Summary

In this section, Urbain’s first-person perspective of events continues in the present tense. With a new team from the 2nd Regiment, Urbain cautiously moves forward, avoiding German snipers while also dealing with the desertion of soldiers. Once in the forest of Schiplaken, Urbain notices the beauty around him, wishing to stop and draw. Reaching their meeting point with other teams, the soldiers fall asleep, Urbain staying up and observing the faces of his men in the light. He is awakened later by a bomb that destroys some of their equipment. Seeing the Germans set a farmhouse on fire beyond the woods, the Belgians begins to dig cover, with Urbain going out for recon and then coming back when seeing German machine guns. After a day and night playing cat and mouse, the Germans leave and Urbain leaves the woods...