In the rubble of Stalingrad, Dinter and Berg had learned that the essence of success in such situations was to make your hit, then get out fast. They exited immediately through a wrought-iron gate in the wall and worked their way back to the Post Office, using the cover of the back garden hedges at the rear of the cottages.
Shafto, who had witnessed the entire debacle from a rise in the woods further down the road, ground his teeth with rage. It had suddenly become all too obvious that Ritter had let him see exactly what he had wanted him to see. 'Why, that little bastard was setting me up,' he said softly.
The jeep which had just been shot-up pulled in at the side of the road in front of number three. Its driver had a bad cut on the face. A sergeant named Thomas was putting a field dressing on it. Shafto shouted down, 'For Christ's sake, Sergeant, what are you playing at? There's a machine-gun behind the wall of the garden of the second cottage along. Go forward with three men on foot now and take care of it.'
Krukowski, who waited behind him with the field telephone, winced. Five minutes ago we were thirteen. Now it's nine. What in the hell does he think he's playing at?
There was heavy firing from the other side of the village. Shafto raised his fieldglasses, but could see little except for a piece of the road curving beyond the bridge and the roof of the mill standing up beyond the end houses. He snapped a finger and Krukowski passed him the phone. 'Mallory, do you read me?'
Mallory answered instantly. 'Affirmative, Colonel.'
'What in the hell goes on up there? I expected you with bells on by now.'
They've got a strong point set up in the mill on the first floor. Commands one hell of a field of fire. They knocked out the lead jeep. It's blocking the road now. I've already lost four men.'
'Then lose some more,' Shafto yelled into the phone. 'Get in there, Mallory. Burn them out. Whatever it takes.'
The firing was very heavy now as Shafto tried the other section. 'You there, Hustler?'
'Colonel, this is Hustler.' His voice sounded rather faint.
'I expected to see you up on the hill at that church by now.'
'It's been tough going. Colonel. We started across the fields like you said and got tangled up in a bog. Just approaching the south end of Hawks Wood now.'
'Well, get the lead out, for Christ's sake!'
He handed the phone back to Krukowski. 'Christ Jesus!' he said bitterly. 'You can't rely on anybody: when it comes right down to it, anything I need doing right, I've got to see to myself.'
He slid down the bank into the ditch as Sergeant Thomas and the three men he'd taken with him returned. 'Nothing to report, Colonel.'
'What do you mean, nothing to report?'
'No-one there, sir, just these.' Thomas held out a handful of.303 cartridge cases.
Shafto struck his hand violently, spilling them to the ground. 'Okay, I want both jeeps out in front, two men to each Browning. I want that bridge plastering. I want you to lay down such a field of fire that even a blade of grass won't be able to stand up.'
'But Colonel,' Thomas began.
'And you take four men and work your way on foot back of the cottages. Hit that Post Office by the bridge from the rear. Krukowski stays with me.' He slammed his hand down hard on
the bonnet of the jeep. 'Now move it!'
.
Otto Brandt had Corporal Walther, Meyer and Riedel with him in the mill. From a defence point of view it was perfect: the ancient stone walls were about three feet thick and downstairs the oak doors were bolted and barred. The windows of the first floor commanded an excellent field of fire and Brandt had a Bren gun set up there.
Down below a jeep burned steadily, blocking the road. One man was still inside, two more sprawled in the ditch. Brandt had disposed of the jeep personally, making no sign at first, letting Mallory and his men come roaring in, only lobbing down a couple of grenades from the loft door at the last moment. The effect had been catastrophic. From behind the hedges further up the road the Americans poured in a considerable amount of fire to little effect because of those massive stone walls.
'I don't know who's in charge down there, but he doesn't know his business,' Walther oberved as he reloaded his M1.
'Well, what would you have done?' Brandt asked him, squinting along the barrel of the Bren as he loosed off a quick burst.
'There's the stream, isn't there? No windows on that side. They should be moving in from the rear...'
Brandt held up his hand. 'Everyone stop firing.'
'Why?' Walther demanded.
'Because they have, or hadn't you noticed?'
There was a deathly silence and Brandt said softly, 'I'm not sure I really believe this, but get ready.'
A moment later, with a rousing battlecry, Mallory and eight or nine men emerged from shelter and ran for the next ditch, firing from the hip. In spite of the fact that they were getting covering fire from the Brownings of the two remaining jeeps on the other side of the hedge, it was an incredible act of folly.
'My God!' Brandt said. 'Where do they think they are? The Somme?'
He put a long, almost leisurely burst into Mallory and killed him instantly. Three more went down as the Germans all fired at once. One of them picked himself up and staggered back to the safety of the first hedge as the survivors retreated.
In the quiet which followed, Brandt reached for a cigarette. 'I make that seven. Eight if you count the one who dragged himself back.'
'Crazy.' Walther said. 'Suicide. I mean, why are they in such a hurry? All they have to do is wait.'
.
