This collection of stories from every-day life in the British military, centered around the characters of Smithy and Nobby. Edgar Wallace, who is also famous for his own stories of colonial life the Sanders stories was principally a writer of crime and detective fiction. He was one of the most popular and prolific authors of his era. However, he was well aware that the irrepressible spirit of Kiplings famous rankers would live on, and he wrote his own tales of ordinary British soldiers. Edgar Wallaces Smithy stories enter the First World War, not much mud and bullets or the horror of the trenches, instead its Nobbys schemes and delightfully silly comic description of life with the Kaiser.