Blood of Honour

these feelings. There was relief at still being alive and the strange elation that could happen after a fight. It was the adrenalin that still coursed through the body. Only when that had worn off would the exhaustion set in and even dark thoughts – memories of terror or even of horror: the blood, the broken limbs and smashed faces. One got used to seeing mutilated corpses, men with limbs missing, heads blown off, guts spilling out, and the mind hardened to such things, but thinking about them was never pleasant. There were corpses aplenty down there now, and large patches of blood spreading across the dusty road, clear enough even in the milky moonlight, but no one else seemed to have noticed. He watched one large, silver-haired Cretan kapitan embrace Alopex and then Pendlebury, who laughed, then gesticulated wildly. The man still had his swordstick in his hand and waved it in circles above his head, no doubt reliving the charge he had led earlier.

‘Crazy bugger,’ said Sykes, now standing beside him. ‘Not your normal run-of-the-mill soldier, is he?’

Tanner chuckled. ‘No, but he’s a bloody good leader. He’s got those Cretans where he wants them. Look at ’em. They bloody love him, don’t they?’

‘More than I can say for Mr Liddell. Look at him.’

Liddell was away from the rest of the men, walking aimlessly among the fallen.

‘Poor bastard,’ said Tanner.

‘Why d’you think that?’

‘As you said, Stan, he’s not cut out for this lark, is he? I saw him earlier, before we set off to flush out those Jerries. He was bloody scared stiff. Should have stayed on the farm.’

‘He’d probably be more use there. We still need scoff, and so does everyone back home, but I’m not sure we need his sort trying to tell us what to do.’

‘I just wish to hell they’d never sent him here. Of all sodding people.’ He lit two cigarettes and passed one to Sykes. ‘Anyway, we need to go on a scavenge.’ He stood up. ‘Here, Hep,’ he said, ‘keep an eye on the lads, all right? Make sure they keep a good lookout.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Hepworth replied.

‘Good,’ said Tanner. ‘Right, Stan, let’s see what we can find.’

On the top of the wall and above the bastion, the moonlight shone brightly. Now fully accustomed to the light, Tanner found he could see quite well. Certainly, they had no difficulty in picking out the German dead, although he had found only a few spare magazines for his newly acquired sub-machine-gun. He did take a pistol, though. All the paratroopers, he noticed, seemed to carry these side arms, a small, nicely balanced semi-automatic, with an eight-round clip. Tanner much preferred it to the heavy, bulky Enfield revolver he had been issued on becoming a warrant officer. What was more, the Enfield could only be reloaded by placing each bullet into the six chambers, a fiddly task at the best of times, but especially so in the heat of battle when nerves and adrenalin made hands shaky. With the Sauer pistol he’d taken, he discovered he could grip the weapon and press the release button with the same hand. Out it fell, and all he had to do was shove another in place. He decided that so long as he could get his hands on enough ammunition – and the bullets were quite a bit smaller than those for his Enfield – his own revolver would be consigned to the bottom of his pack.

There was much about the German kit that he and Sykes found to admire. The cotton smock looked comfortable and had the kind of large pockets they wished they had more of on their own uniforms. Both men helped themselves to the long canvas gasmask bags they carried. Having ditched the masks, they slung the bags over their shoulders and used them to store as many magazines as they could find. What took their attention more than any other piece of kit, however, were the paratroopers’ boots. Tanner had long wished they might be issued with rubber, rather than studded leather-soled boots. The German boots were not only rubber-soled but side-laced and high enough to reach well over the ankles.

‘These look about right.’ Sykes whipped off one of his own and measured it against those of a paratrooper. ‘Bloody beautiful,’ he added, as he pulled them from the dead man. ‘Will you look at that!’ With the laces undone, the top of the boot opened to reveal not a separate tongue but one large piece of soft leather that folded back on itself once the laces were tied.

‘Very nice, Stan,’ said Tanner. ‘What’s the leather like?’

