The general opinion seemed to be that the Germans were on the run and all he would be doing was helping to mop up the remnants of a defeated army. It would give him moments of quiet and enable him to think of what he would do on returning home. Breaking away from everything he knew would be an opportunity to take stock of his life. He needed time to accept the abandonment of his family and the loss of Barbara’s friendship and work out what he could expect from the years ahead. Then he was confronted with the reality of war. Scenes seen in newspapers seemed so unreal in his safe office; articles he had perhaps only half-believed became horrifyingly real. The small sections of battles seen in small photographs in newspapers and magazines gave no indication of the huge area over which hundreds of men fought and died. They didn’t begin to describe the pounding of shells and the explosions of earth and equipment that buried men in seconds, or the screams as dozens of shells came through the air and landed like rain, bringing death and destruction in moments.