Kane and Colonel Corcoran sat in a jeep two hundred yards down the road from the main gate at Meltham House and looked up at the shattered telephone pole. 'Good God!' Corcoran said. 'It's really quite incredible. What on earth was he thinking of?'
Kane could have told him, but refrained. He said, 'I don't know. Colonel. Maybe some notion he had about security. He sure was anxious to get to grips with those paratroopers.'
A jeep turned out of the main gate and moved towards them. Garvey was at the wheel and when he braked, his face was serious. 'We just got a message in the radio room.'
'From Shafto?'
Garvey shook his head. 'Krukowski, of all people. He asked for you, Major, personally. It's a mess down there. He says they walked right into it. Dead men all over the place.'
'And Shafto?'
'Krukowski was pretty hysterical. Kept saying the colonel was acting like a crazy man. Some of it didn't make much sense.'
Dear God, Kane thought, he's gone riding straight in, guidons fluttering in the breeze. He said to Corcoran, 'I think I should get down there, Colonel.'
'So do I,' Corcoran said. 'Naturally, you'll leave adequate protection for the Prime Minister.'
Kane turned to Garvey. 'What have we got left in the motor pool?'
'A White Scout car and three jeeps.'
'All right, we'll take them plus a detail of twenty men. Ready to move out in five minutes if you please, Sergeant.'
Garvey swung the jeep in a tight circle and drove away fast. That leaves twenty-five for you, sir,' Kane told Corcoran. 'Will that be all right?'
'Twenty-six with me,' Corcoran said. 'Perfectly adequate, especially as I shall naturally assume command. Time someone licked you colonials into shape.'
'I know, sir,' Harvey Kane said as he switched on the engine. 'Nothing but a mass of complexes since Bunker Hill.' He let in the clutch and drove away.
18
The village was still a good mile and a half away when Steiner first became aware of the persistent electronic buzz from the Grauman field phone Someone was on channel, but too far away to be heard 'Put your foot down ' he told Klugl 'Something's wrong '
When they were a mile away, the rattle of small arms fire in the distance confirmed his worst fears He cocked his Sten gun and looked up at Werner 'Be ready to use that thing You might have to.'
Klugl had the jeep pushed right up to its limit, his foot flat on the boards 'C
ome on, damn you! Come on!' Steiner cried
The Grauman had ceased the buzz and as they drew closer to the village, he tried to make voice contact. 'This is Eagle One Come in Eagle Two '
There was no reply. He tried again, but with no better success Klugl said, 'Maybe they're too busy Herr Oberst.'
A moment later they topped the rise at Garrowby Heath three hundred yards west of the church at the top of the hill and the whole panorama was spread below Steiner raised his field glasses, took in the mill and Mallory's detail in the field beyond. He moved on, noting the Rangers behind the hedges at the rear of the Post Office and the Studley Arms and Ritter, young Hagl beside him, pinned down behind the bridge by the heavy concentration of machine-gun fire from the Brownings of Shafto's two remaining jeeps. One of them had been sited alongside Joanna Grey's garden wall from where the gun crew were able to fire over the top and yet remain in good cover. The other employed the same technique against the wall of the next cottage.
Steiner tried the Grauman again. 'This is Eagle One. Do you read me?'
On the first floor of the mill, his voice crackled in the ear of Riedel, who had just switched on during a lull in the fighting 'It's the Colonel,' he cried to Brandt and said into the phone 'This is Eagle Three, in the water mill Where are you?'
'On the hill above the church,' Steiner said 'What is your situation?'
Several bullets passed through the glassless windows and ricochetted from the wall. 'Give it to me!' Brandt called from his position flat on the floor behind the Bren.
'He's on the hill,' Riedel said. 'Trust Steiner to turn up to pull us out of the shit.' He crawled along to the loft door above the waterwheel and kicked it open.
'Come back here,' Brandt called.
Riedel crouched to peer outside. He laughed excitedly and raised the Grauman to his mouth. 'I can see you, Herr Oberst, we're...'
There was a heavy burst of automatic fire from outside, blood and brains sprayed across the wall as the back of Riedel's skull disintegrated and he went head-first out of the loft still clutching the field phone.
Brandt flung himself across the room and peered over the edge Riedel had fallen on top of the waterwheel It kept on turning, carrying him with it, down into the churning waters. When it came
round again, he was gone.
.
On the hill, Werner tapped Steiner on the shoulder 'Below Herr Oberst, in the wood on the right. Soldiers.'
Steiner swung his field glasses. With the height advantage the hill gave him it was just possible to see down into one section of the sunken track through Hawks Wood about half-way along Sergeant Hustler and his men were passing through.
Steiner made his decision and acted on it 'It seems we're Fallschirmjager again, boys.'
He tossed his red beret away, unbuckled his webbing belt and the Browning in its holster and took off his jump jacket. Underneath he was wearing his Fliegerbluse, the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves at his throat. He took a Schiff from his pocket and jammed it down on his head. Klugl and Werner followed his example.
