Hot Blood and Cold Steel: Life and Death in the Trenches of the First World War (Kampfraum Series)

Rating:
Summary: Hot Blood and Cold Steel
Review: This book is more than a collection of memories about this great war - it is a disturbing testament to the absolute horror endured by the prime of European youth. Mr. Simpson's portrayals of trench warfare are assembled with the often censored letters of ill-trained young soldiers, sent as cannon fodder and bullet-catchers into the misery of Flanders Field, Verdun, and Passchendaele. These soldiers lived in frightful conditions, among compatriot and enemy dead, with no end of vermin and poor food, assaulted continually with the most despicable killing mechanisms ever concocted. The author provides glimpses of the trials endured by these men, forced to abandon too much their civility, and often their sanity, to cope with the constant ravages of disease and death. Hot Blood and Cold Steel documents the grim reality and the hopelessness suffered by these brave souls.

Rating:
Summary: Hot Blood and Cold Steel
Review: This book is more than a collection of memories about this great war - it is a disturbing testament to the absolute horror endured by the prime of European youth. Mr. Simpson's portrayals of trench warfare are assembled with the often censored letters of ill-trained young soldiers, sent as cannon fodder and bullet-catchers into the misery of Flanders Field, Verdun, and Passchendaele. These soldiers lived in frightful conditions, among compatriot and enemy dead, with no end of vermin and poor food, assaulted continually with the most despicable killing mechanisms ever concocted. The author provides glimpses of the trials endured by these men, forced to abandon too much their civility, and often their sanity, to cope with the constant ravages of disease and death. Hot Blood and Cold Steel documents the grim reality and the hopelessness suffered by these brave souls.