Background:
Thomas Fredrick Littler's diary takes place in 1916, right in the middle of World War I. When Littler turned 17, he joined the Cheshire Regiment right when the war had just begun. He was stationed in four different locations for training before being sent off to war: Aberystwyth, Cambridge, Northampton and Norwich. In March of 1916, Littler was sent off to fight in WWI for the Foreign Service. After being shot in the leg in April 1916, Littler had no choice but to go back home. He got married in England and began a career in engineering, which would eventually lead him back to France where he had been fighting in a war years earlier. Many of his posts describe his struggle in battle, as he watched many of his comrades around him die of disease and war.
Analysis:
Littler's description of war conditions sounds extremely harsh. He talks about how many man were knee deep in mud, indicating that weather conditions were poor. Additionally, in this specific entry he described fighting in an abandoned town. All of the people had evacuated because the area was subject to heavy fire constantly. Littler describes how everything in the town had been destroyed except for one crucifix that remained untouched. This indicates that many of the soldiers may have been devout Christians who intentionally avoided shooting down the crucifix, or perhaps it was a mere coincidence that the cross still stood, since many Ottomans were not Christian.
Source (TF Littler's Diary, published by his descendants): http://www.first-world-war.co.uk/thediary.htm#06061916
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Hi Cy, what do you mean by "many Germans" were not Christian? Can you please clarify?
ReplyDeletesorry, must have been a typo. Hitler often stated that Christianity was one of his motivations for slaying jews. Germany was clearly a Christian nation, but at the same time they violated many ideals held with in the bible (Although pretty much every denomination of Christianity does that).
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