Chapter 16. Thrown away
Trying to return to his regiment by train, Winston found the
last station was 20 miles short of the front. He caught a lift with
a munitions truck, then walked the last 8 miles.
Beside a row of split and shattered oak trees he stopped at a
makeshift military cemetery where he saw a horse drawn
cart full of bodies. Open pits already held rows of the dead that
were covered with lime.
The ground where Winston stood was littered with acorns.
He picked up a handful. "What a waste."
*
When Winston reached the regiment outpost, he was surprised
to find Harry Patch had volunteered to be a stretcher bearer.
"What made you do that Harry?"
"Look around Winston, how many familiar faces do you see."
Winston didn''t recognise anyone. "What happened?"
"We spent days going forward with heavy losses, and gained about
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
500 yards, and dug in. We held the line for almost a week until there
was an almighty German counter attack. After a day and night of
fighting, the regiment retreated to the very same position
we started from - here."
Winston felt sick. "Where are all the lads then?" .
"What''s left of them is rotting out in the field." Harry said.
"Unpack your kit if you want to Winston, but don''t get too
comfortable. We''re coming off the line tomorrow and moving
up to Arras."
"For another push?" Winston asked.
"They''re not saying, but I got a bad feeling about it already."
*
The soldiers moved through the village of Arras under heavy
fire and crossed the river at a bridge the retreating Germans
had tried to blow up. The stretcher bearer squads followed in
the second wave of troop movement.
Winston and Harry took cover behind a broken wall on the
riverbank and waited for their turn to cross.
"My Father would of wept if he''d seen what the Germans have
done to these orchards. Why chop down a hundred year old apple
tree if you don''t have to? It doesn''t make any sense."
Artillery shells whipped through sky overhead, and in return
German shells burst around them sending showers of steel
shrapnel in all directions.
The bridge was a tangled mass of ironwork that had fallen
into the river. Planks had been rigged to what was left of the
beams making the river crossing possible, but it was slow and
dangerously exposed.
"We''re up." Harry said.
The planked walkway sloped down to the river before it climbed
to the other side. As they crossed Winston saw bodies floating in
the water, held against what was left of the bridge by the current.
Harry stopped and stared.
"What are you doing Harry? Keep going."
There was a rolling boom of shell bursts behind them, one directly
over where they''d taken cover. Winston heard the shouts of
wounded men. "We''ve got to keep going Harry."
Harry nodded vacantly.
When they reached the other side Winston saw that Harry
was pale and shaking. "Are you alright?"
"Did you see the bodies of the children in the water?"
Winston wished he hadn''t.
"This could be a stream back home in the Midlands, and those
children could of been from a local farming family."
"That''s why we''re here." Winston said.
Harry hung his head, "It''s part of me now."
"What is Harry?"
"Hatred Winston, I can feel it boiling inside me like a fever.
I''ve never hated anyone or anything in my life, but when I saw
those children, the only thing I wanted to do was kill every
single German on the face of the earth."
"We''re in the middle of a War." Winston said.
Harry took an officer''s pistol out of his tunic pocket.
"Where did you get that from?"
"I can feel it poisoning every part of me "
Harry put the the barrel of the gun in his mouth.
"Don''t." yelled Winston.
*