ABANDONED. WWI or WWII soldiers in trenches, barb wire, dead comrade

[Bobbi]

A friend of mine is looking for a book, short story or anecdote within a book about the following.
Two soldiers are in the trenches for days having to look at the decomposing body of a fellow soldier who was caught in barb wire and killed. One of the soldiers in the trench had begun to have feelings for the dead one (before he died) or perhaps vice versa. To combat the trauma of having to look at the unreachable body for day after day, they begin to make dark jokes about it.

[Bobbi]

* Could also be WWI

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Was this fiction or real? (And with trenches, I'm thinking it is more likely a WWI book than WWII)

[Bobbi]

Fiction

[Kris]

Just a guess - The Absolutist by John Boyne?

[Bobbi]

I'll check, thanks!

[Bobbi]

Content seems similar, but a Google books search says no barbed wire or barb wire in the book.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Bobbi--did you check for razor wire? That's what it was usually referred to in the books I have on WWI.

[Kris]

Surviving an American Gulag by Edward C. Patterson?

[Bobbi]

I'll check for razor wire, and I'll check out Surviving. Thanks, guys!

[Bobbi]

No razor wire, either.

[Bobbi]

It sounds to me like in Surviving an American Gulag they never make it into combat.

[Bobbi]

Bump

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Bobbi--bumping about once a month is often enough. That's long enough that people have a chance to do more reading and to have more people join our group (or come back to it after time away.)

[Daisy]

All Quiet on the Western Front is the book you're looking for maybe?Its absolutely wonderful, and is about WWI.

[caracal-eyes]

Well, something like this happened in Fifth Business, at one point. The corpse got hung up on the barbed wire, and after it had been there a while I think it was somehow knocked down...but then I think an explosion or something threw it back up onto the wire. Don't necessarily get the feeling that this is the one you're looking for, but this just reminded me of that scene.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

I thought of All Quiet on the Western Front too but there is only one soldier in the trench with the body, not two. Also I don't know if barbed wire was involved.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

When you say he started having feelings, do you mean of friendship, or homosexual?

[Bobbi]

Homosexual feelings.
I'll check out the recent suggestions, thanks. I think I already checked out All Quiet but I'll look again.
Thanks!

[Bobbi]

Doesn't look like any of the mentions of barbed wire or razor wire in All Quiet center around an episode like the one I'm looking for, thanks though.
Fifth Business is not available for text search, so I'll ask my friend if he's read it.

[Rainbowheart]

Maybe one of Pat Barker's...?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Bobbi, is your friend still looking for this book?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

No response in 2 years, moving to Abandoned.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

This is not The Magus, which has a WWI scene with a British soldier who spends the night in a trench or bomb crater with the decomposing body of a German soldier. No other characters or barbed wire involved.