27th of May 1940. In the ditch at Le Paradis it had been dark for at least two hours when the rain came. It wasnt a heavy shower or a storm, just a persistent drizzle that started to wash the dead mens faces. Private Bert Pooley wasnt dead. When the machine guns had opened fire he had fallen into the ditch and tried to play dead. Unfortunately for Private Pooley one of his comrades (who lay on top of him) twitched as the SS men returned with their pistols and bayonets. A German trooper pulled out his pistol and shot the twitching man. The bullet passed through both of Pooley’s legs. As the darkness fell Pooley could hear the sound of snoring coming from further along the ditch. Using what reserves of strength he had left, the private dragged himself over the cold lifeless bodies of his friends until he found the source of the noise. The rain started to fall more heavily as Pooley shook the sleeping man. Private Bill OCallaghan woke with a start. He was buried beneath two of his friends but now a third man was shaking him awake. Unlike Pooley, O’Callaghan was relatively unharmed. The bodies of his two friends had protected him from the bullets; then he had done such a good job of playing dead that he had fallen sound asleep. Carefully, OCallaghan extricated himself from beneath the bodies of his fallen comrades. Then he faced the difficult task of carrying the wounded Private Pooley out of the ditch and over to the cover of a nearby meadow. By this time Pooley was frozen to the bone, the combination of exposure to the cold night and his loss of blood was beginning to take its toll. O’Callaghan had noticed some blankets near one of the out buildings. He ventured back into the darkness. No sooner had Private OCallaghan retrieved a couple of the blankets than he heard the sound that he would haunt him to the end of his days. Get me out of the rain, moaned a soft voice from the ditch, please, wont someone help me, get me out of the rain, its so cold. Private OCallaghan didnt know what to do; he wanted to help the man but what if the Germans were still around? This question was answered within a minute, the longest minute of his life. A shadowy figure appeared from within a nearby barn, approached the ditch, aimed a rifle at the sound and shot. The voice went silent. OCallaghan stole away to where he had left Private Pooley.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 00:34:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015