# The Colonel — Now It Can Be Told character guide > The Colonel in Now It Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** the colonel, The colonel, mine **First appearance:** 0003-i ## Snapshot A dark-eyed, smoldering officer who dismisses bayonet drill with a single devastating line and embodies the friction between old army dogma and the realities of modern war. ## Who they are He is the kind of colonel who has seen enough of the front to distrust the textbook, and his assertion that no man is killed by the bayonet unless his hands are up first lands like a grenade in the training establishment. Around him cluster the wider failures of British generalship: the narrow Tory mold, the Staff College's canary-brained products, the closed corporation that keeps able civilians out of command. He matters because he gives the narrator a voice inside the machine, a soldier willing to say aloud what the despatches can only imply. ## Relationships ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _professional_ The Colonel is a senior officer who gives orders and interacts with the Narrator in a formal military capacity. ### [The Officer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters/the_officer) _professional_ The Colonel and the Officer have a hierarchical military relationship, with the Colonel likely superior. ### [The Germans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters/the_germans) _rivalry_ The Colonel is a British officer who fights against the German army. ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _professional_ The Colonel is a senior officer who gives orders and interacts with the Narrator in a formal military capacity. ### [The Officer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters/the_officer) _professional_ The Colonel and the Officer have a hierarchical military relationship, with the Colonel likely superior. ### [The Officer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters/the_officer) _professional_ The Colonel and the Officer have a hierarchical military relationship, with the Colonel likely superior. ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _professional_ The Colonel is a senior officer who gives orders and interacts with the Narrator in a formal military capacity. ### [The Germans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters/the_germans) _rivalry_ The Colonel is a British officer who fights against the German army. ### [The Germans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters/the_germans) _rivalry_ The Colonel is a British officer who fights against the German army. ## In the story ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/iii) The first chief of the correspondents, a Regular of the Indian Army, who is deeply interested in the technic of war but shows humanity by expressing that the war 'must never happen again.' He is later killed by a German sniper. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/iv) The brigade major, a tall, handsome young man with arrogance, who questions the narrator's presence and later offers a civil but pointed farewell. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/viii) Gathers the press like a shepherd before the meeting with Sir John French. ### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/xi) The colonel calmly handles the arrest of the soldier, later stating that the punishment for guilt is death. ### [The New Army Arrives](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/iii) The colonel of the Sussex battalion speaks proudly of his men and the recruiting process. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/vi) The colonel at battalion headquarters, who complains about rats and mentions a friendly mouse. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/ix) The colonel of the Durhams, burdened by doubt and the loss of his men, conducts a personal reconnaissance under heavy fire and later recounts the cost of the battle. ### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/xi) A colonel of artillery at the Château de Henencourt expresses fear of the building collapsing under shelling. ### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/xvi) Arranges a sham battle for visiting MPs, showing a sense of humor and cynicism about war as a spectacle. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/ii) The colonel of the Scots Guards battalion dines at the mess, plays cards, and later gruffly predicts rain before the battle; he is likely killed at Fosse 8. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/viii) A colonel establishes headquarters in a house in Loos and discovers a German officer telephoning artillery coordinates from a hidden cellar. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/i) An old general boasting about his corps' raid record, called 'our old murderer' by his men. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/vi) Colonel of a battalion of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who visits billets to wish his men a happy New Year and thanks them for their courage at Loos. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/viii) Not directly mentioned in this excerpt, but the command structure is implied; omitted due to lack of explicit presence. ### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/xvi) Colonel Dyson of the Royal Scots, the seventeenth commanding officer of his battalion, who hid his feelings from his men before the attack. ### [X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/x) In the censor's room reading The Times, troubled by an attack from Northcliffe and the general violence of the world. ### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/xi) The colonel is mentioned as the owner of the horse that the boy stole; he is reading The Times in the salon when the narrator returns. ### [The Butcher's Shop of Corbie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/ix) The medical officer (colonel) who cheerfully shows the narrator around the 'Butcher's Shop,' pointing out cases and praising the spirit of the wounded. ### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/xiii) The austere and sad colonel who initially restrains the merriment but is eventually stupefied by Falstaff's antics. ### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/xv) Colonel of the North Staffordshires who claims immunity from shellfire through mystical power and second sight. ### [Part VIII: For What Men Died](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/part-viii-for-what-men-died) Implied in the reference to the chaplain seeking permission from a general to withdraw men. ### [What of England?](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/chapters/iv) Quoted expressing desire for revenge: 'I should like one week in Cologne... and I would let my men loose in the streets.' ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters/the_colonel - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/now_it_can_be_told_se/characters