THY MEN SHALL FALL
By
A bitter and unforgiving story that loses force in attempting to compass too much. The virtual entire European War is seen through the eyes of one soldier, George Walburne, who, along with others, has been taken from home and thrust into a struggle in which he has little belief. Here is the evolution of a soldier through the waiting in Africa, the training in England, the fighting in Europe, the ultimate collapse of all faith in conquered Germany. There is the misery of seeing friends grow more bitter; watching death; sensing the waste and desolation of war; realizing the failure of conditions to improve during ""peace""; there is the absence of real love- save for a brief interlude with a Dutch girl- there is the ever-present passion at a price. There is a certain competence in the writing, but the book misses the stark realism of The Naked and the Dead in sacrificing thorough development for an artificial magnitude.