- Text Size +

Chapter 16

After being cooped up together behind the rocks for what seemed like hours, Captain Kevin Richardson’s men finally gave the all clear signal. They’d taken out a substantial number of lookout nests, which were situated all along the top of the cliffs and therefore the perfect location for gunning down unsuspecting soldiers just off the boat. With them gone, they had more of a fighting chance of getting off the beach.

“Right then men, let’s get out of here” Kevin said looking across the beach at the sea of blood and guts, at the hundreds - or maybe thousands - of men who had perished before they’d even stepped foot on solid French ground. Those soldiers hadn’t stood a chance against the barrage of bullets which had been fired at them.

“Well, I for one am glad we sat that out” Alex said as he looked on with horror. He felt sure that the sight before him would be etched on his brain forever.

“Me too” said Nick shaking his head. How did it come to this? When did human life become to mean so little that it could be just snuffed out in the blink of an eye?

“Well, don’t get too optimistic just yet, we still have a long way to go” Kevin warned them. “Just because the lookout nests have been secured doesn’t mean there aren’t other pockets of Germans to contend with. Grab whatever guns and ammunition you can and let’s move out”

“And where are we supposed to go? We’ve been told nothing; it’s an absolute shambles” said Howie. He hoped Kevin had a much needed answer.

“I know it is, and I’ll keep you informed as much as I can. We weren’t expecting this, nothing could’ve prepared us for this” Kevin replied. He wondered what had happened to the armoured tanks which were supposed to land on the beach with them? There had been no sign of them; not even one out of the twenty nine Sherman tanks could be seen.

Getting off that beach was going to be much harder than they ever imagined though. The cliff top nests may have been blown up, but there were a whole load of other obstacles to navigate. One such obstacle being land mines. As if being gunned down from above wasn’t bad enough, now the men had to tread carefully too.

“Keep your eyes to the ground” Kevin warned having learned the hard way just how barbaric mine fields could be. Just when the men thought they were actually gaining some ground and might possibly get off the godforsaken beach, one of them happened to step on something which triggered an explosion large enough to blow him apart…literally. His head landed upturned at Kevin’s feet, making the Captain feel quite nauseous. He’d seen a lot of truly awful sights in a few short hours, but this was the worst by far.

“How do we know what to look for?” Nick asked. They’d had some training, but treading through mine fields wasn’t something a chef was supposed to worry about. What happened to looking after the catering staff? He guessed that didn’t apply now. Who needed catering anyway? They may never eat again!

“We don’t know what to look for, they’re probably covered” Kevin replied bitterly. As far as he was concerned, planting those kinds of bombs was cowardly and unnecessarily cruel. “But they are usually khaki coloured and round. If you happen to step on one, you’ll hear a click which triggers the mechanism inside. But it’s when you step off it that the bomb explodes”

“Fuck…we’re doomed” Alex muttered. How were they supposed to get through hidden bombs? He wished he’d listened to his gut instinct which had told him to run and hide before getting on the boat. He could’ve been nice and safe somewhere in England with Juliet. He wouldn’t have even cared if the military police had found him and locked him up for desertion; at least he’d be away from this hell hole.

“My thoughts exactly” Brian replied. In another life, he wouldn’t dream of using language like that, he was a mild mannered, church going family man. Times like these meant that the usual etiquette didn’t apply. He hoped God would forgive him for the things he was going to say and do. “Fucking Germans!”

“So how are we gonna do this?” Howie asked, keen to get the hell out of there rather than standing around talking about it. Not that he had anything against planning a route out; he just wanted to move before anything else bad happened. Just because a few lookouts had been destroyed didn’t mean they were free of German soldiers, they could be hidden in trenches, waiting for them to get close enough to gun them down. He shuddered at the thought.

“Follow me…and I mean in my exact footsteps” Kevin advised. Using his rifle to poke the ground in front of him, he cautiously moved forward inch by terrifying inch. He may be in command and therefore putting a brave front on for the sake of his men, but inside he was shaking with fear.

They were making good - if somewhat slow - progress. Kevin had nudged a couple of objects with his rifle which could’ve been landmines, and then ever so carefully they had avoided them. He kept repeating to his men the importance of following him exactly, and to their credit, they listened. But then one man made a wrong move. The click of the landmine echoed in everyone’s ears and the man - only aged eighteen at the most - let out a terrified gasp.

“Captain, what do I do?” he asked as he stood statue still.

“Just stay where you are Bellamy” Kevin warned whilst backing away slowly. He had to get the others away from him, because when that thing went off, it might take someone else along with it too. “Move back everyone, let’s get some room here”

“You’re not gonna leave me here?” he asked in panic, his foot shuffling a little on the deadly device underneath him.

“Bellamy, stay still!” Kevin warned again. “Let me think how we’re going to do this”

Kevin figured that if they could somehow slip something weighty into Bellamy’s place, that the boy would be saved. But what? They all carried a back pack, but even the heaviest one wasn’t as heavy as a person. Kevin wondered if it mattered.

“Captain…” Bellamy whined “I can’t stand still for much longer”

“You have to” Alex called out. He’d seen enough bloodshed already and it sickened him. He didn’t want to add seeing a man blown apart to the list of horrors he’d already seen today.

“Bellamy, listen to me, I’m going to get you out of there” Kevin told him. He didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he had every intention of trying.

Kevin took his back pack off his back and held it out, testing its weight. It was heavy but needed more weight to it, although he didn’t know what else he could add.

“Here” Nick handed over his water bottle.

“You can have mine too” Brian volunteered.

“Thanks” Kevin replied and stuffed them into his bag. It weighed a little more, but still not enough. It would have to be though. “Bellamy, I’m going to push this bag towards you. As it touches your foot, I want you to carefully move backwards off the landmine. No sudden movements”

“Yes sir” Bellamy replied as sweat dripped off him.

Kevin began pushing the bag over with his rifle. He was still much to close for his liking, but hoped he was far enough away to avoid injury should his plan go wrong.

But Bellamy got a bit too carried away. He moved his foot before the bag reached the mine and it was the last move he ever made.

Kevin saw it all as if it was being played in slow motion and moved backwards. The bomb went off, taking Bellamy’s life with it.

Chapter End Notes:

Thanks for reading :)