Operation Heartbreak by Duff Cooper

Author:Duff Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McNally Editions
Published: 2024-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XI

Being on the reserve of officers, Willie did a short period of training with his regiment every year, and it so happened that he was actually with the regiment and under canvas in the month of September when the war broke out. Once again he experienced the same thrill of exultation that he had known just twenty-one years before when he was warned that he was to go with the next draft to France. He felt no older than he had done then, and on his knees he thanked heaven that his chance had not come too late. In the camp during those first days everything was in a state of feverish activity, for it was known that the regiment would be among the first to go.

Then came the shattering blow. One morning the Colonel sent for him. ‘I’ve bad news, I fear, for you, Willie, but it’s bad news for me, too. We’re both in the same boat, or rather we’re both out of it; neither of us is to go with the first contingent. Hamilton is taking the regiment abroad, and you and I have got to stay behind, look after what’s left of it, and train on the young officers.’

Willie’s mouth went dry, he was unable to speak, and for one terrible moment he feared he was going to cry.

‘Don’t take it too hard,’ the Colonel went on. ‘It’s worse for me than for you. In my case, if they don’t let me go now it’s a hundred to one they won’t let me go at all. It means I’m on the shelf, finished for life.’

Willie longed to say that the Colonel had fought in the last war, as the row of ribbons on his chest bore witness, that he was over fifty, a married man with children, and that he had much to console him for staying at home. He wanted to fall on his knees and beg to be allowed to go, but he knew that the decision did not rest with the Colonel, so that he could only stand there, still unable to speak.

‘Don’t take it too hard, Willie,’ the Colonel repeated, seeing that he was taking it very hard indeed. ‘I remember so well at the beginning of the last war, when some fool in high places had said, or was reported to have said, that it would all be over by Christmas, and lots of us were in despair because we thought we should never get out in time. But we all went in the long run, and it will be just the same again—heavy casualties in the first scrap, more officers wanted, none of the new boys ready to go. They’ll be grateful enough for the old ’uns then, and there won’t be too many of them. Meanwhile there will be plenty of work for us to do at home, and very important work too, and there’s a job or two I want you to get on with immediately.’

Willie was

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