`I never saw the man again, alive or dead. One will say that I saw him only for a moment, that it was misty at the time, & that even I did not recognise the features, covered as they were with grime & stubble. Yet I am sure that the taller of the two ragged civilians I saw in the chalk quarry that misty March morning of 1918 was that Lieutenant Peter Rawley, R. F.A., who the official records stated was killed near Arras the previous autumn.` Behind the Lines is a thriller that follows on from the success of W. F. Morris`s first novel, Bretherton: Khaki or Field-Grey? Morris is again concerned with questions of identity, allegiance, chance, concealment & self-discovery. A subaltern is forced to flee when he accidentally kills an overbearing, taunting fellow officer: appearances are all against him & he does not trust to trench justice. He becomes a fugitive & has to join forces with other deserters, lost soldiers & outlaws in a h&-to-mouth existence in the no man`s land between opposing forces. A series of adventures & disasters ensue, including capture by the Germans & near death by firing squad. Only his own bravery & the devotion of his fiance can rescue him from his plight. A contemporary commentator noted that `in spite of the flood of war books`, Morris was able to achieve `a quite different viewpoint from all the others`, & his book was `an outstanding success`.