An attack. It must be. From the Germans or from the British, the New Zealanders? He had no idea. He remembered Corporal McKean’s words: ‘Something big’s going to happen.’ But this wasn’t big. This was monstrous. This was inhuman.
Without warning, a calm spread through him. In the middle of all the noise, while explosions still boomed, shells tore overhead, and men yelled and howled in the distance, Edmund was completely still. A feeling of great love for his mother and sister flooded him. And for his brother. Right now, perhaps, William was fighting and dying out there. If we ever meet again, Edmund decided, we won’t argue any more. Life is too precious for that.
The noise of the battle was changing. The shells landed further away. The machine-gun fire was less; the yells and rifle shots
