Chapter 5

I had been sleeping for less than an hour when gunfire woke me. I shouted to warn the others and grabbed my MP40.

I opened the front door; the street was full of Germans. I heard a machine gun firing from the house next door.

Germans fell to the floor, I saw two of them running, I fired and cut them down.

“This way ... quick!” I heard Alain say.

We headed out through the kitchen, into a small backyard, and then into an ally.

Alain led us to the right, and we headed at full pelt. From the other side of the houses, we could hear screaming, shouting and gunfire.

The ally led us to the right and then to the left. There was a gate at the end of the ally, and we headed out of it. It led into the lane that was along the side of a cornfield.

Two Germans were standing on the lane, and they died as a hail of gunfire smashed into them; I ran their way and looted them for ammo and Grenades. Then, I followed the rest of the guys into the field.

We were twenty yards in when a truck full of German troops came along the lane.

They started to jump out. I hit the ground, turned, and started to return their fire. They were not well trained, and they didn’t spread out fast enough. I took out four men before they realised they needed to take cover. The resistance guys soon added to the gun battle.

I saw one of the Germans trying to head back to the truck. I cut him down with a perfect three-round burst. I started to make ground, heading back toward the lane.

I went forward five yards and dropped to one knee, aimed fire, fired again and saw the last man drop to the ground. We all ran over to them and checked them for ammo and guns.

One of the men ran to the truck and fired up the engine.

“Come on, get in the truck!” Alain said.

We all pilled in and the driver headed down the lane. The back of the truck was uncovered, it would offer us no hiding place. We rounded the corner of a building and came face to face with three armoured troop carriers.

The cab of our truck was hit by the machine gun on the first armoured carrier; I dived over the truck bed and ran back to the field. There was a ditch I jumped in and started to return fire. Round were whizzing around. I saw our truck moving as one of the armoured carriers used its power to shunt it aside.

I armed one of the grenades and threw it into the deck of the carrier. The explosion rocked me backwards. I shook my head and threw myself onto the front wall of the ditch.

The rest of the resistance guys ran with me. Marianne was next to me. I glanced her way; I could see she was scared.

I used three round bursts to control my ammo usage. Two of the carriers were sending rounds our way. They both had big calibre machine guns mount on them.

I saw the guy to my left slump down. A star of red on his shirt.

“That bastard!” Marianne shouted.

I looked up and saw what had angered her.

Marcel was in the truck bed of the second armoured carrier. I knew that my MP40 did not have the accuracy or the distance to take him out. I looked to where the guy had been on my left. He had a hunting rifle; I picked it up and made sure it was loaded.

I lined the sights up on Marcel. My first shot was off; I adjusted and fired again, and the bullet hit him in the chest. The third smashed into his head. Marianne smiled as she saw him drop out of view. I heard a cheer from the rest of the French resistance guys.

I fired out the rest of the mag and killed three Germans. Then, I picked up my MP40 and returned some of the rounds that were coming our way.

The Germans were laying down a lot of firepower. There was no way we could run; the field gave us no cover. I kept my rate of fire up, managing my ammo with three-round bursts, I had two grenades left; I pulled the cord on one and tossed it as far as I could.

As I pulled the cord on the second, I made my mind up I would not be taken alive. I was in my French clothing; the Germans would take me for a spy and would be tortured and shot. The grenades took out a few of the German soldiers, but two more trucks pulled up, and at least two dozen men jumped out and started to add to the gun battle.

I could see at least four of the resistance fighters dead or wounded. We were losing numbers. I heard the chatter of a high-calibre machine gun, and the ground in front of the ditch was churned up as the machine gunner tried to keep our heads down.

The noise of German guns was becoming deafening. If I had believed in God, I would have prayed for divine intervention and a couple of Spitfires.

“We need to do something before we are overrun!” Alian said.

“They will cut us down as if we run over the field!” I said. #

“We will be killed if we stay here!” he replied.

Then, without another word, he ran for it; he had gone less than ten paces when the big machine gun cut him down.

I kept firing as dd the other guys in the ditch, there were less than ten of us now and I was not sure how much ammo we had left.

I heard a scream and saw that Marianne had turned to her right. Six Germans were coming along the ditch toward us. I fired over her head and cut down two of the men.

Marianne fired three times, and I heard her gun click. It was out of ammo. She took out one man and injured another. I fired out my mag, ejected it and dropped to one knee to insert another, my last, and took out the rest of the men.

Marianne and I both shuffled up the ditch. The six men would have weapons and ammo.

I looted some more spare mags and gave Marianne covering fire as she got the rest of the guns, ammo and grenades.

It would give us a few more minutes of firepower, but I was sure we were doomed. I decided that I would kill Marianne if we were about to be overrun. We had been told stories about what the Bosch did to female resistance fighters, and death was the better option for her, in my opinion.