Dunkirk by James Holland

Author:James Holland [Holland, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141961125
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2010-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

17

SURROUNDED

For a further hour, A Company was pinned down by enemy mortar and machine-gun fire, but the men of 6th Platoon, by hunkering low in their slit trenches, managed to survive unscathed, the missiles falling all around them but not directly on top of them. Then, at around four o’clock, a mortar shell landed within a few yards of Drummond and Foxton’s slit trench, and when the dust and earth and grit had settled, Foxton was crying out in agony with a piece of shrapnel stuck in his shoulder.

‘Get me out of here!’ he cried. ‘Please! Arghhh!’

Hawke could see him writhing in agony, with Drummond trying to calm him. ‘What should we do, Bert?’ he asked Hebden.

‘Hey, Charlie,’ Hebden called out, ‘How bad is it?’

‘I can’t see,’ Drummond replied. ‘The stupid beggar’s moving too much. But he needs help all right.’

‘We’d better get over there and help,’ said Hawke. ‘I’ve got some dressings.’ Without waiting for Hebden to reply, he hoisted himself up and scampered the twenty yards to Foxton and Drummond and slid in beside them.

‘Where’s he hit, Charlie?’ Hawke asked Drummond.

‘In the shoulder. Help me hold him down, will you? We need to get his clobber off him.’

Hawke gripped Foxton’s shoulder as Drummond carefully pulled off his webbing. The wounded man cried out again, arching his back with pain.

‘Keep still, Foxy, damn you!’ exclaimed Drummond. ‘We’ve got to get this stuff off you.’

‘Arghh!’ screamed Foxton.

With the lieutenant at the far right of the platoon’s position, Hebden was calling out to Spears, and by the time Drummond had carefully pulled back Foxton’s battle blouse, eased off the white braces, now stained deep red, and torn the shirt clear, Spears was crouching above them. Foxton was still grimacing in agony, his brow feverish with sweat. A large piece of jagged metal stuck out of his shoulder.

‘Nasty,’ said Spears.

‘Isn’t it a bit risky squatting there, Sarge?’ said Drummond.

Spears glanced around him. ‘I’m pretty sure the Jerry MG crews have moved on,’ he replied.

‘There’s still incoming mortar, though,’ said Drummond. ‘Look what it did to Foxy.’

Spears sighed, then pulled out his hip flask and put it to Foxton’s lips. Some went in his mouth, the rest running down his chin. ‘Foxy,’ said Spears, ‘I can’t pull that out because I don’t know how deep it is inside you. So what we’re going to do is try to get you to the MO straight away.’ Foxton groaned. Spears looked at Drummond and Hawke, and took a deep breath. ‘All right, we’re just going to have to take a chance. We’ll pull him out, then carry him on to the ramparts and through the garden and house and then one of us can get the MO.’ He glanced at Hawke. ‘You stay here. Drummond and I can manage.’

‘Can we?’ said Drummond. ‘It would be a lot easier with Johnny, Sarge.’ Another mortar whistled down towards them and Spears flattened himself on the ground. The missile landed near the wrecked tank, which absorbed much of the blast.

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