A World War One text story from The Victor.

See The Victor Annual 1968.

Writer:- The Victor editorial team. Artist:- Bevan?

Main cast:- Privates Jim Barford; Reg Waterforth; Fred Plant; 'Spud' Rogers; Simpson; Sergent-Major Matlock; Corporal Ferris (and others who are mentioned briefly) of the Third Kingsford Light Infantry.

Time period:- First World War (1914 to 1918), Autumn 1917.

This First World War One eight page text story, tells of the adventures of an infantry battalion going into the trenches of Flanders, on the eve of a big battle. The majority of the troops are green that is, they have no combat experience. As this is a text story, there is plenty of room for characterisation of the individuals mentioned above. The reader learns about the green soldiers initial enthusiasm about being in the trenches, the more experienced hands who know what's coming, are less so. But all of the men will have to deal with their fears. And all will be tested to their limits over the following days and nights as the battle rages. The majority will rise to the challenge, finding inner strength, expressed in one form or another, whilst others will break under the strain. And not all will survive the cauldron of the conflict.

Whilst no story however descriptive can ever replace actually being in a WW1 battle, this does give a basic 'feel' of what the soldiers went through. Young boys must have found it a compelling read. Unlike the picture stories, text stories had the space to breathe life into the characters. Another excellent story, as we've come to expect from the D.C. Thomson stable.

The complete text story is below. As this is a text story, I would think that it would have been published originally in one of the D.C. Thomson story papers, but I'm not sure which one.