November, the final day of the war, Snell is determined to have the symbolic honour of reaching Mons, pointlessly expending his men's lives. After the platoon is wiped out only minutes before the 11am ceasefire, Snell and Charley have a final showdown. Snell is about to kill Charley but the former is drenched by an acid-sprayer wielded by a surviving German. Ignoring Snell's pleas to be put of his misery, Charley walks away leaving his nemesis to die slowly. Snell's final action had been to 'volunteer' Charley to join the British Expeditionary Force to the Russian Civil War. January–October 1919. Charley and Bill Tozer head to Russia where they fight alongside the 'Whites' - pro-Monarchist Russians - against the Bolshevik Reds who are defending their Revolution, with Tozer serving as company sergeant major. Charley soon becomes disillusioned at the incompetence and cowardice amongst the Whites, some of whom change sides and join the Reds. Charley prevents rogue Bolshevik Colonel Spirodonov from capturing a White armoured train loaded with refugees and royal gold. 1933. The Great Depression and Charley is on the dole. News arrives that Adolf Hitler has seized power in Germany. At this point, writer Pat Mills ceased work on the comic and was replaced by Scott Goodall. September 1939 – June 1940. Charley reluctantly enlists in the British Army again after learning his son Len has joined up. Joins the BEF in France and participates in the heavy fighting against the German Blitzkrieg and in the long and confused retreat to Dunkirk. Back in England, Ole Bill has joined the Home Guard. Charley's wife Kate is falsely arrested for black-marketeering as, unbeknown to her, Oiley has been stashing stolen goods in her home. Oiley tries to have Bill murdered but the attempt fails and Bill beats Oiley into confessing, freeing Kate from prison. Back in France, Charley finds his shell-shocked son Len at Dunkirk and they escape back to Britain together. Charley decides he has had enough of war. Major characters Charley Bourne The central character and hero of the series. A working-class London lad from a close-knit family, he enlists in the British Army in 1916, age sixteen and arrives in the trenches on the Western Front shortly before the start of the Somme Campaign. Naive and not too bright, Bourne nonetheless gets much hard-earned worldly wisdom as he experiences and survives the horrors of the Great