The Golden Horseshoe: The Wartime Career of Otto Kretschmer, U-Boat Ace by Robertson Terence

Author:Robertson, Terence [Robertson, Terence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783469680
Publisher: Frontline
Published: 2011-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

That night Kretschmer sat at the corner table in the Club Chez Elle, which hummed with gaiety. He drank his wine thirstily and swayed to the rhythm of a nostalgic chanson. He returned to his hotel in the early hours of the morning purged of tension by the champagne and the soft voice of a lovely singer.

At Quiberon, Kassel, Bergman, Thorens and Clasen stood near the sports-ground when a sergeant of a cavalry unit stationed nearby approached them.

“Do you chaps know anyone that wants to ride a horse? ”

“Why?” Clasen looked sourly at the Army uniform.

“Well, we have twenty-five horses here and only six of us to exercise them. We thought some of you would like a ride and at the same time help us out.”

Kassel looked at Bergman. “Can you ride? ”

“Certainly I can,” Bergman replied blandly, refusing to admit he had never been nearer to a horse than a bookmaker.

“So can I,” Kassel said. “Let’s take them up on this offer. In fact,” he said—somewhat rashly, “we’ll have a race. Navy versus Army.”

Bergman thought his friend crazy to challenge cavalrymen, so to even it up a bit, he chimed in.

“Yes, and just for the hell of it, we’ll make it bareback.”

The sergeant guffawed.

“You submarine jockeys don’t know what you are saying. We will take you on, and it’s a night out on the losers.”

They shook hands and the sergeant walked away. Kassel turned on Bergman.

“You damn fool, you’ve never ridden a horse in your life.”

Bergman looked indignant. “You wait and see. Come to that, I’m not so sure that you have either.”

The following morning all the submarine crews resting at the Quiberon camp turned out to line the one-mile route for the race. The Army arrived with four horses, two for each team, and a Petty Officer brought a revolver and acted as starter. Bergman, who had prepared for the ordeal by consuming a considerable quantity of cognac, swayed alarmingly by his horse and eventually had to be hoisted on its back, where he steadied himself by firmly gripping the ropes acting as reins. Kassel sat more steadily, but nonetheless apprehensively, beside him, while the two Army riders made their horses prance expertly.

Suddenly the revolver cracked, too close apparently to the naval horses, for Bergman’s steed bolted with its now thoroughly sober and alarmed rider hanging on by hugging the horse’s neck with one hand and grabbing the mane in a tight grip with the other. Luckily, it galloped in the right direction, and scampered across the finishing line lengths ahead of Kassel’s horse, which had been so thoroughly frightened by its companion’s behaviour that it had bolted in pursuit. The cavalrymen, keeping their mounts under superb control, could not compete with the naval novelty-riders, who could dismount only when the horse stopped through sheer weariness. That night they wined and dined, with the cavalry footing the hill.

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.