 There, the victory swung with every meter lost or gained, and where machetes and yataganes created a slaughter between both sides.The burning sun overhead, the suffocating heat, the lack of equipment, the deficiency of efficient "ambulances" and the canteens full of a mixture of brandy with powder all combined with the brutality of a combat where the cutting weapon amputated members and cleaved flesh, condemning its victims to a slow death between the ditches.Long before the end of the battle, the stench of the dead, who shared the trenches with the living, poisoned the air of the region, and darkened the sky with carrion birds, many became anchored to earth because the weight of their banquets was greater than the force of their wings.