The Cold Light of Dawn

A short story by David Black:

In 1916, the war on the Western Front was locked in stalemate. British soldiers, covered in blood-sucking lice, battled with their hated German foe in a sea of mud-filled shell craters and from shattered, rat-infested trenches. Causality figures, already appalling, were becoming even heavier as another frigid winter approached the front line.

Sometimes, surrounded by horror and tragedy men cracked, but then, shell-shock and traumatised combat stress were consider...