Attempting to march in lines toward an enemy's trench, soldiers of both sides were mowed down by machine gun fire. According to one German machine gunner at the Battle of Somme in 1916, the British officers went in front. I noticed one of them walking calmly, carrying a walking stick. When we started firing, we just had to load and reload. They went down in their hundreds. You didn't have to aim. We just fired into them.