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It's October 19th, 1914, in a field in Flanders, West Belgium.

A young British soldier grips a bayoneted rifle in his hands, clenches his teeth,

and charges through a storm of heavy gunfire.

Over an uneven muddy terrain, the shells of enemy artillery explode all around him, knocking him to the ground. As he falls, he sees the bodies of

his friends lying with him in the dirt, the red of their blood seeping into the wet earth. He wants

to huddle beside them, feigning injury, but something, fear, pride,

perhaps a sense of duty, forces him to get up and continue running toward the German guns.

When the so-called Great War first broke out in July, everyone had assured the boy that it would

be over by Christmas. But now, as he runs toward the German line, he feels in his bones

he won't live that long. This war is unlike any ever experienced. Recent technological advances

means that both sides possess devastating rapid-fire machine guns and long-range artillery that

have made mass killing, chillingly efficient. As he runs through the blood-soaked terrain, the young British soldier hears the whirring of bullets getting dangerously close.

Then an explosion takes him off his feet, blinded and on his back.

The boy frantically rubs his eyes to see if they're covered by mud or his own blood.

Finally, after a moment, his vision returns, and he looks up at an azure blue sky.

He does not see the next artillery show, which hits him directly and kills him instantly.

The First World War, as this conflict will come to be known, will last until November 11, 1918.

In that time, the conflict will claim the lives of an estimated 20 million people, both military and civilian.

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