Bitter Field

by Jack Ludlow

  The roar of that car’s twin exhausts alerted them to the fact that any previous calculations, such as sending the lorries in different directions, were useless. The Hispano-Suiza swept over the bridge, turned right and, with the driver’s foot right to the floor, shot off down the road to La Rochelle.

  ‘One assumes,’ Peter said, with his usual studied calm, ‘that the chums are already on their way and our Johnnies have gone to meet them and chivvy them along. We have been humbugged, old boy.’

  Cal’s response was not calm, it was a loud and foul expletive followed by a stream of rapid French as he informed those he had brought with him – another quartet had emerged to make six in all – about the danger they were in, that followed by a set of rapid instructions.

  The most important were to despatch the two Basques to tell the owner of the barge, who had stayed aboard to guard it, to get it moving towards the port and an insistence all three ignore anything else that happened around them.

  He was still talking as he dashed to the nearest lorry to open the passenger door, reaching under the seats to pull out a roll of sacking, which, when rolled open on the ground, revealed the matt black metal and wooden stock of one of his Czech ZB26 light machine guns, complete with spare barrel and the front bipod, which he began to assemble and load, before dragging out and opening a canvas backpack to reveal several box magazines.

  ‘Peter,’ Cal said, removing and handing over his jacket, ‘take my car back over the bridge. Get it out of sight, then cross back over and keep an eye on the road from La Rochelle. Oh, and you might need that spare clip for the Mauser.’

  His old army comrade was looking at the machine gun and he was clearly worried. ‘You can’t start a war, Cal.’

  ‘I’ll try not to, Peter, but these sods have to be stopped and I don’t think blowing kisses at them will do the trick. Now please do as I ask and quickly, we don’t know how long we have and I need to think of a way to throw them off their game.’

  With no idea of numbers or the level of the arms they might be carrying, Cal knew one very pertinent fact: with lorries likely to be against cars he could not outrun them, which would mean whatever he did, flight would only bring on a contest and in the open country, where he would be at an even greater disadvantage than he was at present.

  So he had to think of a way to stop them getting into these farm buildings, a place he could easily be driven out of unless he was prepared to use the machine gun, and that might bring about, depending on how aggressive those heading this way were and regardless of his own disinclination, the need to kill.

  Given no alternative that is what he would have to do, but quite apart from the bloodshed there was a second consideration in terms of the discreet smuggling out of a barge-load of weapons. It would hardly help to have the whole region, and probably the town and port as well, crawling with gendarmes after a gun battle and several fatalities.

  He was also responsible for those Frenchmen, dock workers who had come along to help their fellow anti-fascists in Spain. They might be committed enough to run the risk of arrest but they were not armed, only along to provide the muscle he needed to load the weapons on to the ship, and now a quartet were looking at him waiting to be told what to do and right at that moment he was struggling for a solution.

  It was the recollection of the lorry he had passed on the way here as well as how difficult the squeeze had been that gave him the idea, but just blocking the route would not be enough and he cast around for an added factor, looking at all the old bits of farm equipment until his eyes lit on a large drum surmounted by a lever pump.

  The commands might have been rapid but the obedience was frustratingly slow from men who were willing helpers but not fighters. Cal was obliged to not only repeat his wishes but to cajole and push them into compliance before he could get the lorry started and back it up so the drum could be loaded on the back.

  While they were doing that he went to find something easily combustible once soaked with petrol, alighting on a bale of straw, and then he had to get them to understand his aim, which took a quantity of arm waving until the nods looked convincing and he could get back behind the wheel and start the engine.

  With the loaded light machine gun and spare mags on the seat beside him he eased the lorry out over the rough ground, which risked that drum being tipped off over the dropped wooden tailgate, obvious by the shouting telling him to slow down as it bucked and swayed over the deep dried-out ruts that criss-crossed the yard.

  That ceased as they made the smooth surface of the pavé road, where he could also jam down on the accelerator, not that it produced much in the way of pace in a vehicle old and fatally underpowered.

  It was just as well he had no need to go far; Cal wanted those thugs who were on their way to keep looking at what lay behind the lorry, to be able to easily see what he intended they should: the second one making a getaway.

  On a long straight road and in his slightly elevated position he saw the first of a long convoy of some ten cars coming in good time, the J12 in front, not racing but at a steady pace that was somehow more threatening than all-out speed.

  As the gap between them closed, he could plainly see that each vehicle looked to be full of young men in dark-blue belted raincoats and berets, an alarming choice of uniform on such a warm day; they had no fear of being seen for what they were.

  Those with open tops, which now, at the front, included that Hispano-Suiza, were crowded with individuals who were making no attempt to hide their weapons either, and while it was hard to tell at a distance of what they consisted, Cal suspected they would be a combination of pistols, hunting rifles and shotguns, hopefully more of the latter given their poor range.

  Sure he had come as far as he needed he eased on the brakes and turned the wheel first left, then right, so the lorry slewed across the road, coming to rest at an angle and completely blocking it, the front bumper resting against a canal-side tree, the tailgate hanging over the ditch, an act that halted the approaching convoy.

