This thread has reminded me that my mother's oldest brother died at Gallipoli,at eighteen, (presumably shelled, as only some of his kit was recovered and no identifiable body )and her youngest brother in the battle for Crete in the Second World War at about 21. Both young lives wasted in campaigns doomed to failure with the benefit of hindsight, and probably at the time, except to the eyes of the desk generals.
RtS