"The Wild Men of No Man’s Land" Topic

Not all war mythology came from propaganda bureaus – much of it was generated by the men in the trenches themselves. One of the more outrageous of these tall tales concerned nomadic packs of runaway soldiers who inhabited the foxholes, craters and dugouts of No Man's Land. In his celebrated 1975 book The Great War and Modern Memory, historian Paul Fussel called it the "finest legend of the war." "The rumour is that somewhere between the lines a battalion sized (some said even regimental sized) group of half-crazed deserters from all armies harbored underground… and emerging at night to pillage corpses and gather food and drink," wrote Fussel. According to the book, variations on the legend portrayed the fugitives as bearded and dressed in rags while others suggested that escapees had gone feral and had become more animals than men. Troops swapped stories about how patrols, wiring details and raiding parties had even stumbled across the renegades while crossing the battlefield in the darkness. The legend also held that commanders on both sides were aware of this growing legion of savage soldiers and were even planning a joint campaign to exterminate them (possibly with poison gas) once the war was over."

From here
link

Anyone has tried to wargame this?

Amicalement
Armand

No, but I like the idea!

Call them zombies and job's done, especially if you go with the much more feral interpretation.

Mutants would be better:bio-chemical reactions

Zombies are a dead end, gamewise-and they're boring.

I saw a movie with some of this theme in it a while back. Can't remember which movie, though!

Glad you enjoyed the idea my friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

The myth featured in the television series ANZACs, when the main character was heading back to front line service late in the war and had to pass through the old Somme battlefield.

Robert

The trench horror film, was it "Deathwatch" by any chance with Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis?