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Back The Black Earth Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. THE BLACK EARTH
  3. Dedication
  4. Contents
  5. BOOK I
  6. CHAPTER ONE
  7. CHAPTER TWO
  8. CHAPTER THREE
  9. CHAPTER FOUR
  10. CHAPTER FIVE
  11. CHAPTER SIX
  12. CHAPTER SEVEN
  13. BOOK II
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. BOOK III
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. BOOK IV
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  47. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  54. About the Author
  55. By Philip Kazan
  56. Copyright

‘My battery …’ He pauses, and hits the steering wheel softly with one clenched fist. ‘We were in one of the big pushes around Cuinchy. Counter-battery fire. Very sharp business. The Huns were throwing everything at us and we were trying to support our chaps who were … You could see them in front, trying to take their objective and it was … Really, it was dreadful. One of my guns got hit: not badly, two of the men slightly hurt. We had to get it back into action. And there was this captain. Dreadful ogre but absolutely no nerves at all. Marching up and down with shells bursting everywhere. I got the men bandaged up and put them back to work. Then this captain – can’t remember his name, he hadn’t been with us long – sent me back to Brigade HQ with a message. Took me all of ten minutes, and when I got back to the guns … When I got back …’ Daddy swallows, painfully. ‘A German five-nine battery had found us. One of the guns – the one which had been hit before – was gone. Nothing left. Nothing at all. Crew, all blown to atoms. The other gun … The number three – nice chap – was in his place. But he didn’t have a head. The sergeant was sitting there with one arm on, one arm off. The others were knocked about but still all right. And the captain … The blast had blown off most of his clothes, d’you see. Skinned half his body as well. But he was still upright, just as if he was on parade, still giving orders. And the men were staring at him with eyes like dinner plates but they were doing what he told them. And do you know what he said when he saw me? “Work your guns, Collyer.” I could see his damn ribs. “Work your bloody guns.” Then another five-nine came over and blew me right out of the position and as I was lying there, knowing I was wounded, that I’d got a nasty one, I was so unutterably relieved. D’you see? Because I … I had been so bloody glad it hadn’t been me, but now I wasn’t a shirker. Work your bloody guns.’ Daddy takes a long, shuddering breath. ‘Anyway.’ He lights another cigarette and starts the car, eases it back carefully onto the road.