A scholar finds diaries in an old steamer trunk.
The diaries tell the story of a young man, Ned Steele, who embarks on a journey from Detroit to Germany.
Ned joins the Army in 1914, earns a commission in 1917, leads a machine gun company on a Flanders hill, and then a machine gun battalion in the AEF in France. In between, Ned finds romance, terror, exhaustion, friendship, death, and the misery of
World War One...
.
23
rd
November, Colline Mortelle..
I have seen the Inferno from the edge of Purgatory...mud, wire, holes, water, and the remains of man, beast, and civilization. There is no sadder sight than a ruined town...No training can get anyone ready for this [expletive].
I could never have imagined what a howitzer shell landing so close could have felt like.... machine-gun bullets hum like giant bees or kazoos in the air and sound like meat hooks hitting a side of [expletive] beef when they hit...Sgt. Thorsten and I went down to the "front line"...like [expletive] animals in unbelievable filth and indescribable stink...in the forward posts, we endured a small bombing raid...Don't think I've ever been so [expletive] humiliated in my life....
"Get ready..."
the voice on the telephone said softly....the night stillness was ever-so-gently broken by the rumbling of heavy guns, followed by the
crack
of light howitzers...then, the
shush-shush-shush
of shells passing overhead...then, the ground seemed to
explode
...
The Maxims opened fire, the
bzzz-bzzz-bzzz
of the bullets ending abruptly in a muddy torrential blizzard of
thut-thut-thut
as they hit the hill...Half of Steele's guns were on the west side of the hill...where most of the bullets were falling...
The telephone crackled again.... "
Steele!
"
"On our left and right," the voice said. "Missions 6 and 9."
Out
," Steele answered, grabbing his company phone and Missions List. "1
st
Platoon fire Mission 6,
standing
; 2
nd
Platoon Mission 9,
Forward
post
now!
His machine guns opening fire...and
kept firing
"Fire Mission 5,
sweep left to right
..."
"B Boy Company: my flank is open. Give me your Mission 12, and a
lot
of
it
."
"Fire Mission 12,
Split fire
"B Boy again. Shift east two hundred; you're too bloody close..."
"Out
. Give me 1
Platoon...
sweep
left
two hundred..."
"Give me 3
Platoon...Mission 9,
..." Steele's guns kept firing...he kept adjusting..."Give me 2
Platoon...Mission 7,
standing bump left