of there - so it's only A and D Companies here, plus a carrier platoon and a few mortars, and they've lost a fair few during the day. Lieutenant Bourne-Arton is missing and we're down a dozen men so far today - and that's not including the four from this platoon. The Durhams have had it worse - half their number are gone.'
Tanner shook his head. 'Mostly to dive-bombers?'
'You would have thought so, but no. Only about ten went in that. The worst casualties happened when they tried to push forward earlier, and since then there have been others - mortars, small arms and so on.'
'Not good. How long are we expected to stay here, sir?'
Peploe shrugged. 'Colonel Beart's missing too, and so is Captain Dixon. One of the advance-guard motorcycles went back to Duisans to try and get information but hasn't been seen since.'
'It's ridiculous, sir, trying to fight mobile battles with no radio. These SS-wallahs we picked up today, you should've seen their kit. Sykes disabled a beauty in the scout car.'
'I know. I'm beginning to think we're not really prepared for this war. That gun was something, wasn't it?'
'Actually, sir, I found out what it was. An ack-ack gun, all right, but it seems they use them in an anti-tank role. It's something called a Flak 36, 88mm calibre. I think we should take a leaf out of their book and start using our ack-ack guns in that way.'
'Beasts to move around but they certainly make our little twenty-pounders look a bit feeble.'
'The twenty-pounder's all right, sir, just so long as you use it over short distances. If anything comes over that ridge tonight, I'd back those boys to see it off, but over longer distances - well, that 88 caused mayhem, and we were firing more than two miles.'
'And the pair of them saw off our tank attack,' added Peploe.
They were silent for a moment, and then Peploe said, 'I know we did what we were asked to do today, but that it was all for nothing sticks in my gut. Four good men lost. To think they were eating and breathing and living their lives this morning and now they're lying beside some copse on a French hill.' He sighed. 'I can't help feeling responsible for them - guilty, even. It wasn't something I ever considered when I was at OCTU.'
'You might have lost more men if we'd stayed here, sir. And we learned a lot from that attack. Do you remember our conversation when we first got to Manston, about experience being the best training? Don't you feel a better soldier now than you did this morning?'
'You're right.' Peploe smiled. 'But another thing they don't teach you at OCTU is how confusing battle is. Most of today I haven't had the faintest idea what's going on. I still don't.'
Tanner grinned. 'I don't think anyone does. You just do what you can in your own part of the battlefield. Try to deal with whatever's flung your way.'
It was quiet now on their front, although to their rear gunfire still thumped intermittently.
'Did you see the CSM?' asked Peploe.
'He's looking after the prisoners. He had Slater with him and another lad from Company Headquarters.'
'Dangerous job.'
Tanner smiled wryly. 'Like I said, he's a coward. All bullies are,' he said. 'He won't get in the firing line unless he absolutely has to.'
'Did he say anything to you?'
'Not really.'
'Tanner, I'll make sure this rape charge is forgotten, you know.'
'Thank you, sir,' said Tanner, 'but we've got to get out of this mess first. If Jerry doesn't attack in the next hour, I reckon he'll wait until morning. He doesn't like attacking at night. But the fact is, sir, I think we're more or less surrounded. If we don't pull out tonight, we'll be in the bag tomorrow.'
'We've been ordered to hold the village, though. What else can we do?'
Tanner sighed. 'That's what's worrying me, sir, because it's a lost cause.'
Chapter 18
When Sturmbannfuhrer Timpke came round he couldn't understand where he was or how he'd got there. He was lying on straw and it was dark - not completely but enough for him to realize he must have been out for several hours. His head was pounding with a sharp, throbbing pain.
He saw that he was in a large old barn. Aged, dusty beams, hewn and fitted together centuries before, hung above him. He could smell dust and straw, but something else too - something sweet and cloying. For a moment he couldn't think where he had come across it before. Then, pushing himself up on his elbows, he gasped. Bodies - lots of them. Totenkopf men. His mind raced. Not ten yards from him Schultz lay on his back in a large dark pool of blood. And there were others he recognized too.
Suddenly he heard voices - English ones - and saw two men standing in shadows by the open door. Soundlessly, he lay down again and closed his eyes.
'It's Tanner, all right,' said one of the men.
'Sergeant Tanner,' said the other. 'And Corporal Sykes. They've murdered the lot of them. And look.' The man kicked something - a weapon. 'Tanner was carrying one of these earlier.'
'Tanner,' said the first man. 'How could he do this?'
Timpke heard them leave, but waited where he was for a few minutes. His brain reeled. He had overseen a
