The Casemate Classic War Fiction Series publishers new editions of
forgotten classics that perfectly capture their era.
'I never saw the man again, alive or dead. One will say that I saw him
only for a moment, that it was misty at the time, and that even I did
not recognise the features, covered as they were with grime and stubble.
Yet I am sure that the taller of the two ragged civilians I saw in the
chalk quarry that misty March morning of 1918 was that Lieutenant Peter
Rawley, R. F.A., who the official records stated was killed near Arras
the previous autumn.'
Behind the Lines is a thriller that follows on from the success of W. F.
Morris's first novel, Bretherton: Khaki or Field-Grey? Morris is again
concerned with questions of identity, allegiance, chance, concealment
and self-discovery. A subaltern is forced to flee when he accidentally
kills an overbearing, taunting fellow officer: appearances are all
against him and he does not trust to trench justice. He becomes a
fugitive and has to join forces with other deserters, lost soldiers and
outlaws in a hand-to-mouth existence in the no man's land between
opposing forces. A series of adventures and disasters ensue, including
capture by the Germans and near death by firing squad. Only his own
bravery and the devotion of his fiancé can rescue him from his plight.
A contemporary commentator noted that 'in spite of the flood of war
books', Morris was able to achieve 'a quite different viewpoint from all
the others', and his book was 'an outstanding success'.