  Then, grabbing the machine gun and backpack he jumped down and called to his Frenchmen to do likewise and run for it, with instructions to get aboard the second lorry and wait, he following at a walk, his nose twitching at the overpowering smell, holding the light machine gun by its carrying handle.

  Peter had recrossed the bridge and was coming to join him, the Mauser in his hand, while to his right the sound of chugging told him his barge was moving towards the port, puffs of smoke coming from the stack, the man on the wheel looking straight ahead, smoking pipe in his mouth. Never speedy, he hoped to get it past the lorry before he had to act, just as he hoped those young thugs would see it as just another barge on a well-used commercial waterway and not guess what it was carrying.

  ‘They should stop and have a gander,’ he said, once Peter had joined him. ‘Then, if they are still up for it, come forward on foot, thinking we are using the lorry as cover, by which time the barge should be well on its way.’

  ‘Are they armed?’

  ‘Heavily and openly.’

  The answer made Peter glum. ‘So they show no fear of the authorities, then?’

  ‘Apparently not.’

  It seemed pointless to add it was still lunchtime in rural France, so the chance of a passing gendarme was zero. Besides, if this crew were so open in their weapon-carrying, it had to be because they felt utterly safe from interference by the forces of the law, evidenced by their openness in identifying themselves on the phone, and it could be worse – Cal felt they had to work on the assumption of official collusion, not indifference.

  ‘There’s no cavalry coming over the hill, Peter, we are on our own, and before you ask me how far I am prepared to go, let me remind you they are likely to be killers.’

  ‘I got that impression myself, Cal,’ Peter replied, hauling on the Mauser to cock it with a loud click. ‘But then, old chum, so are we if forced into it.’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  It was not a long wait, but
agonising nevertheless, trying to work out what they would do, with the notion of them firing on the passing barge a worry. Before him the surface of the pavé road, reacting to the post-midday heat of the sun on the surface, gave the impression of being distorted, a mirage in fact, and he quickly realised it presented a problem: that wide and dark liquid streak on the road was fading too fast with evaporation.

  The barge being invisible he had to duck through the screen of trees to locate its position, then relate that to the blocking lorry, relieved to see it seemed to be past the point of any danger, just chugging along undisturbed and unremarked upon, being such a common sight.

  ‘Peter, a match.’

  Peter passed over his box of red-tipped Swan Vesta, which Cal slid open to the maximum he could achieve without the whole contents tumbling out, taking out four and holding them together. Lit simultaneously on the sandpaper to create a good flame, he then ignited the rest in the open box.

  When that flared up he knelt and threw the whole thing into the long streak of stinking, rapidly evaporating petrol that had been pumped out as the lorry progressed from the farmyard to its blocking position, jumping back as the fuel flared up with a whoosh that, had he not moved quickly, would have cost him his eyebrows as well as the front of his hair.

  The blue flame snaked towards the lorry tailgate at some speed until it reached the bale of hay that lay below the dropped tailgate and that, soaked with petrol by his French helpers before being thrown off, went up like a Roman candle firework, the fire licking around the drenched planked floor until that too was alight, rising to surround the large half-empty drum.

  They watched as heat did the rest and in short order the drum went up with a thudding boom, sending streaks of burning fuel in all directions, especially into the ditch, and setting fire to the canvas covering of the body as well as the cab. Cal had taken up a position on the canal side of the road, close to the treeline, lying behind the ZB26 on its bipod and squinting through the sights, waiting for what he was sure must come.

  With the road blocked the Jeunesses Patriotes could not use their cars and with that furiously burning lorry they could not use the canal side or the ditch either; they would have to take to the open fields to the south, in this case one of ripening wheat. The first sign of movement was, as Cal expected, tentative and cautious, maybe one or two at most moving in a wide arc.

  As soon as he saw their warped shapes through the smoke, flames and air distortion he put a single shot as close over their heads as he dare, on the grounds that you don’t have to kill a man to make him take cover, the crack of a passing bullet will do the trick just as well.

  Peter had taken up a position behind one of the trees that lined the canal to block that route, and he would do the same to anyone who showed themselves – less of a possibility given the flaring fuel had already set light to the lower branches of the tree against which the lorry was resting and was beginning to blacken the whole trunk.

  The flames were licking outwards on the slight breeze and a column of black smoke now rose into the sky, one that would be visible for miles and might attract the kind of attention that would force the opposition to abandon their aim. As if to underline that, there was a second huge boom as the fuel tank of the lorry went up.

  The next act was to let the enemy know what they would face if they tried to break out into that open field. With deliberate aim he emptied the magazine in one burst covering the immediate area by which they would need to advance, which set into the air the heads of corn at the top of the stalks. The message was plain: that was not a safe way to go.

  What followed was a surprise that had him rolling sideways at speed to get behind a tree, trailing his weapon behind him. The two flying grenades emerged from those flames and black pall of smoke to land on the road and bounce forward with a rattling sound, coming to a halt halfway between him and the conflagration before they exploded, sending bits of shrapnel thudding into the tree trunks and sending a blast of air past Cal Jardine’s ear.

  ‘Peter?’ he yelled as the sound and blast dissipated.

  ‘I’m good.’

