Wicked October in the Haunted Theatre of France

Robert Graves, Louis Barthas, and the abyss of 1915

It is October 1915, and the Battle of Loos has gone hilariously wrong.

This may seem like a terrible thing to say about the consumption of 20,000 British lives for practically no gain of ground, but it is true, because the carnage is too incredible for any other reaction.

Humor is as necessary in war as prayer or training or national imperatives. Withou…