German soldiers could not believe what they were seeing as these columns of British soldiers – with rifles shouldered – marched calmly toward the German trenches, stepping through the poppy flowers as they went! Initially, many German machine-gunners refused to open-fire on such an obvious target – but were forced to do so by their Officers! The result was an absolute massacre! However, the British High Command accused these working-class regiments of cowardice – and pushed more and more men into the area for the next three-months! In some places the bodies lay stacked in 12-foot piles – and it was these natural barriers that the newly arrived British soldiers had to climb. Many advanced over the shattered bodies of their fathers, uncles, sons and brothers.
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