Curious, no comments on this classic Robert Merle, Prix Goncourt 1949 for the first mastered remarkably novel. Into a vein which is not far away from blue Hussar Nimier or Faithful Shepherd Vialatte, Merle depicts the war as seen by the basic soldier here Maillat sergeant stuck in the Dunkirk pocket. With a small group of friends, Maillat hope (in vain) evacuation to England and going for two days, being faced with the debacle of the French army - and more generally of civilization. It is easy to find - and there is obviously a view quite different from Nimier or Vialatte - the largest Merle themes: the dynamics of the group, the disintegration of human values in crisis, the emergence of a leader who will attempt to preserve even sacrificing some. We are not very far from Malevil but with less dramatic and prophetic tone, which falls within the more chronic and household humorous breaks (the gravediggers unpayable search for the bodies of two soldiers rapists Maillat was murdered, the difficult dialogue with British officers). The drama is present, however, with the threat of Stukas and bombs, the return of savagery, cowardice and stinginess in soldiers to the more fragile morality. Merle talent is there too: it is not given to everyone to write such a strong and suggestive that page that closes the novel - indelibly.
