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.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 