New two parter

[Franconicus]

I don't think I made being a Confederate as miserable as that though! .

Have you served in the military? It is chaos and dirt, even in a peacetime manoeuvre. The Civil war was already old and the Confeds had had some miserable years. They hardly received any supply, had poor equipment, where outnumbered, their weapons were bad ... . Even the most stupid should have realized that the war was lost.
Maybe the situation was not as bad as I described. At least they were not encircled and they could still desert.

I reckon you could write about something like Stalingrad or similar, I think that would suit your style very well. I suppose this has all the right aspects too though, trenches and a hopeless situation.

I would not like to write about Stalingrad. It is too plain, you know. All that suffering, the senselessness, the stupid leader, the cold and the snow, the heartless enemies ... . Too simple. Everybody knows and understands the story even before I wrote it. I'd rather write about something that still some people believe was herois. Like the battle of Britain. It was heroic in general and maybe for some individuals as well. However, for others it was chaotic, unsuccessful and desastrous. That is what I like, the other side of the coin!

Or the story of the crosser. This is one of my favourite. The war then was anything but heroic. Still that man managed to fight an heroic was for himself. His behavior is great, although the mission fails.