Steiner said, 'Right, boys, the grand tour. Straight down that track through the wood, across the footbridge for a few words with those jeeps. I think you can make it, Klugl, if you go fast enough, then on to Oberleutnant Neumann.' He looked up at Werner. 'And don't stop firing. Not for anything.'
.
The jeep was doing fifty as they went down the final stretch towards the church. Corporal Becker was outside the porch. He crouched in alarm, Steiner waved, then Klugl swung the wheel and turned the jeep into the Hawks Wood track.
They bounced over a slight rise, hurtled round a bend between the steep walls and there was Hustler with his men, no more than twenty yards away, strung out on either side of the track. Werner started to fire at point blank range, had no more than a few seconds in which to take aim because by then, the jeep was into them. Men were jumping for their lives, trying to scramble up the steep banks. The offside front wheel bounced over a body and then they were through, leaving Sergeant Horace Hustler and seven of his men dead or dying behind them.
The jeep emerged from the end of the track like a thunderbolt. Klugl kept right on going as ordered, straight across the four-foot wide footbridge over the stream, snapping the rustic pole handrails like matchsticks, and shot up the bank to the road, all four wheels clear of the ground as they bounced over the rise.
The two men comprising the machine-gun crew of the jeep sheltering behind Joanna Grey's garden wall swung their Browning frantically, already too late as Werner raked the wall with a sustained burst that knocked them both off their feet.
But the fact of their dying gave the crew of the second jeep, positioned at the side of the next garden wall, the two or three precious seconds to react - the seconds that meant the difference between life and death. They had their Browning round and were already firing as Klugl swung the wheel and drove back towards the bridge.
It was the Rangers' turn now. Werner got in a quick burst as they flashed past that caught one of the machine-gun crew, but the other kept on firing his Browning, bullets hammering into the Germans' jeep, shattering the windscreen. Klugl gave a sudden sharp cry and fell forward across the steering wheel, the jeep swerved wildly and smashed into the parapet at the end of the bridge. It seemed to hang there for a moment, then tipped over on to its side very slowly.
Klugl lay huddled in the shelter of the jeep and Werner crouched over him, blood on his face where flying glass had cut him. He looked up at Steiner. 'He's dead, Herr Oberst,' he said and his eyes were wild.
He reached for a Sten gun and started to stand. Steiner dragged him down. 'Pull yourself together, boy. He's dead, you're alive.'
Werner nodded dully. 'Yes, Herr Oberst.'
'Now get this Browning set up and keep them busy down there.'
As Steiner turned, Ritter Neumann crawled out from behind the parapet carrying a Bren gun. 'You certainly created hell back there.'
'They had a section moving up through the wood to the church,' Steiner said. 'We didn't do them any good either. What about Hagl?'
'Done for, I'm afraid.' Neumann nodded to where Hagl's boots protruded from behind the parapet.
Werner had the Browning set up at the side of the jeep now and started to fire in short bursts. Steiner said, 'All right, Herr Oberleutnant, and what exactly did you have in mind?'
'It should be dark in an hour,' Ritter said. 'I thought if we could hold on till then and slip away in twos and threes. We could lie low in the marsh at Hobs End under cover of darkness. Still make that boat if Koenig arrives as arranged. After all, we'll never get near the old man now.' He hesitated and added rather awkwardly. 'It gives us some sort of chance.'
'The only one,' Steiner said. 'But not here. I think it's time we re-grouped again. Where is everybody?'
Ritter gave him a quick run-down on the general situation and when he was finished, Steiner nodded. 'I managed to raise them in the mill on the way in. Got Riedel on the Grauman plus a lot of machine-gun fire. You get Altmann and his boys and I'll see if I can get through to Brandt.'
Werner gave Ritter covering fire as the Oberleutnant darted across the road and Steiner tried to raise Brandt on the Grauman. He had no success at all and as Neumann emerged from the door of the Post Office with Altmann, Dinter and Berg, there was an outbreak of heavy firing up at the mill.
They all crouched behind the parapet and Steiner said, 'I can't raise Brandt. God knows what's happening. I want the rest of you to make a run for it to the church. You've good cover for most of the way if you keep to the hedge. You're in charge, Ritter.'
'What about you?'
'I'll keep them occupied with the Browning for a while then I'll follow on.'
'But Herr Oberst,' Ritter began.
Steiner cut him off short. 'No buts about it. Today's my day for playing hero. Now get the hell out of it, all of you and that's an order.'
Ritter hesitated, but only fractionally. He nodded to Altmann then slipped
past the jeep and ran across the bridge, crouching behind the parapet. Steiner got down to the Browning and started to fire.
At the other end of the bridge there was a stretch of open ground, no more than twenty-five feet before the safety of the hedge. Ritter, crouching on one knee, said. 'Taking it one by one is no good because after he's seen the first, that joker on the machine-gun will be ready and waiting for whoever comes next. When I give the word, we all go together.'
Jack Higgins - Eagle Has Landed Page 37
