Generals Die in Bed, first published in 1930, chronicles the life of a young soldier facing the horror and inhumanity of war. This novel is based off the author, Charles Yale Harrison’s, experiences in World War 1. Shortly after World War I began, Harrison joined the Canadian army and was immediately sent to fight on the Western Front. Harrison’s accounts were altered in some forms to make the novel more entertaining, and more of a fiction novel. There are still some similarities from what really happened to what happens in the book, but there are also some differences. Some events that happened in the book, also happened in the war, like the rats in the trenches, lice, and the life, and rotation of a soldier. The rats in the trenches were
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This is partly true. The book is titled Generals Die in Bed which is meant to take a shot at the Generals. It is saying that the soldiers die in the trenches, but the Generals do not fight the war, they die peacefully in their beds. After the narrator, and his battalion are addressed by a Canadian General, they mock him by saying, “‘Yeah, but he’ll never die in a lousy trench like Brownie and them did.’ ‘God, no. Generals die in bed. ‘Well, that’s a pretty good place to die’” ( Harrison pg.96 ). Although this may be true, only some generals die in bed at home. According to BBC, most generals were actually out on the front lines with their lower-ranking soldiers. In World War 1, 234 out of 1,252 British generals were either killed, taken prisoner, or wounded in combat. That is 20% of all British generals, which means that a large chunk were not only in the battlefield, but also injured in some way. This does not account for un-injured generals in the battlefield either. The truth to the fact at hand is that sometimes, a soldier perception becomes their reality, and their experience dictates what they believe. Another difference that the author includes into the book, Generals Die in Bed, is the sinking of Llandovery Castle. “a German sub sank the Canadian hospital ship Llandovery Castle with the loss of 234 men and
This is partly true. The book is titled Generals Die in Bed which is meant to take a shot at the Generals. It is saying that the soldiers die in the trenches, but the Generals do not fight the war, they die peacefully in their beds. After the narrator, and his battalion are addressed by a Canadian General, they mock him by saying, “‘Yeah, but he’ll never die in a lousy trench like Brownie and them did.’ ‘God, no. Generals die in bed. ‘Well, that’s a pretty good place to die’” ( Harrison pg.96 ). Although this may be true, only some generals die in bed at home. According to BBC, most generals were actually out on the front lines with their lower-ranking soldiers. In World War 1, 234 out of 1,252 British generals were either killed, taken prisoner, or wounded in combat. That is 20% of all British generals, which means that a large chunk were not only in the battlefield, but also injured in some way. This does not account for un-injured generals in the battlefield either. The truth to the fact at hand is that sometimes, a soldier perception becomes their reality, and their experience dictates what they believe. Another difference that the author includes into the book, Generals Die in Bed, is the sinking of Llandovery Castle. “a German sub sank the Canadian hospital ship Llandovery Castle with the loss of 234 men and