A Call to Courage by Holly Green

Author:Holly Green
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hera Books
Published: 2023-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Next morning, over a late breakfast, he brought her up to date with the political situation.

‘Paul is in a terrible state. You know he has always been prone to wild swings of mood but now he seems to be in the grip of complete despair. I can understand why. The pro-Axis lobby don’t give him a minute’s peace.’ He put down his coffee cup and leaned towards her. ‘If only the British government could give us some evidence of their support. We desperately need basic supplies for the army. Simple things like tyres, and aviation fuel. I know Ronald Campbell, the Minister, has repeatedly put in requests, but nothing has been forthcoming.’

Leo sighed. ‘I can see why that makes Paul feel abandoned, but the situation in Britain is so dire at the moment I’m not surprised.’

‘The British have even threatened a boycott of trade, in case some of the supplies are siphoned off by the Germans.’

‘What a mess! I’ve been told that the government is very keen to bring Yugoslavia into the war on our side, but it sounds as if the various ministries can’t agree among themselves about how to do it.’

‘You say you’ve been told.’

‘I was briefed before I left England.’

‘By whom? By this Brigadier you mentioned?’

‘Brigadier Gubbins, yes.’

‘How did you come to meet him?’

‘Ah, now that’s an interesting story.’ She told him about the Brigadier’s visit to Bramhall and the plans to create a secret hideout in the cellars.

‘My God!’ he said when she had finished. ‘So it’s that bad? They really think the country could be overrun?’

‘He told me that they think Hitler is only waiting for the Luftwaffe to put the RAF out of action before he mounts an invasion.’

‘And is that likely?’

‘I don’t know. Only that there is a terrific battle going on in the skies between the German fighters and ours.’ A sudden thought struck her. ‘Oh, Sasha. Can you pick up the BBC still? I’d really like to find out how things are going.’

‘We can try,’ he said, ‘but reception is terrible. There are only three possible wavelengths, and the Nazis are jamming two of them.’

After several frustrating attempts, Sasha succeeded in tuning in to the BBC in time to catch a news bulletin. Listening through the hiss of static they heard that the German Air Force had mounted another bomb attack on airfields in the south of England, but every time the runways were put out of action they were repaired overnight. Meanwhile, the British pilots continued to fight off the enemy planes, inflicting many losses. The broadcast ended by quoting Winston Churchill’s speech in Parliament: ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’

Sasha switched off the set and Leo found herself wiping tears from her cheeks. He put his arm round her.

‘I didn’t realise it was so desperate. It makes our problems here seem rather insignificant.’

‘No, that’s not true,’ she said, ‘but we must do everything we can to make sure Yugoslavia doesn’t have to face the same terrible threat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.