Blood of Honour

road that led to the Canea Gate. Halting the men, Tanner moved cautiously forward with Captain Vaughan, and looked down towards the town walls. Muzzle flashes punctured the dark, shapes moved in and out of the shadows and bursts of machine-gun fire and rifle shots resounded sharply between the buildings lining either side of the street.

They stepped back again.

‘Let me go forward and try to find out what’s going on,’ said Vaughan.

‘I’ll come with you,’ said Peploe.

‘No, you’d better stay here with the men. Let me take Tanner.’

‘All right – but if you’re not back in five minutes I’m moving the men on.’

Vaughan and Tanner slipped back into Kalokerinou, carefully inching their way down the street. The fighting seemed to be concentrated around the confluence of streets before the Canea Gate, but suddenly there was shouting and men were running back. Tanner saw German paratroopers race across the mouth of the road, spectral shadows briefly lit by the light of the moon. Then, a moment later, they opened up with several short bursts of automatic fire. Several men cried out, as Tanner brought his rifle to his shoulder. His aim was blocked, however, by the retreating rabble. Feet clattered across the stone as a group of men hurried down the street. Several yards ahead three stopped, fired back down the road, and then, breathing heavily, pulled into the shadows beside them.

‘This is bloody chaos,’ said Vaughan.

‘Alex, you’re back,’ said a voice Tanner recognized instantly as Pendlebury’s. ‘Have you brought reinforcements?’

‘Yes,’ replied Vaughan, as Tanner crept past him.

‘Alopex!’ Pendlebury called, then said to Vaughan, ‘Where are they?’

‘Agio Mina.’

‘Alopex,’ said Pendlebury again. ‘Call the men to you in the Agio Mina.’

A grunt of acknowledgement and Tanner heard him summon them. A few more now scampered back down the street, as Tanner fired a white flare into the air, then quickly thrust the Very pistol back into his belt and took out his rifle. The flare whooshed into the sky, burst with a crack, and hissed as it descended, casting a white glow over the far end of the street, illuminating the walls and the Canea Gate with a flood of magnesium and, at the same time, revealing in clear light a number of paratroopers now moving along the sides of the street. They immediately ran back but not before Tanner had aimed his rifle and fired five shots in rapid succession. He hit two men, but the aim had been to push them back for a minute or two and even to sow doubt in them.

‘We need to be quick, sir,’ he said, walking backwards down the edge of the street. ‘That won’t hold them off long.’

‘Come on, John,’ said Vaughan. ‘There are seventy Rangers waiting round the corner.’

‘Seventy? Well done, Alex, well done indeed!’ All three men now took to their heels as shots rang out down the street once more. Turning the corner, they found Peploe waiting. More shots followed, and there was also gunfire to the north towards the sea.

‘The Huns are all over the place, I’m afraid,’ said Pendlebury. Tanner was now conscious of Alopex standing beside Pendlebury with around twenty Cretan andartes behind him. ‘They’re through the Canea Gate, perhaps have the Bethlehem Bastion, and are working their way east through the streets.’

‘And what’s happening on the seafront?’

‘They’re through there as well. The remnants of the 3rd Greek and Garrison Battalions are fighting them. But we need to knock back this lot first. Do that, and the northern prong might run out of steam.’

Jesus, thought Tanner. They needed to get a bloody move on. ‘Sir,’ he said to Peploe, ‘what about getting some men watching on that street corner? One of the Brens, sir.’

Peploe nodded. ‘Sykes!’ he called in a low voice. ‘Get a Bren on that corner.’

‘Sir!’

‘I suggest we move up to the next street that crosses Kalokerinou,’ said Vaughan, his voice urgent, ‘and place the two Brens either side, keeping the enemy at the Canea Gate pinned down. From there we can send sections down along the streets that run to the walls.’

‘All right,’ said Peploe.

‘We need guides, sir,’ said Tanner. ‘Men who know this town like the back of their hands.’

‘Yes, you’re right, Tanner,’ agreed Peploe. ‘Captain Pendlebury?’

Pendlebury spoke quickly to the Cretans. Tanner glanced at Alopex and caught his eye. The Cretan drew a finger across his neck. Like a sodding bad penny, thought Tanner, raising his middle finger towards him.

Peploe hurriedly issued his orders, dividing the platoons so that one was sent across the far side of Kalokerinou, and others kept to the south. As they set off, Tanner passed Lieutenant Liddell, fumbling with his revolver. ‘All right, sir?’ he said.

‘Yes, thank you, Tanner.’ A forced smile.

They moved forward, initially three platoons together, down a short, narrow road and across a wider street, until they reached a small triangle. Pausing, Tanner saw a number of palms and planes rising from the centre. Heavy firing continued to the north, but in their part of the town, there was desultory shooting only. He wondered what the enemy were planning, what they were thinking. Were they expecting a counter-attack or would they be assuming the Greek forces there had fled? He gripped his rifle. Time would soon tell.

Their force now split. Pendlebury, with Peploe and 2 Platoon, headed for the far right corner of the triangle, while Tanner, with Vaughan, Alopex, half a dozen of his men and all of 1 Platoon moved towards the left.

‘Boys,’ whispered Tanner, ‘keep well into the shadows at all times. Rifles unslung, grenades to hand.’ They crept forward. Tanner’s heart was hammering, and his mouth was dry. He wanted a glug of water, but he daren’t reach for his bottle in case the enemy suddenly opened up.

‘Sir,’ whispered Corporal Hepworth behind him.

‘What is it, Hep?’

‘I’m not sure how much I like this creeping about in the dark. Last time I was home I saw a dead scary film at the pictures and it was just like this, all night-time and shadows. I hope a werewolf don’t jump out on me.’

‘Put a sock in it, Hep, will you?’

As they reached the corner of the triangle Alopex stopped, and Tanner signalled to the men to get down on their haunches. Christ, they’re noisy, he thought – rifles knocking against webbing, soles of boots sliding on the ground. Quietly, he slid forward, then heard the sound too. Voices up ahead. German voices.

‘Kourmoulidon,’ whispered Alopex.

‘A street that runs from here towards Bethlehem Bastion,’ mouthed Vaughan.

‘Tanner,’ whispered Alopex, ‘follow me. Captain, you wait with the men, but when the firing starts, move them forward quickly.’

Tanner swallowed and moved forward until he was beside the Cretan. ‘Just up ahead, maybe twenty metres, there is a narrow turning to the left.’

Tanner nodded and then, as Alopex silently moved forward, followed. Tanner had to admit that the Cretan was as stealthy as a cat. The man wore bandoliers criss-crossed over his chest and carried a rifle, yet Tanner could barely hear him move. The moon was high above them but the old Venetian houses on their left were tall enough to cast ink-dark shadows over them. The voices were nearer and Tanner could faintly see that Alopex was quickening his step. Suddenly the Cretan sidestepped into the narrow street entrance, nimbly crossed the road and pressed himself against the stone wall on the other side. Tanner followed, trying to keep his breathing calm and measured.

‘They’re moving slowly down the street,’ whispered Alopex. ‘As soon as two men have reached the mouth of the road, we grab them, OK? You have a knife?’

Tanner pulled out his seventeen-inch sword bayonet.

‘Kill them silently, then we grab their fancy guns.’

Tanner could not help smiling to himself. The enemy would be tense, as nervous as they were prowling through that triangle. Their reaction would be startled – that was human nature. For a crucial moment, they would not know what was going on. Tanner felt for two grenades. ‘Here,’ he said, passing one to Alopex. ‘Pull the ring pin,