A dead German, lying symbolically in a field of wheat

The Harvest~~~~Caption: And with mine own hand labour'd it to grow, and his as all the harvest that I reap'd'~~~~The moralising quote, from the Rubaiyat of Omar Kyyam, offers no sympathy to this dead German, lying symbolically in a field of wheat. The fate of the bodies of fallen soldiers was dependant on many factors: the stage of battle, the weather, the generosity of the enemy in allowing stretcher-bearers to bring back their dead. Where possible, soldiers tried to bury their fallen comrades with solemnity but in many cases bodies lay where they fell, until they were eventually clamed by the earth. Of the British Empire's dead, he bodies of a staggering 500000 soldiers were never found.~~~~

Symbolically Symbolism Wheat

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