a mine in the no man's land, and Serra, Rizzo, De Vita and Spagna loot the corpses to retrieve some food. Serra steps on a mine, but it turns out to be an anti-tank mine, calibrated for a much higher weight; his second "miracle". Two trucks, having lost their way, reach the platoon; Lt. Fiore inspects them and finds out that their cargo consists of boxes of shoe polish and Mussolini's horse, in preparation for "the parade in Alexandria". Fiore angrily tells the driver that, if they want to conquer Alexandria, they need to send them weapons, water, ammunition, food, medicines and fresh troops; Tarozzi suggests to kill and eat the horse and Fiore agrees, but nobody feels like killing it, so they let the trucks go with the horse. Serra, Rizzo, Spagna and De Vita are sent to pick up a truckload of water, 60 km behind their lines. The truck driver ironically remarks that they should be given grappa instead, joking that this is what led to the Italian victory on the Piave river during World War I. On the way back to the frontline, Serra and the others take a detour, and they reach the coast, where they take a bath in the sea and then rest on the beach, before being discovered by sentries who tell them that they have run through a minefield. During the following night, while they are on watch, Rizzo tells Serra about how he was captured after the fall of Bengasi, but evaded captivity and hid for three months in a brothel of Bengasi, before rejoining his company when the city was retaken by Axis forces. He states that being a prisoner is a no-life and shameful for a soldier, and, as he had said previously, that he will not surrender again. Serra discovers a camel near the trenches; he kills it and the carcass is slaughtered and cooked, allowing the soldiers to eat fresh meat for the first time in months, but when Lt. Fiore is informed, he calls for an Engineer unit: the animal has been sent by the British to clear a path through the Italian minefields, as is confirmed by the engineers. The engineers inform Fiore and his men that, according to information from the command, the Allied offensive is about to start; they have been finding de-mined areas all along the front. Serra and Sgt. Rizzo