine private, describes his combat experiences in France. You can read this excerpt by clicking here.
After reading from Richmond’s diary I would like you all to reflect on and discuss the following: How does Richmond portray conditions at the front? What are his duties? How does Richmond seem to feel about combat? Do you think his response was common? Explain. In your opinion, what would be the most difficult aspect of combat? Are there any positive aspects? Your thoughts…
12 comments:
Richmand discribed the front as a horrible place (at least to me). He said he saw many people with their heads and heals blown off. He sounded like he was really lucky when he was dodging the constant fire of shells. He said that cans of pork and beans were very rare for them so I'm guessing that they had very poor nutrition. He said something about having two cans of milk and some tacks(?) which I'm not even sure are. His duties seemd to be to start the digging of trenches, and then to carry the bodeis of the wounded on stretchers. The way he described it, it didn't seem like it was as terrible as it could have been. I couldn't really detect how he saw it (good or bad) but he seemed to be in the middle. I'm not sure that was a reasonable response of him to make. Normally, I would expect people on the front line to be terrified about it and say how much they hated every minute of it. He didn't say that at all, he just kind of went through the basics of what happened.
Richmands describes the war front as a place with a lot of caos and shooting...He describes the way the German fought: heavy machine gun fires and trench mortars.
Richmand's duties were to basically help the wounded soldiers and get them to an ambulance. I think Richmand is kinda used to all of this war stuff. He seems as if he's tired of the war but at the same time knows that he's stuck and has no control over anything.
I do think that Richmond;s response was pretty common for any soldier fighting on the front. When you see the same thing day after day and death surrounds you, not much else other than trying to save your own life and fight for your country seems to matter. he described the scene as shells dropping all around them and then machine gun fire nonstop by the germans. He also had said how the germans prepared themselves by hastil digging throughout the night before. you can tell he's hungry because he flatout says that he doesnt get teh chance to eat very often. Also, the same thing with sleep. Sleep is a luxury in this war situation. He said once he layed on the ground to avoid gunfire he would almost fall asleep because of the october sun and how tired his body was, which is way dangerous. He also described that the germans had planes flying overhead throuhgout the morning but that their planes werent so visible until during the day. As far as casualties go, he starts off in the very first paragraph by tellin us that Hamilton got a bullet too the chest. He describes it very naturally, which must have been natural to him because thats what he saw a countless number of times daily.
Richmand describes the front as nothing we can ever imagine unless we were in that position. I can never imagine being at war for more than a day if i were even to make it through. Soldiers, having to keep their positions, having things shot at them left and right, trying to stay alive. i never knew that it was this extreme, untill this document.
It was very difficult to survive, with heavy fire all the time and many dying around him all the time. He travels through with gunmen and carries wounded soldiers. He must be a medic of some sort. He saw some pretty gortesquely, injured people. He seems like a very helpful man, who does not complain a lot or seemed to shocked at what he sees, which suprises me. At least he has some better food than he could have. The hardest thing, i'd say, would be to survive.
Richmand's job was to fix up the wounded and take them to the dressing station and ambulances.
i think his view of war was as if it was everyday life cause the way he describes it is sounding like common or normal writing about a day.
Richmond's description of the war front is a desolate and godforsaken place where people are wounded horribly by the minute. Richmond is charged with carrying wounded soldiers' stretchers. He seems sort of desensitized towards the war. Richmond seems to accept the horrors of war as everyday life. I think that his response can only be compared as common or uncommon when matched up against men who have served on the front for the same amount of time. Indifference and pessimism would be more common among men who have served longer. To me, the worst aspect of the fighting would be the waiting for death. I mean, on the war front, death or severe injury is pretty much inevitable. To have to go day after day just waiting for it to happen is horrible. The other worst aspect of combat would be to see your comrades fall simply because of a lack of luck, not a lack of skill. Survival on the war front, for however long, was all luck. you would never know where the next artillery shell would land. In my eyes, there are no positive aspects of war that cannot be acquired in other means.
And tack= a hard bread/biscuit of sorts.
I really liked this document, because it shows the never quit attitude towards war when Americans fight. WWI definetly showed off our fighting capabilities.
He seems to be someone that carries wounded soldiers back on stretchers for medical attention and he seems to do a little medical things himself.
I think that he has convinced himself that the things he sees everyday is normal, but he really doesnt go into as much detail as the other accounts do about the disgusting things in the trenches and so on. It might be because he's an american and he came in this fresh and when they're actually gaining ground.
Richmond is a stretcher bearer which seems to be someone who carries the wounded of the front lines and to a field hospital. It seems like Richmond wrote this very unemotionally. It sounds like he doesn't like the fighting but that he has gotten used to it by now. I think the hardest part of combat would be seeing your friends die in horrible ways all around you.
In the document, Richmond describes how chaotic the war was and how there was massive use of guns and bombs, new technology of the day. His job was to get the wounded people to an ambulance, so he was constantly exposed to the worst injuries on the battle field. He seems to be used to seeing these horrible things because he doesn't seem to mind it much. He even mentions that things such as pork, beans, and milk were very rare to see while in the war. This implies the poor nutrition that soldiers experienced while in battle.
Richmond starts off with "The shelling cleared up a little". This can really show how there was constant gunfire and shots being projected at the marine forces. At this point, they start to dig more as to gain an upper hand in defense, but to no avail. They had to change positions, which was met with a barrage of German gunfire. Obviously, Richmond felt unsafe, as he was under constant threat of opposing forces. His comrades were falling left and right, as they suffered a nonstop onslaught of mortars. Now while under the threat of death, the soldiers still had to cope with the upkeep of eating and other functions. Richmond was quite content with his milk and hard tack, as others may have envied him for his "lot" of food. The conditions were horrible to say the least, and it is a surprise to see that he was sane enough to write any of it down.
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