Much of the fighting that took place during World War I (1914-1918) was grueling trench warfare, with the Germans encamped against French and British forces along the entire Western Front and the Russian army on the Eastern Front.
In this cover illustration from The Champion (March 1929), a British soldier risks his life to rescue a wounded friend during the First Battle of the Somme, an allied offensive that occurred during July-November, 1916 on the Western Front. The ill-fated allied offensive incurred heavy losses on both sides, with casualties estimated at 195,000 French, 420,000 British, and 650,000 German soldiers. Although the Somme offensive is held today as a symbol of war's futility, the Champion valorizes Britain's war effort with headlines such as "Read Our Thrilling Great War Story-The Dauntless Gunners of the Somme!" The heroics of British soldiers in WWI, mythologized and popularized in such magazines, served to instill patriotic sentiment in the minds of Britain's male youth, many of whom would be called upon to give their lives fighting the Germans in WWII.