Key plot details
- Officer Osborne - second in command of C Company - and Commanding Officer Hardy are in a A shelter for soldiers in the trenches, made by digging a hole in the ground and covering it with a roof.. Hardy and Osborne are from different companies. They discuss the Commanding Officer of C Company, a man called Dennis Stanhope. While they converse a new young officer, Raleigh, enters the dugout. We find out that he too has known Stanhope in the past.
- Stanhope enters the scene. He asks for a drink and shows little sympathy for an officer鈥檚 complaints of neuralgia.
- Stanhope and Osborne discuss the possibility of a German attack in the following days.
- The Colonel enters the scene and tells Stanhope he thinks Raleigh and Osborne should participate in a raid on the German line the next day.
- When the officers are told about the raid they all react differently. Young Raleigh is enthusiastic about his fate. The Colonel promises them the A medal awarded to officers for gallantry, first instituted in 1914. for bravery once it is over.
- After the raid, we find out that Osborne and six other men have been killed. A German soldier is taken prisoner and interrogated.
- Raleigh has changed his attitude. He has lost his Someone who has high or noble goals and bases their behaviour on these ideals, even if they are unrealistic. belief that it is a privilege to fight for one鈥檚 country. He does not join the post-raid celebratory dinner.
- The Germans attack in the final scene. Raleigh lies dying with Stanhope by his side. The dugout collapses as Stanhope leaves the stage. The ending is Something that could be interpreted in more than one way. and we are left uncertain about the fate of the remaining characters.