In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


-Lt. Col. John McRae, Ypres 1915


For those interested in learning more about the Great War, I suggest reading about the battles of Verdun and La Somme.

Both events are the prototypical battles of the war: Verdun was deliberately engineered to be a battle of attrition while La Somme demonstrated how the ambitious large-scale tactics of old were obsolete faced with machine guns, artillery, airplanes, barbed wire, and trenches. Both sides incurred massive casualties: upper limits for Verdun and La Somme both hover around the million-man mark each.

The first day of La Somme stands out in particular as the single bloodiest day in the history of the British Army: 60000 casualties, one third of which dead.