  Cal rolled back out onto the road and ramming down the bipod he jammed home and emptied another magazine. This time there was no chance to take careful aim, though as yet reluctant to kill he fired too high to hit anyone, still hoping the sound of passing shot would make them hesitate and take cover.

  Peter Lanchester, falling back from tree to tree, was close to him now and able to say that, with the flames licking the canal bank, there was little chance of any attack from that quarter unless they were prepared to swim. Cal shouted back, asking him to keep going backwards, to get to the farmhouse and order that second lorry on its way.

  The words were barely out of his mouth when bits of tree began to fly, chips blasted off by sustained and accurate rifle fire of an intensity that would make it dangerous for Peter to move into the open.

  This was not suppression fire, it was meant to kill, so it was time to take off the gloves. The next burst of fire Cal put into the edge of the wheat field sliced low through the stalks, and as soon as he had emptied the mag he slotted another one home, calling to Peter to move when he fired.

  ‘How’s your ammo?’ Peter yelled.

  ‘One in the slot and two mags spare, one I need for my own move back.’

  ‘Any more available?’

  ‘There’s a bargeful on the way to the docks.’

  ‘Time I entered the fray, old boy.’

  ‘Right,’ Cal replied, smiling at the studied unflappability, which was Peter’s trademark act and it was a performance; having seen him in action he knew him to be a very effective fighter.

  Half emerging from behind his tree Peter held the Mauser forward in both hands, spreading his feet to fire, which he did rapidly, inching left as he did so, then scooting away at a crouch as soon as he heard the click of the empty chamber.

  He threw himself to the ground and rolled off the road as fire was returned. Covered by the ditch he slotted home the spare mag before crawling back towards the buildings, this while Cal put single shots into the field.

  He stopped because the return fire had ceased, which did not indicate to him that the Jeunesses Patriotes would be giving up the fight, more that they were trying to figure out some new manoeuvre to circumvent that burning lorry and the light machine gun fire. Thankfully those two grenades seemed to constitute their entire stock; there had been no repeat.

  The sound from behind him of the lorry engine was welcome and he suspected they would hear it too – he had given instructions to gun it up to a screaming pitch for that very purpose. As he heard the note change and the first gear noisily engage, he opened up with single shots again, a spread of fire in an arc designed to curb any response.

  In that he failed; the sight of that lorry, lumbering out from behind the nearest building, brought the heaviest volley yet from that wheat field, but nothing struck home till it was already halfway to the bridge, which hinted at frustration and pleased Cal – he hoped what they thought they were seeing was the cargo of weapons they so hankered after disappearing beyond their grasp.

  The fire had steadied by the time it lurched onto the bridge, with a multitude of holes appearing in the canvas covering, other shots slamming into the side planking, but in truth the only person at risk was the driver – a separate instruction had been for the others to jog behind the cab or, at a crouch, the wheels, which would give them protection, that enhanced by the bridge parapet.

  Within seconds it was out of sight but to the man lying on the roadway it seemed like an hour till the firing ceased. Cal’s mouth was like leather and the acrid smoke that filled the air was affecting his throat. The blocking lorry was still blazing away merrily, the heat consuming the non-wooden parts of the vehicle, the tyres especially, which increased the choking smoke.

  Yet it was obvious the height of the inferno was past as most of the fuel had been consumed. It would burn for a long time yet and the smoke m
ight increase with the tyres smouldering, but it was diminishing as a blockage and might, in fact, provide cover for an advance.

  It was time for him to depart as well, though that was the tricky bit; while he could use the trees as cover to get close to the bridge, he would have to come out into the open to get on to the crossing and for several seconds, even moving flat out, he would be exposed. Even an idiot would know where to concentrate their fire; every weapon that could be brought to bear would be aimed at that gap between the last tree and the low stone parapet.

  A glance across the canal showed that swimming was not an option; the bank opposite was too steep to get out, and while he might be offered assistance from those who had already crossed, it was not aid he could count on. His instructions had been for the lorry to go on and for Peter to wait by the car, so it was too risky to hope anyone else might anticipate a need he had not thought to include.

  Taking the last spare magazine from the backpack he stuffed it into his shirt, flinching slightly as the cold metal touched his hot sweating skin. Then, grabbing the handle of the ZB26, he tossed the backpack head-high and out into the open, moving as soon as the first shots began to rip it to shreds, thankful he was not facing any kind of automatic weapon; the worst he could suffer was a second bullet from a bolt-action rifle and it took a moment to work that, even for a professional soldier.

  Also he hoped for an element of surprise, which is not conducive to good aiming, especially in the untrained. There was no time to go round the parapet and no thought of hurt as he dived over it, landing on his shoulder and immediately hauling himself up, ignoring the scrapes to skin and the painful jarring of bone. He rested the muzzle on the top of the stones and put half a dozen bullets into the wheat field as a warning for his opponents to stay still.

  Crouched down he counted to ten, then raised himself again to fire off another short burst to create the impression he was going to hold this new position. In reality he was crawling away within a second, using his knees and elbows, not easy with the ZB26 as well, to get to a spot where the tree cover was thick enough for him to stand up and run.