Cast No Shadow, Peter Sharp [books to get back into reading txt] 📗

of orders. His team put down covering fire, while Charlie team withdrew, under fire, towards the slip. Once level with the second house they went defensive and laid down fire to enable Kelly’s Delta team to withdraw.

As they moved back at the crouch, covered by Charlie team, Kelly heard a cry close by and saw a black figure slump to the ground.

“Allen?” he called. There was no movement and no response. Kelly cursed. This was no time for heroics; he and Smith had to get to cover. As he moved into the relative shelter of the building, he realised that, by the direction of the fire coming at him, the Germans were also manoeuvring, laying down heavy fire from the machine gun, while the rest of the squad moved towards them. He barked orders for Charlie team to join them whilst he and Smith gave what cover they could.

As Charlie team retreated to join Kelly, one of the shadowy figures was thrown forward from the force of a machine gun round. Before Kelly could react, one of the others stopped, knelt beside his comrade, hoisted him onto his shoulder and stood up.

“Get down! GET DOWN!” Kelly screamed. The marine took a few stumbling steps forward before his body jerked and he slumped to the ground with his comrade still draped over his shoulder.

Only three remaining, low on ammunition, and now with an escape plan that was thwarted. Kelly considered retreating to the slip and swimming for it. They would be invisible within twenty yards of the shore, but, he reconsidered, if he led the Germans to the slip now, they might see the other commandos coming in their rigid raiders and they would be sitting ducks. No! He had to try to hold them here to give Tom Foley’s boys a chance to get ashore. Talking of which, he thought, where the hell were Foley’s men?

A burst of machine gun fire sent wood splinters flying in all directions as the rounds thudded into the logs of the cabin. Kelly quickly ducked his head back behind the wall, waiting for the next burst before popping his head out again. A German soldier was about fifteen yards from his position sprinting towards him. Kelly quickly aligned his Sten and sent a burst into the man. He saw the soldier convulse as the rounds crashed into his body, but his momentum carried him forward, landing face down only a few yards from Kelly.

Crash! An orange sheet of flame leapt out of the ground in front of the advancing Germans.

Crash! And another.

The unmistakable whine of the base plug of a Mills grenade flashed close to Kelly’s face.

“COMMANDO! ... COMMANDO!” A throaty roar from a dozen marines announced the arrival of the main group. Kelly saw Gareth Owen flash by, followed by a dozen khaki figures, firing on the run. Bren guns scattered spent cartridges in every direction. As the smoke cleared, the flashes from the guns provided enough illumination to show Owen’s boys in hot pursuit of the Germans, now fleeing in disarray.

A second group passed Kelly. Led by Sergeant Arnold, they moved towards the crèche presumably to check it was no longer a risk. Kelly and his two remaining marines moved to the fallen bodies of their comrades. The two Charlie team marines were dead, riddled with machine gun rounds. Kelly turned with a heavy heart towards Corporal Allen’s fallen body. Smith was already bent over him. There was a strangled cry from Smith, “Sir! Over here! He’s not dead!”

Kelly ran across and knelt down beside Allen. He was breathing and trying to speak; “Me back, sir! Bastards hit me in the back.” His breathing was bad, but the fact that he wasn’t already dead meant that the round had missed his heart. Kelly ran over to the German he had killed, pulled him onto his back and searched his body. He found the dressing he was looking for strapped onto the soldiers webbing.

Running back to Allen he dressed the wound as best he could and made the marine as comfortable as he was able. Heads were beginning to appear cautiously out of windows and around doors.

“You!” shouted Kelly to the middle-aged lady peering from the cabin they had sheltered behind. “British!” He pointed to himself and then at Allen “British! You must help!” The head began to disappear behind the closing door, but Kelly was too quick. He thrust the door open and motioned to Smith and Adams, the remaining member of Charlie team, to bring Allen inside.

They laid Corporal Allen on a couch in the living room, and Kelly kicked open the door of a bedroom. Lying in the bed was a man of similar age to the woman and clearly in a state of shock, shaking violently and whining in a low voice. Without a word Kelly pulled the duvet from the bed, took it into the living room and covered the unconscious Corporal.

He pointed his Sten at the frightened woman and said, “If he dies, you die.” The woman was nodding vigorously, but he had no idea if she understood; he could only hope.

“Come on!” he said to the other two. “Let’s join the party.” As he made his way towards the crèche, he looked over his shoulder at the Thorstaadt’s cabin. Not a light was showing. Kelly was curious, but even more than that, he was worried.

Assault

“Sergeant Arnold!” exclaimed Kelly, genuinely pleased to see the young sergeant emerging from the ruins of the still smouldering crèche.

“Hello Sir! Nice job!” Arnold said, flicking his thumb at the crèche behind him and smiling broadly, the white teeth shining out from the blackened face. “This is clear now, apart from the dead, about five in total.” He grimaced. “Pretty messy.”

“Where will Captain Owen be?” asked Kelly.

“Once this lot settles down,” Arnold indicated the sporadic small arms fire coming from several areas in the village, “he intends to make a temporary HQ in the village hall, up by the quay.”

“Right!