The greatest story

(Grotta 51) Some authors find it difficult to accept Tolkien's statement that none of his war experiences "directly inspired," (Grotta 52) some of the darker passages in The Lord of the Rings. " Perhaps the key to resolving this apparent contradiction is that Tolkien did not intentionally translate his own war experiences into the book; nonetheless, they are there. For example, Frodo's journey through Moria could have been directly lifted from a 1916 newspaper account of what the Western Front was like." During June of 1916, Tolkien's battalion was shifted to Somme in preparation for the big push that was expected in several months. Nightly raids into no man's land in search of German prisoners were intensified and guide tapes that were to lead the soldiers to their assigned targets were unwound. Either by accident or on purpose, Tolkien puts this preparation for battle in The Lord of the Rings. (Grotta 54).
             "C.S. Lewis noted the astonishing similarity of that, as well as other passages from The Lord of the Rings, to his experiences in the trenches" "It is also difficult to dismiss the marked similarity between the Orcs and the German soldiers, especially the SS elite in World War II. Even the word "orc" denotes hell or death, and the SS emblem was a silver death's head. Tolkien denied that the Germans became the Orcs, stating that there were absolutely no parallels between the Orcs" beaked helmets, their murderous, treacherous ways, and the Germans" spiked helmets and reputation for ruthlessness. (Grotta 53) The First World War was probably the single most important experience in Tolkien's life. It definitely enkindled his imagination to a point that he had never been to before and his past experiences during that war helped his future work.
             After returning from the war around 1918, Tolkien returned as a " mature student," to Oxford University. Tolkien was well remembered by one of his old tutors at Oxford, W.