Summary

Bagger and Popkin approach the lone French soldier sheltering under a ruined 155mm howitzer, and the poilu greets the Americans with drunken scorn while he roasts a rat over a small fire. Popkin treats the man’s mockery as a challenge and escalates the exchange with threats, while Bagger tries to keep the encounter from becoming a needless killing. The poilu refuses to back down and keeps talking as if the war has already emptied courage of meaning, and Popkin ultimately beats him and drives him off, leaving the four Americans with only the howitzer for cover and a worsening sense that hunger will be as dangerous as bullets.

They huddle beneath the gun through heavy rain, soaked and shaking, with Arno and Veck crowded close to the angel while Bagger and Popkin argue about what she can do. The men attempt to command...