"Yes, yes, things are progressing ... but it's a tough business!"
"We are winning, are we not?"
"Yes, but it takes time!"
Bayonet charges, frightful whirling gusts of shot and shell, fields and woods strewn with dead, the moaning of the wounded; such is a summary of what each man has witnessed, just a tiny corner of the battle. No clear general impression. Unshaken confidence in the final result, along with a consciousness of the difficulty of the task.
A carriage filled with German prisoners. We elbow one another to catch a glimpse of them. One of them, his shoulder and arm all twisted up, asks—
"Are you reservists?"
Some one nods assent.
Thereupon he says—
"I, too, am a reservist like you."