When the First World War started, I got conscripted to the Western Front. I was first excited at first as I was dreaming about shooting the enemy and capturing trenches. Then, of course, I started to get really scared as we approached the trenches as the occasional gunshots and artillery sounds were distant. I started to rethink my choices and the thought of not turning back until the war was over was really terrifying to me. As the vehicle arrived, we were forced into the trenches. Almost everyone in the trench was dead silent as they were shaken by the war. The western front turned into a trench war which meant that everyone was only defending and no progress was made on the frontlines. Only a few hours later, our commander ordered an assault on the other trench on the other side of the no man’s land. Soldiers got ready with their guns and got out of the trenches with a whistle-blow from our commander.
A few soldiers got shot as soon as they got their heads out of the trench and the remaining soldiers charged forward avoiding anti-tank obstacles and barbed wires. I got my gun in my hand and charged towards the other soldiers. Screams, artillery bombardments, and gunshots from the close air support planes made me scared for life but I knew I could not stop right now. After an assault which felt like several hours, we entered the other trench and killed the enemy soldiers with our bayonets. Everyone who survived entered the trench shaken. ”If I were a cloud, at least I would not be in this hellhole,” a soldier next to me told me.
Commander peeks outside the trench and sees a few huge metal vehicles approaching the trenches. ”Attack!” shouts the commander as everyone gets to their position and gets their guns ready. Everyone started to shoot simultaneously but it was nothing for the metal beasts. They continued forward and crushed the trench. Everyone was running away and a few people got crushed under the tanks. As we were retreating gunshots were behind us. I entered a hole and stayed for a while and everything outside went silent. I peeked my helmet outside the hole with a stick and it immediately got shot. I was stuck here with no escape and I looked up that piece of cloud for the last time…