I don't own Battlefield and I definitely don't own World War I. This story is told from the point of view of a U.S. Soldier during WWI. If you don't like first-person, don't read.
It was 1917. I walked down the streets of New York City in my fedora and business jacket. American flags hung from apartment balconies, blowing lightly in the wind. I looked up and smiled. I have been an American my whole life, and I am very proud of my country. I have been since hearing my grandfather's stories. He was in the Union Army, at Gettysburg and Manassas.
I continued to walk down the street. Paper boys stood on the corner. "Extra! Extra! Germany uses poison gas to damage British defenses in Europe!" one of them yelled. I perked up. That was new. Germany hadn't used poison gas before. I walked up to the paper boy and handed him a nickel. "Here you go" he said, taking my nickel and tossing a paper at me.
I was never a supporter of the German invasion of France, despite having German heritage. I, like most of the people I know, thought of the war as a European conflict. It was like that for about a year. Then the Germans sunk the Luisitania. 124 Americans died from an attack by the German military upon a civilian ship. I was unhappy. Things like that make me want to grab a rifle and fire shots at Germans.
I still saw it as mostly a European conflict though. More British were killed in the attack than Americans. Let the British Military deal with it. But now Germany was subjecting people to an awful, painful death. I wanted to grab my rifle and shoot whoever launched that gas bomb. But I couldn't. We weren't at war.
Over the next few months, we began to receive anti-German propaganda from Great Britain. The posters would be pinned on bulletin boards, outside store windows, and sometimes would just be lying all over the ground. Many said things such as "Remember Belgium" or "Kick out the Hun". But the poster which ultimately irked me was the one depicting a German firing squad preparing to shoot captured men. In the background, a woman, most likely the doomed man's wife, is topless and surrounded by German soldiers who obviously have the intention of raping her. The top of the poster spells these words: WILL YOU FIGHT NOW OR WAIT FOR THIS?
I realised that if the allies lost the war, this would be the situation in every country that resisted Germany. There would be rape and murder all over the UK, France, Belgium, Italy, and Serbia. Germany and Austria-Hungary started this war because they were greedy and wanted a power grab. All they wanted was to exploit whatever territory and citizens they stole from other countries. This was worth fighting for. I had a girlfriend (whom I planned to marry) and I would do anything to protect her.
Where would Germany go next when their soldiers were done impregnating every girl in Britain, France, and Belgium? They could very realistically invade the United States. I knew then, that I had to stop Germany from winning the war. But how could I do that. American citizens were not allowed to fight under the flag of another country (without dual citizenship). I definitely wasn't an English citizen.
The solution to my dilemma came a few weeks later. President Woodrow Wilson asked congress to declare war on Germany. In his speech he stated "We must give them a war to end all wars. We must make the world a safe place for democracy to exist". The speech is now famous and also dubbed WWI as the "War to end all Wars". As soon as I heard we had declared war, I went to the recruitment station and signed up to be a rifleman. I would have to postpone asking Sofia to marry me until I got back. We were shipping out in two weeks.
The first thing I was given was my army uniform. It was made up of olive green combat pants, a brown undershirt, and an olive coat. It had my last name, Smith, embroidered into it. I wondered how many coats exactly like it had been produced already. Probably a lot. The second thing I was given was my rifle. It was an M1917 Enfield rifle with a 6-round magazine. We were told that our lives could depend on the rifle. Anyone who lost a rifle would have to do with their pistol until they found a dead soldier to steal from.
The third thing I was given was a tin helmet. It was-you guessed it-green. And it was shiny. What was the point of using a camouflage color if you used gloss to make it look nicer? If there was sunlight, my head would be a big bright target for just about any German soldier within 10 miles.
We were told that if we ever got in a firefight, we should spread dirt on the helmet to dilute the shininess. We were taught how to shoot, spread dirt on our helmets, and everyone was taught special skills based on what they signed up for. I, being a rifleman (or assaulter as it was sometimes referred to), was only taught that it's good to run fast and take cover.
We learned only those things and paraded through the streets of New York in our uniforms, rifles on our backs, waving the American flag. Then we shipped out. It would be a long trip across the Atlantic.
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