With the Pfälzer Division in Flanders

Before the storm breaks that would be written into history as the terrifying Battle of Messines in 1917, the author turns his poetic eye to the gentle countryside where he awaits the onslaught with his comrades, unaware of the immensity of what is about to take place. Gentle but perceptive, his observations of his own and his comrades’ changing moods are both touching and searingly unflinching: “Bitter faces everywhere, emaciated, numbed with misery and weariness” he noted.

When the terror finally breaks over them announcing its arrival with what has been described as possibly the single largest explosion of the pre-atomic age (from 19 mined tunnels), the author’s restraint finally collapses in tears with the death in his arms of his best friend. All that remains is to try not to become another helpless, nameless victim in the hell of the slaughter.