(December 1940) While the section works on a bomb at a gas works, Lance Corporal Salt wanders off, hears cries for help, and finds a young woman trapped beside a second bomb with a time fuse . Without Brian's knowledge or permission, Salt and several other men take a great risk and manhandle the bomb into the Thames mudflats just before it explodes. Later, unable to get leave, Salt goes absent without leave (AWOL), to try to persuade his wife to leave Manchester with their children, but a German bomb dropped during a single-plane daylight raid kills her and injures him. When Salt recovers, he is demoted to sapper and fined two days' pay. Captain Francis is resentful that Salt's punishment is minor, but Luckhurst informs him that since he will shortly be taking command of 97 Company, as Luckhurst has been promoted, he should consider being more humane in enforcing regulations in a high-risk unit during wartime.
Original Broadcast Date 19th February 1979.