PROVING GROUND
By
Elliott Arnold is still fighting World War II in one country or another (never as successfully as in A Night of Watching) -- this time when a U.S. plane, flying out the wounded, comes down (via Yugoslavia -- slivovitz straight up out of the bottle) in Albania (raki straight up etc.). The flight manifest includes two nurses as well as the lovely Serbian Tereza -- enough to take care of that other activity. The little group is given an assist by Sarlo, a burly guerrilla of considerable rude forcefulness, while their Major, a quieter hero, dies bravely by his own hand. . . . Proven ground, but since Mr. Arnold doesn't put himself out very much, he's flirting with army surplus.