Editing Siegfried Sassoon (section)

===The Western Front: Military Cross===
[[File:Siegfried Sassoon by Glyn Warren Philpot 1917.jpeg|thumb|upright|Portrait of Sassoon by [[Glyn Warren Philpot]], 1917 ([[Fitzwilliam Museum]])]]
Sassoon joined the Army just as the threat of a new European war was recognized, and was in service with the [[Sussex Yeomanry]] on 4 August 1914, the day the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. He broke his arm badly in a riding accident and was put out of action before leaving England, spending the spring of 1915 convalescing. He was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion (Special Reserve), [[Royal Welch Fusiliers]], as a second lieutenant on 29 May 1915.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29175|page=5115|date=28 May 1915}}</ref>

On 1 November, his younger brother Hamo was killed in the [[Gallipoli Campaign]],<ref>{{cwgc|id=681993|name=Sassoon, Hamo}}</ref> dying on board the ship {{SS|Kildonan Castle||2}} after having had his leg amputated.<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/3904659
 |title        = We remember Hamo Watts Sassoon
 |publisher = [[Imperial War Museums]]
 |access-date  = 8 May 2025
 }}</ref> In the same month, Siegfried was sent to the 1st Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers, in France, where he met [[Robert Graves]], and they became close friends. United by their poetic vocation, they often read and discussed each other's work. Though this did not have much perceptible influence on Graves' poetry, Graves' views on what may be called "gritty realism" profoundly affected Sassoon's concept of what constituted poetry.

He soon became horrified by the realities of war, and the tone of his writing changed completely: where his early poems exhibit a [[Romanticism|Romantic]], dilettantish sweetness, his war poetry moves to an increasingly discordant music, intended to convey the ugly truths of the trenches to an audience hitherto lulled by patriotic propaganda. Details such as rotting corpses, mangled limbs, filth, cowardice and suicide are all trademarks of his work at this time, and this philosophy of "no truth unfitting" had a significant effect on the movement towards [[Modernist]] poetry.

Sassoon's periods of duty on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] were marked by exceptionally brave actions, including the single-handed capture of a German trench. Armed with grenades, he scattered sixty German soldiers:{{sfn|Egremont|2005|p=103}}{{blockquote|He went over with bombs in daylight, under covering fire from a couple of rifles, and scared away the occupants. A pointless feat, since instead of signalling for reinforcements, he sat down in the German trench and began reading a book of poems which he had brought with him. When he went back he did not even report. Colonel Stockwell, then in command, raged at him. The attack on [[Mametz Wood]] had been delayed for two hours because British patrols were still reported to be out. "British patrols" were Siegfried and his book of poems. "I'd have got you a [[Distinguished Service Order|DSO]], if you'd only shown more sense," stormed Stockwell.<ref>Robert Graves, ''Goodbye to All That'' (London: Penguin, 1960), p. 174.</ref>}}Sassoon's bravery was so inspiring that soldiers of his company said that they felt confident only when they were accompanied by him.{{sfn|Egremont|2005|p=99}} He often went out on night raids and bombing patrols, and demonstrated ruthless efficiency as a company commander.

Deepening depression at the horror and misery the soldiers were forced to endure produced in Sassoon a paradoxically manic courage, and he was nicknamed "Mad Jack" by his men for his near-suicidal exploits. On 27 July 1916 he was awarded the [[Military Cross]]; the citation read:

{{blockquote|2nd Lt. Siegfried Lorraine{{sic}} Sassoon, 3rd (attd. 1st) Bn., R. W. Fus.

For conspicuous gallantry during a raid on the enemy's trenches. He remained for 1½ hours under rifle and bomb fire collecting and bringing in our wounded. Owing to his courage and determination all the killed and wounded were brought in.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29684 |supp=y|page=7441|date=25 July 1916}}</ref>}}

Robert Graves described Sassoon as engaging in suicidal feats of bravery. Sassoon was also later recommended for the [[Victoria Cross]].<ref name=ODNB>{{Cite ODNB |first=Rupert |last=Hart-Davis |title=Sassoon, Siegfried Loraine (1886–1967) |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35953 |access-date=9 July 2009 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35953}}</ref>