‘Missing Presume Killed’ gives a graphic account of World War I, covering the bloody campaigns at Gallipoli, the Somme and Ypres, and it provides a unique view of the war from the perspective of the soldier, exposing the brutal reality of the trenches, the devastating charges across no man’s land, and the treacherous mud of Passchendaele. The description of the conflict is interwoven with the stories of four men who answered Lord Kitchener’s call and enlisted in 1914 unaware of the horrors they would face. It reveals the suffocating fear experienced by men going over the top into machine-gun fire and the innate, primeval instinct to defy the odds and to survive. The book describes remarkable acts of gallantry such as the attack by infantry of the 29th Division against the Turkish defences at Cape Helles in Gallipoli. Twelve Victoria crosses were awarded for gallantry that day, but the 29th ended the campaign having suffered 34000 casualties. Another was the suicidal attack by the 137th Brigade against overwhelming odds at the St Quentin Canal in a desperate attempt to smash through the Hindenburg Line. General John Campbell VC led the assault from the front, blowing his hunting horn as the men charged into the most formidable defences on earth, and although few gave them any hope of survival, the 137th achieved the impossible that day. This British attack broke the German will to fight on, with General Erich Ludendorff informing the Kaiser that same day that the situation facing Germany was now hopeless. The book shows how the men at the Front and their wives coped with the black cards of tragedy that they were dealt in this war, and of their struggle to survive. This war laid bare the dark side of the human condition, but it also revealed the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.