Following is a story about two brothers reunited after having been seperated by the WW2. I have a question regarding the blend in usage of the past perfect and past tense.
.......Needless to say, the man's name was Hans Bussman and he really was Franz's long-lost brother. When the brothers were reunited, Hans explained how it was that he was still alive. After having been wounded towards the end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit. The hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed......
I understand that when you use past perfect tense, you are indicating the verb in question, actually happened sometime earlier, comparing with the verb in the form of past tense.
So, I understand why the author used " he had been sent to hospital" --- because ''being sent to hospital is more earlier in sequence than '' brothers reunited''.
but I don't understand why he then used " was separated from his unit''
Similarly, I don't undersand other underlined parts.
so what 's the reason about the mixing of the 2 tenses. Is it just that the author didn't want to use the past perfect tense for so many times?
Thank you in advance....
.......Needless to say, the man's name was Hans Bussman and he really was Franz's long-lost brother. When the brothers were reunited, Hans explained how it was that he was still alive. After having been wounded towards the end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit. The hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed......
I understand that when you use past perfect tense, you are indicating the verb in question, actually happened sometime earlier, comparing with the verb in the form of past tense.
So, I understand why the author used " he had been sent to hospital" --- because ''being sent to hospital is more earlier in sequence than '' brothers reunited''.
but I don't understand why he then used " was separated from his unit''
Similarly, I don't undersand other underlined parts.
so what 's the reason about the mixing of the 2 tenses. Is it just that the author didn't want to use the past perfect tense for so many times?
Thank you in advance....