I remember, if I may be honest, that I began to tremble, and I broke out in a sweat. I know I am not the only soldier in history to experience such a reaction when faced with the enemy, and so I feel no shame in describing this to you. The MG gunner, who was a middle-aged man, looked at me and laughed in a bitter fashion, and he said, ‘Are we sorry we started this war now?’

