THE BALLOON

January 1940 to Dunkirk in the lives of B Troop Battery gives an Anglicized run through of men, machines and the moral mirror of waiting, retreat and the hope of the ""balloon going up"". The theft of the payroll of 12,000 francs and its repercussions from the administrative sphere through the ranks; the chain reaction of responsibility and suspicion; the German breakthrough and the assorted stands as they make their way to the coast during which individual heroism and courage help all to take the last wicket; the final renunciation of the guns and the haphazard salvation of the few -- all point up the hardboiled-to-sentimental areas of British old-boydom. Tuning in on slow motion, this is a rough shoot for American readers.