One of the riflemen was running towards them, bending low, keeping close to the hedge, obviously terrified at being above ground. He came up to the carrier, stood swallowing for a moment to get his breath, and gasped, ‘From our platoon officer, sir.’ He passed a slip of paper to Major Maddison.

Major Maddison read the note, screwed it up and threw it away. ‘Tell your officer,’ he said, ‘that I’m not in the habit of taking orders from my juniors.’

‘Yes, sir.’ The man disappeared again.

‘Carry on, Sergeant,’ Major Maddison said stonily.

The carrier moved off again. Sergeant Bender’s cheeks were twitching with fear and fury. Maddison’s behaviour was no surprise. A couple of days previously Maddison had made another reconnaissance. He had driven past the British outposts into a German-occupied village, turned the jeep round under a hail of fire and come speeding back with his bodyguard sprawled, dead, in the back seat. On reaching headquarters Maddison had jumped out of the riddled jeep, said to the sergeant-major, ‘Get me another jeep and a fresh bodyguard,’ and gone to make his report to the colonel.

The carrier rounded the bend and scuttled forward along the white, peaceful road. Bender kept his eyes on the road; the two riflemen sat with their heads pulled down inside their collars as if they were sheltering from the rain. Maddison stood up in the swaying jeep, legs braced, the war photographer’s perfect fighting man.

The shell dropped within five yards of the carrier.

Bender did not hear the explosion. He felt himself lifted up, borne as in a nightmare on a scorching gale; then a frightful jolt jarred through his whole body and he was lost in darkness. He came swimming up into consciousness to feel the sunlight burning his face as if the flesh were skinned and cooking. He could see with his left eye, although it streamed with blurring tears in the bright sunlight. His right eye was open, but it felt as if it were full of sand, and with it he could only see the sky and the hedge and the road through a red film. There was a stabbing, prickling feeling all down the left side of his face. His mouth was full of blood, and as the blood ran back down his throat he felt very sick. Apart from the sickness and dizziness he felt no pain in his body. He was very tired.