Prva smjena

The action takes place over two to three days and is limited to the experiences of the members of the first rescue team at the site of the mine accident. The author deliberately did not focus on the detailed delineation of the mining environment, as well as on social problems, his attention was mainly focused on the depiction of mutual relations within this diverse group of people.

The book does not normally rank among Čapko's most successful works. Nevertheless, it is an important testimony about the conditions that prevailed in the coal mines in the interwar period. Karel Čapek got the material for the novel while staying among the miners in the Kladno mines.

The main character of the novel is Standa Půlpán, an orphan who has to leave school due to lack of finances and goes to work as a driver in a mine. One day an accident happens and three miners, all fathers of the family, are trapped in the mine. Standa is the first to sign up for the rescue operation. His bravery is seen by other miners, they also sign up and the first group goes into the buried shaft. In the beginning, Standa overcomes fear and the feeling of confinement, but gradually he begins to enjoy his work. When the pouring begins, the signal of buried miners, Standa is proud of his work. In the evening in the pub, the whole team becomes a real group. The next day, during a shift, the ceiling collapses, crushing Stand's arm. In the hospital, he has to amputate several finger joints on one hand. When Standa is released, he goes to see the mine at the end of his shift. A strange silence prevails in the entire space, and Standa learns that when breaking through the last part of the corridor, the ceiling collapsed again and knocked down his colleague Adam, with whom Standa lived.