Indeed. I heard some of the Somme Commemoration on the radio the other day, and I was moved deeply by Charles Dance's recital of Siegfried Sassoon's "Aftermath"[1]

> Do you ever stop and ask, 'Is it all going to happen again?'

It's impossible to imagine the horror - even pondering the numbers of fallen in the first day throttles the imagination, let alone the horrific ways in which these men were murdered in swathes.

All the more tragic that many of these young men left their homes to see the world and experience the adventure of war. They had no idea what was in store for them.

[1]: http://www.potw.org/archive/potw160.html