they launched yesterday, which was merely designed to draw the German armour away from the Somme. Right?'
Right? Bastable no longer knew which was right and which was wrong.
The code name for this operation is 'Dynamo'. The British originally wanted to call it 'Waterloo', but the French objected to that on historical grounds.'
'And I don't blame them,' murmured the Brigadier. 'Do you know your history, Willis?'
Bastable closed his mouth, which had fallen open.
'No? Well, the Waterloo campaign began the same way for the Allies. Napoleon humbugged them at Ligny and Quatre dummy4
Bras, just as Hitler humbugged us on the Dyle and the Meuse. But then Wellington held Napoleon at Waterloo, and the Prussians came from the flank and finished the job. And that was the end of the war.
'Until now the Hun has found it easy to advance. But that's because we've made it easy for them—because we want them to commit their armour over the Aa Canal, in the waterways there—with the rest of their army strung all the way back to the frontier. It's a trap, Willis.' The Brigadier paused. 'Do you understand?'
Harry Bastable didn't understand. He felt the weight of the Brigadier's pistol in his hand—and in his chest the greater weight of the black treachery he had been listening to.
But why were they telling him all this?
The pistol lifted to point mid-way between the Brigadier and Freddie.
'That's what the Brigadier has told the Germans,' said Freddie.
Bastable steadied the pistol.
'And there isn't a word of truth in it,' said the Brigadier.
Freddie looked sideways at the Brigadier. 'Actually there is a word or two. The Guards
'And they'll die there, too,' said the Brigadier.
'And we did counter-attack at Arras yesterday,' said Freddie.
'But there aren't any anti-tank guns behind the Aa Canal. Or dummy4
any tanks—or any fresh divisions. At this moment there isn't a corporal's guard to stop the Germans between Calais and Dunkirk.'
'And there isn't going to be any great French counterattack across the Somme. Because there isn't any great French army to attack with—the French are finished. The Germans could be in Paris within a week,' said the Brigadier.
'And in Ostend by this weekend—which is what matters to us,' said Freddie. 'Because then the BEF will be finished—
they'll be surrounded.'
'And then we shall have lost the war,' said the Brigadier.
'No!' Bastable found his tongue. 'I don't believe it!'
'Neither do the Germans—
trying to feed them lies to keep them from realizing it. If we can just
back to form some sort of line protecting Dunkirk and Ostend . . . Then maybe the Navy can save some of them. At least if we've got our backs to the sea, we've got a chance.
Because that's what 'Dynamo' is about—the real Dynamo, Willis.'
'Dynamo?'
'The evacuation of the British Army from France. We need four days to start it—and at the moment we've only got two before the Germans reach Dunkirk—three at the outside. But as we can't stop them we've got to make them stop of their dummy4
own accord.'
The Brigadier grunted. 'For sound military reasons.'
Bastable grappled With the sound military reasons, but they were too big for him.
'And we've given them some sound military reasons, by God!'
said the Brigadier. 'They've got plenty of their own, but we've given them a better one—we've warned them of a trap which doesn't exist.'
'But—' Bastable felt the sweat on his forehead.
'But why should they believe us?' Freddie's lip twisted as he looked at the Brigadier. 'Because we've been supplying them with sound military information since Czechoslovakia was occupied last year—the Brigadier and I, Willis. We've been working for them for over a year—so they think.'
'What?'
'Since they broke the Munich agreement,' said the Brigadier.
