Sidney Rogerson was a very experienced company commander by the time he fought on the Chemin des Dames in 1918, but little could have prepared him for it.
A vivid picture stands out in my mind of that moment. From the ridge in front, mutilated human beings, Englishmen and French, were being carried down on hurdles of ground sheets – such medical amenities as stretchers had disappeared long before.
Bourdillon bent over to talk to one poor devil whose stomach had been ripped open, his entrails only held in by the sopping field dressing. He came across to me. ‘I can’t take him in the cars,’ he said, ‘he’s bound to die, and it would only mean pushing someone off who might recover. If there weren’t so many men about I’d do what he’s asking me.’
’What’s that?’ I asked.
’Shoot him, and put him out of pain.’
Source:
Holmes, Richard. "Steel and Fire." Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, 1914-1918. London: HarperCollins, 2004. 474-75. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Rogerson Last of the Ebb p. 74.
Further Reading:
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