Reply #20: That is exactly right.

[Nihil]

> The thing about poppies is that they grow best in tilled soil. You
> can imagine the effects of hundreds of miles of trenches and
> earthworks -- the fields would be covered in bright red poppies.

The repeated incredibly heavy bombardments combining massive earth
movement with high watertable and far too much "organic fertilizer"
meant that the whole of no-mans-land became ideal poppy-growing fields.

The survivors of the trenches described that effect as the most moving
sight - literally poppies growing where their friends died. There was
no distinction between ally and enemy, just the red poppies to mark
the bloodshed.

Nihil