The Somme, Verdun, names that symbolise the absolute depths to which man can fall in his inhumanity to his fellow man. Reality and propaganda walked hand-in-hand along the front lines of the Great War. Like the British, German soldiers often took comfort in the demonisation of the man on the other side, but neither does the author of 'I fought on the Somme' hold back in his descriptions of the terror and pain of the Somme fighting. For his actions in saving his comrades whilst under fire, Friedrich Willy Frerk was awarded the Iron Cross, one of Germany's most prestigious military decorations.