in fact, full of praise for Stanhope. The scene ends with Stanhope quietly demurring from Osborne's suggestion to re-seal the envelope. Scene 2 In a meeting with the Sergeant Major it is announced that the attack is taking place on Thursday. Stanhope and the Sergeant-Major discuss battle plans. The Colonel relays orders that the General wants a raid to take place on the German trench prior to the attack, "a surprise daylight raid", all previous raids having been made under cover of darkness, and that they want to be informed of the outcome by 7 p.m. Stanhope states that such a plan is absurd, and that the General and his staff merely want this so their dinner will not be delayed. The Colonel agrees with Stanhope but says that orders are orders, and they must be obeyed. Later, it is stated that in a similar raid, after the British artillery bombardment, the Germans had tied red rag to the gaps in the barbed wire so that their soldiers knew exactly where to train their machine guns. It is decided that Osborne and Raleigh will be the officers to go on the raid, despite the fact that Raleigh has only recently entered the war. Hibbert complains to Stanhope about the neuralgia he states he has been suffering from. Stanhope replies: "it would be better to die from the pain, than from being shot for desertion". Hibbert maintains that he does have neuralgia and the right to leave the battlefield to seek treatment, but when Stanhope threatens to shoot him if he goes, Hibbert breaks down crying. He says "Go on then, shoot!", suggesting that he would rather die than stay on the battlefield. The two soldiers admit to each other that they feel exactly the same way, and are struggling to cope with the stresses that the war is putting on them. Stanhope comforts Hibbert by saying they can go on duty together. Osborne reads aloud to Trotter from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; another attempt to escape from the realities of the war. The scene ends with the idealistic Raleigh, who is untouched by the war, stating that it is "frightfully exciting" that he has been picked for the raid. Act III Scene 1 There is confirmation that the raid is still going ahead. The Colonel states that a German soldier needs to be captured so that intelligence can