Shaw had begun to weep. He had his miner’s hands to the sides of his head and the tears coursed down his face. ‘Boys, boys,’ he kept saying. ‘Oh my poor boys.’ Horrocks was trembling. This is half of England. What are we going to do?’ he stammered.
Soon they all fell silent. There was an eruption from the trench below and another wave went up into the pitted moon like landscape.

They made no more than ten yards before they began to waver, single men at first picked out, knocked spinning, then more going as they reached the barrage; then, when the machine guns found them, they rippled, like corn through which the wind was passing. Jack thought of meat, the smell of it.

Horrocks pulled the silver cross from his chest and hurled it from him. His old reflex still persisting, he fell to his knees, but he did not pray. He stayed kneeling with his palms spread out on the ground, then lowered his head and covered it with his hands. Jack knew what had died in him.



‘Boys, boys,’ he kept saying. ‘Oh my poor boys.’ – Can’t find words to describe the horrors he is witnessing. Refers to them as ‘my poor boys’, as if they were family. The word ‘Boys’, stressing their youth.

‘This is half of England’ – Shows the mass scale of the murder and death

‘Moon like landscape’ – No sign on life/ vegetation, all been destroyed, an abyss.

‘When the machine guns found them’ – The guns are personified, the guns are the enemy not necessarily the Germans.

‘They rippled, like corn through which the wind was passing’ – Refers to a rural scene, reminds the reader of their lives back home. This contrasts to the place where they are to die.


‘Horrocks pulled the silver cross from his chest and hurled it from him…
‘Jack knew what had died in him.’

Horrocks looses his faith in God. Why would a God let this happen?