Sergeant Leopold didn't know why he'd been sent back to this hellhole after all these years. Nothing but slush, mud and blood for miles around except now, instead of horses, broken vehicles lay strewn across the snowscape.
'Your assignment's over there.' The Commanding Officer pointed to a soldier huddling beside an upturned armoured car.
Leopold marched towards him and snapped to attention. The boy looked up, a frightened child with a bullet-shattered heart, and Leopold understood at last.
'Stand down, soldier,' he said, kindly. 'I've come to take you home.'