The Original Plan as presented to London Underground in April 2012...

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Premise​

From 1914 until approximately mid-1916, millions of young men were leaving home to go on the adventure of war.  The full horror of the battlefields were still not appreciated at this time, outside of the countries where the fighting was actually taking place, as censorship and propaganda reigned.


Aged 16 – 25 the men joined their local units, whether the London Rifles, 23rd Bavarian Infantry, The Garhwal Brigade or the 3rd Auckland and Northland’s.  Within these battalions they formed into Platoons with many being made up of all the young from one area or village.  Suddenly they spent every waking moment together, eating, drinking, training and chatting.  After some months they were sent on to Belgium or France where they continued to train.  During this period friendships were born, camaraderie evolved and lifelong loyalty developed.    The excitement of what they were doing became palpable and in these early years most appeared, from the records of the time, to be very keen to ‘get involved’.



Believing they were fully trained, and many thinking they were invincible, the men finally moved up to the front line.  Then, standing in a trench waiting for the whistle, the reality of the situation often dawned.  Once over the top they were on their own, the noise, the cacophony, the smell, the smoke, the chaos that often ensued, each man may have been able to see one or two mates but events often went along in a haze.  In the confusion, the lack of any communication and often in the dark or gloom of smoke, the men had little idea of whether the operation was successful or complete failure until they reached a friendly trench.   And there they began to find out the results of their labour.