C'est la Guerre, mais ce n'est pas magnifique - The interior of a signal office" somewhere in France. - Time: 2am" The wretched look on this signallers face speaks volumes. May who joined Kitcheners New Army in the opening weeks of the war did so expecting adventure and excitement. Many were petrified that it would all be over before they could get there. The gruelling, mud-soaked, uncomfortable, bloody reality of trench warfare, as well as the endless tedium, as a shocking disappointment to many. The quote is a twist on that belonging to a French general, Pierre Bosquet, commenting on the reckless bravery of the charge of the Light Brigade in 1854.