Journal of Theodore Morrison

Entry 6

30th June, 1916

Dear Diary,

I survived the battle.

But now, another is waiting, haunting my mind day to day as we go throughout our training.

"The trench attack has left us all wounded, both pride and body. Once struck, we must strike back twice as hard. War they want? War we will deliver. They may think that our soldiers are wounded, so we must take them by surprise. We have trained long and hard for our country. Now we must use those skills we have achieved in reality. Tomorrow dawn, we shall attack the Germans when they are most defenseless... In their sleep! With our backs to the wall, we must fight on to the end!"

Marshal Douglas Haig's words still rang in my head, loud and clear, but the image of Archie's lifeless form in his own puddle of blood was etched onto my mind, never to escape, always haunting me.

I was on my nerves, thinking about the upcoming war. Would I leave victorious, or would I leave wounded? Or maybe I wouldn't survive at all. The possibilities were endless.

My job in the upcoming battle would be to be in the primary position, where the enemies were likely to approach. I was supposed to intervene and stop them before they could approach our side of the field.

Marshal Douglas Haig's plan was for the British Fourth Army to break through in the center, while the Third Army in the north and the French Sixth Army to the south made diversionary attacks. If successful, the Reserve Army, including Cavalry, would then exploit this gap and roll up the German line.

Until then, we were to train like never before.

Towards an unidentified future.