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."Man wounded," said Charlie in a loud whisper as he looked up towards the trenches."Prescott, don't move while the moon's out," ordered Trentham from behind them."How you feelin', mate?" asked Charlie as he tried to fathom the expression on his friend's face."Felt better, to be 'ones'," said Tommy."Quiet, you two," said Trentham."By the way, that was no German bullet," choked Tommy as a trickle of blood began to run out of his mouth."So just make sure you get the bastard if I'm not given the chance to do the job myself.""You'll be all right," said Charlie."Nothin' and nobody could kill Tommy Prescott."As a large black cloud covered the moon, a group of men including two Red Cross orderlies who were carrying a stretcher jumped over the top and ran towards them.They dropped the stretcher by Tommy's side and dragged him onto the canvas before jogging back towards the trench.Another volley of bullets came flying across from the German lines.Once they had reached the safety of the dugout, the orderlies dumped the stretcher unceremoniously on the ground.Charlie shouted at them, "Get 'im to the 'ospital tent quickly for God's sake, quickly.""Not much point, Corp," said the medical orderly."'E's dead."CHAPTER 5�HQ is still waiting for your report, Trumper.""I know, Sarge, I know.""Any problems, lad?" asked the color sergeant, which Charlie recognized as a coded message for "Can you write?""No problems, Sarge."For the next hour he wrote out his thoughts slowly, then rewrote the simple account of what had taken place on 18 July 1918 during the second battle of the Marne.Charlie read and reread his banal offering, aware that although he extolled Tommy's courage during the battle he made no mention of Trentham fleeing from the enemy.The plain truth was that he hadn't witnessed what was going on behind him.He might well have formed his own opinion but he knew that would not bear cross-examination at some later date.And as for Tommy's death, what proof had he that one stray bullet among so many had come from the pistol of Captain Trentham? Even if Tommy had been right on both counts and Charlie voiced those opinions, it would only be his word against that of an officer and a gentleman.The only thing he could do was make sure that Trentham received no praise from his pen for what had taken place on the battlefield that day.Feeling like a traitor, Charlie scribbled his signature on the bottom of the second page before handing in his report to the orderly officer.Later that afternoon the duty sergeant allowed him an hour off to dig the grave in which they would bury Private Prescott.As he knelt by its head he cursed the men on either side who could have been responsible for such a war.Charlie listened to the chaplain intone the words "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," before the last post was played yet again.Then the burial party took a pace to the right and began digging the grave of another known soldier.A hundred thousand men sacrificed their lives on the Marne.Charlie could no longer accept that any victory was worth such a price.He sat cross-legged at the foot of the grave, unaware of the passing of time as he hewed out a cross with his bayonet.Finally he stood and placed it at the head of the mound.On the center of the cross he had carved the words, "Private Tommy Prescott."A neutral moon resumed that night to shine on a thousand freshly dug graves' and Charlie swore to whatever God cared to listen that he would not forget his father or Tommy or, for that matter, Captain Trentham.He fell asleep among his comrades.Reveille stirred him at first light, and after one last look at Tommy's grave he resumed to his platoon, to be informed that the Colonel of the Regiment would be addressing the troops at zero nine hundred hours.An hour later he was standing to attention in a depleted square of those who had survived the battle.Colonel Hamilton told his men that the Prime Minister had described the second battle of the Marne as the greatest victory in the history of the war.Charlie found himself unable to raise a voice to join his cheering comrades."It was a proud and honorable day to be a Royal Fusilier," continued the colonel, his monocle still firmly in place.The regiment had won a VC, six MCs and nine MMs in the battle.Charlie felt indifferent as each of the decorated men was announced and his citation read out until he heard the name of Lieutenant Arthur Harvey who, the colonel told them, had led a charge of Number 11 Platoon all the way up to the German trenches, thus allowing those behind him to carry on and break through the enemy's defenses.For this he was posthumously awarded the Military Cross.A moment later Charlie heard the colonel utter the name of Captain Guy Trentham.This gallant officer, the colonel assured the regiment, careless of his own safely, continued the attack after Lieutenant Harvey had fallen, killing several German soldiers before reaching their dugouts, where he wiped out a complete enemy unit single-handed.Having crossed the enemy's lines, he proceeded to chase two Germans into a nearby forest.He succeeded in killing both enemy soldiers before rescuing two Fusiliers from German hands.He then led them back to the safely of the Allied trenches.For this supreme act of courage Captain Trentham was also awarded the Military Cross.Trentham stepped forward and the troops cheered as the colonel removed a silver cross from a leather case before pinning the medal on his chest.One sergeant major, three sergeants, two corporals and four privates then had their citations read out, each one named and his acts of heroism recalled in turn.But only one of them stepped forward to receive his medal."Among those unable to be with us today," continued the colonel, "is a yourrg man who followed Lieutenant Harvey into the enemy trenches and then killed four, perhaps five German soldiers before later stalking and shooting another, finally killing a German officer before being tragically killed himself by a stray bullet when only yards from the safety of his own trenches." Once again the assembled gathering cheered [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]