Chapter 21Two months later, I was making plans for a trip to France to report on the war, which had reached a stalemate. The impasse was a result of the trench warfare which began in 1914. By 1916, some eight thousand miles of trenches prevented any advance by French and English troops or the German-led Central Powers.
Between opposing trenches were areas branded as “no-man’s-land” that were strewn with barbed wire and booby traps. Machine guns on both sides made movement out of the trenches almost impossible. But even the trenches were no defense against the poisonous gas that both sides used.
Katharina and I had long, fiery discussions about my plans to sail to Europe. She was vehemently opposed.
“Why would you risk your life to enter that Schlachthaus?” she asked one day, employing t
