Hi

Some years ago I remember reading a RB short story which described brilliantly what the reader takes to be a nightmare WW1 attack - only at the end do we find out that it is actually an account of Hannibals elephants attacking and not tanks.

It was a brilliant evokation of the timelessness of war but I cannot now remember the title. Can anyone jog my memory.

Thanks

Hannibal? Elephants? Stephen, I must admit I'm stumped. I've read all Ray Bradbury's collected stories (except for some items which are only in limited editions), and this one doesn't ring a bell.

I don't recall any Ray Bradbury story dealing directly or indirectly with WWI. The second World War did influence his writing in a few places ... but my guess is that the story you're looking for, is not by Ray Bradbury.

There are some experts on this board, though, and perhaps one of them can help.

Whoops! I spoke too soon. The story "Lafayette, Farewell" definitely concerns WWI. I remembered it the moment I'd posted the above. But that's not the story Stephen is looking for.

Bradbury did a few stories based on historical events, but no Hannibal or elephants that I ever recall.

The story i am remembering was written as if from the perspective of a soldier cowering in a trench - nothing is explicit but the overall descriptions and the language used leads the reader to visualise it in terms of the trenches. It is only in the final lines that the narrator reveals the punchline that rather than ironclads it is elephants. As I write maybe it could be HG Wells or somebody. THanks for trying anyway.

actually im thinking of a twilight zone or outer limits episode where the main character is suffering in a relentlessly hot world which is getting hotter and hotter (omg-algore was right) only to wake up and find out that it was all a dream. the problem was that this character woke up to a frozen world (omg--algore was right).

what goes around comes around, to coin a phrase. it's inevitable that ideas will be commingled and various stories will seem to be plagerized.