The atmosphere of the battlefield is well portrayed. The muddy and dirty trenches, the tired and fearful faces of soldiers, and the extremely poor food supply can be described as comprehensive; the cruelty of the war is also revealed profoundly. The male protagonist is a naive and passionate student who is in his heart. His heroic alumni took the initiative to go to the front line, but his life was lost, with a clear anti-war theme. In addition, the colonel, regardless of the soldiers’ lives, appealed to his superiors for early intelligence, and cruelly ordered the soldiers to make a surprise attack at dawn. It was fresh fish and meat that was newly supplied, and when the soldiers who were supposed to face the raid personally spoke to encourage morale, they escaped guilt and sullenly, with a strong irony...
The general plot is as follows, which is a serious spoiler:
In 1918, the fourth year of World War I, the war in northern France entered a deadlock. Rumours in the British army said that the German army would launch a new offensive to break the deadlock. For this reason, the soldiers of each company of the British army had to stay on the front line for six days a month, each Knowing who will be on the front line when the attack comes...
In Saint-Quentin, northern France, in March, the battle hero Captain Steinop led the entire company of officers and soldiers back on the front line for defense...
In Amiens of the British Military Supply Department, the recruit, second lieutenant Jimmy Rowley, the nephew of the British general, asked to go to the front to find old alumni Stannop...
Stannop led the officers and soldiers of Company C to the position and found that it was a mess. Not only did the trenches smell like cesspools, but the grenades were too damp to use, and the pitiful hand grenades were also rusty...
The arrival of Jimmy Raleigh surprised and displeased Steinop, because he didn't want his girlfriend and Jimmy's sister to know his current state of despair...
Stannop received a message from the colonel. The German deserter said that the German army would launch an offensive on March 21, the day after tomorrow. The battalion commander told Stannop that support might not be available, and he must lead his subordinates to hold on to the position...
The worse news is that the battalion commander ordered C Company’s deputy commander Osborne and the new officer Jimmy to lead ten soldiers to raid German positions at night and capture a German prisoner. Stannop insisted on letting a sergeant go with Osborne, but was vetoed by the battalion commander...
Back on the ground, Lieutenant Hibbert was afraid to pretend to be ill and flee, which frustrated Stannop’s hope of replacing Jimmy with Hibbert...
In order to obtain the information earlier, the headquarters cruelly ordered the C company raid team to launch a raid without waiting for darkness... The raid was completed, and only Jimmy survived back with four soldiers and German prisoners...
On March 21, the Germans launched what was later called the "Spring Offensive". Company C's position was hit by heavy artillery bombardment. Jimmy was killed that day...
On March 22, Company C lost its position and all companies were killed... One month later, the British army regained the position, and the German offensive lasted for three months...
View more about Journey's End reviews
