The Generals who were sending these poor lads to be slaughtered were safely ensconced in their chateaus some 2 or more miles back from the front lines. I wonder if they had experienced just one day in the trenches would they have thought twice about continually sending yet more young souls to their deaths?
We will never know, of course. Yet today we have the most powerful man on earth, who dodged the draft to serve in Vietnam by claiming disability due to bone spurs (!) now deciding that he would not attend a Rememberance service at an American war graves cemetery because it was raining! This man would have fitted in very well in the Chateau behind the lines 100 years ago.