‘Lovely an’ supple. You’re not going to have problems of stones in your boots with these on. Just need to get you a pair now, sir.’

Tanner walked among the dead and eventually found a man of similar height. Like Sykes, he measured his own boot against that of the dead German and was pleased to see the sizes compared.

He sprang up and down on his new boots, patted some of his new kit, then said, ‘Good work that, Stan. I’ll say one thing for Jerry – he does make bloody good clobber.’

He looked up and saw Captain Peploe approaching them from the bastion.

‘Well done, you two,’ he said, extending his hand to shake theirs in turn. ‘The Cretans are over the moon, and so are Pendlebury and Vaughan. Hopefully, so too will be Brigade. We lost a few men but not as many as the Germans by the look of things. I see you’ve found yourselves a bit of extra kit.’

‘It’s damn good, their stuff,’ said Tanner.

‘You want to get yourself a pair of these boots, sir,’ said Sykes. ‘You can walk silent in these, I swear it.’

Peploe smiled. ‘A good tip. I will.’

‘So what happens now, sir?’ asked Tanner. ‘Have reinforcements been sent down to the sea?’

‘Yes – A Company is going to stay here with us but the others have been directed there and it seems the Leicesters and Yorks and Lancs have sent a company each.’

‘That’s good, sir. A swift, strong counter-attack is the way to deal with these jokers. I tell you what, sir, today’s given me heart. We can’t possibly lose this island now.’

‘What if there’s a seaborne invasion as well?’

‘With what? I thought Jerry only had U-boats.’

Peploe shrugged. ‘Captured Greek ships?’

‘What? Those wooden fishing-boats? You’re joking, aren’t you, sir? Against the Mediterranean Fleet? Those navy guns might not be much bloody good against Jerry bombers but they’d be perfect against any slow little transports. I know we lost a few ships coming back from Greece, but it wasn’t that many, all things considered. If Jerry’s stupid enough to try it, let him.’

‘You’re probably right, Jack,’ said Peploe. ‘I hadn’t really thought of it like that.’

‘So long as we keep these airfields, those para boys are done for. You can only carry so much into battle when you’re thrown from an aeroplane. I bet they’re already starving hungry.’

‘I ’ope they are,’ said Sykes. ‘Serve ’em bloody right.’

‘So, what now?’ Tanner asked again. ‘We’re to stay here, are we?’

‘For now, yes, we’re to man the ramparts here. We’re holding them between here and Bethlehem. A Company is going to hold the bastion. I’m not quite sure about the Greeks yet or what happens in the morning, which is why I’m going to head back to Battalion in a moment and see Old Man Vigar. But we need to be vigilant – just in case they try anything at first light.’

‘Shouldn’t we be attacking them at first light, sir? We’ve got them on the run. We should be making the most of that. God knows, we might be able to wipe them out entirely.’

‘Well, maybe. I’ll suggest it to Vigar, but we don’t know what’s going on elsewhere and it’s not only Jerry who’s running low on ammo. We don’t have that much ourselves.’ He rubbed his eyes. ‘I don’t know about you two, but I feel dog-tired.’ He gave Tanner an affectionate pat on the arm. ‘Look, do me a favour. Organize watches, then try and get your heads down. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? But we’re going to need our wits about us. We might have beaten them back tonight, but this battle isn’t over yet.’

When he had gone, Tanner took out another cigarette. It was cooler now, and he was glad he had put on his battle blouse, which he now buttoned up. The firing had almost completely stopped – just a few shots to the south, and an occasional crack of small arms from away to the east; both sides had paused, it seemed, to lick their wounds. Men still moved around on the street below, but the town was quiet again.

But then he heard voices and both he and Sykes got up and looked down. There, clear in the moonlight, was the silver-haired kapitan with Alopex and half a dozen of their andartes. They watched them, standing there, checking weapons, until they disappeared under the archway of the gate.

‘Where they off to in such a hurry?’ said Sykes.

‘To kill some Germans,’ said Tanner. ‘Which is exactly what we should be doing.’