Колин Форбс - Tramp in Armour

‘Camped?’

‘No, that is the wrong word. Apparently it has halted for a short time. When they move again they must come this way – past here.’

‘What makes him say it has only halted for a short time?’

Jacques stepped forward, his manner so different from the night before that he seemed a different person. He spoke urgently.

‘May I explain? It is part of a Panzer division – the usual big tanks and guns. It has to come this way and may move at any time. They are using this route as their highway to the west – but can you keep ahead of them?’

‘We’ll have to. We’d better start at once. Mandel, can I buy some food off you or are you short yourselves?’

‘Etienne.’ Mandel turned and took a parcel from his nephew and handed it to Barnes. ‘Take this – my wife packed it before we went to bed last night. No, any suggestion of payment will be taken as an insult. Now you must go!’

Thanking him, Barnes tucked the parcel under his arm and ran back to the tank. The three Mandels followed him and waited while he climbed into the turret, put on his headset and gave Reynolds the order to start the engines. While he waited he looked down and saw grey stubble on Mandel’s chin. Looking back in the growing light he could see no sign of traffic on the road from Beaucaire. The engines coughed, sputtered, and died. Barnes said nothing and waited. Reynolds tried again. The engines repeated their surly reaction. Mandel put his hands on his hips and waited. They all waited while Reynolds fought,desperately to start the motors. Five minutes later the dawn light was spreading gradually over the fields and now there was a glint of gold in the east. Soon it would be broad daylight. Reynolds tried again and again but not once did the engines give any sign of activating. Patiently, Mandel stood waiting without showing any traces of alarm but the two lads were now staring fixedly along the road to the east.

‘No good?’ Barnes called down from the turret to Reynolds.

The driver’s head inside the hatch turned to look up. ‘I think it’s the starter system.’

‘Do your best – that Panzer column may be here soon.’

‘I’ll still have to look at the starter wiring.’

‘How long do you think it will take?’

Immediately he regretted the question. How on earth could Reynolds be expected to predict that? It was the only sign of anxiety Barnes had allowed himself to show.

‘Could be two minutes, could be two hours. I noticed it was coughing nastily when we came down that track.’

‘Have another go before you start checking.’ Barnes leaned over the turret to" speak to Jacques. ‘What exactly made you think the column would be on the move soon?’

‘The men in the tanks hadn’t left them – they were eating a meal and they had stayed in the towers to eat.’

Barnes looked down at Mandel. ‘That sounds as though it’s just a short stop and then they’ll be coming this way.’

‘I think so, too.’

‘We’ll have a few more shots at starting.’

Reynolds was persisting non-stop now and while he struggled to coax life out of Bert it became daylight. Again no one spoke. Barnes stared backwards at the distant hill crest which was now clearly to be seen, the crest over which the Panzers would appear. Jacques and Etienne stood stock still, hands in their pockets to keep warm. Only Mandel was moving during the agonizing wait when nerves were stretched and a fresh chill, the chill of fear, seeped into the waiting men. Walking round the haystack, Mandel disappeared from view and then reappeared at the other side in front of the tank. His face was thoughtful, his thick brow scowling, and he looked at the tank closely and then spoke quickly to Etienne. The lad ran away across the field to an outhouse just behind the farm.

‘Sergeant, it’s no good,’ said Reynolds firmly. ‘I’ve got to have a look at the engines. It may take quite a while.’

‘Just do the best you can as quickly as possible.’

He had just finished speaking when he heard the purr of a motor. Turning round, he saw Etienne emerging from the building as he drove a large orange-coloured machine towards them. In front of the machine a huge power-grab shovel was hoisted at an angle, wobbling as it moved closer. Mandel came forward and stood directly under the turret.

‘The tank will not move. Is that not so?’

‘Not yet, anyway.’

‘And the German tank column will soon be on the move and will pass here?’

‘That seems pretty evident,’ Barnes replied irritably. ‘So the only solution is to hide the tank. Is that not so?’ ‘You can’t shift it with that power-grab machine. This tank weights twenty-six and a half tons and you won’t budge it an inch with that thing. You’re pretty well-equipped out here, aren’t you?’ he added.

‘I borrow it from a wealthy neighbour to clear my ditches. Now, I agree that this machine won’t move your tank, Sergeant Barnes. So we must proceed logically – we must leave the tank where it is" and yet still hide it. That is the only possible solution.’ ‘I don’t follow you.’

‘We shall have to turn it into something else – a haystack.’ ‘How the devil are you going to manage that?’ ‘This haystack is constructed of square bales of hay which have been placed on top of each other – this method makes it easier for us to take away only a small portion of the stack when we require it. The bales were lifted up by the power-grab, as you call it. All we have to do is to take the haystack to pieces and then rebuild it round the tank which will, of course, sit in the hollow inside it. But we must start at once – all of us helping.’

‘Even if it would work there may not be time.’

‘It will be much quicker than you think. Etienne!’ He poured forth a stream of French as Barnes told Reynolds to help Penn out of the tank. Between them they got him sat down on the grass and by now Etienne was working the grab to Mandel’s instructions. To start with he tackled the corner of the stack nearest the road, driving the machine forward, inserting the huge metal hand and emerging with a bale of hay which he dumped on the ground. Immediately he began repeating the process as Mandel developed his idea.

‘We leave the wall of hay next to the tank because we can use that where it is. To surround the tank will take a lot of hay but there will be plenty left over by the hollow inside. We shall use that hay to build the roof over the tank.’

While he was talking Etienne was moving more bales, dropping them at random as he attacked the haystack ferociously along the side nearest the road. Barnes looked again towards the east. In the light of day the deserted highway bore a sinister aspect and he could just picture the scene. One moment it would be still like this, a peaceful scene devoid of traffic: then the first tank would crawl over the crest and head towards them, followed by a whole armada of Panzers. And if they found the tank here all the Mandels might well be shot. He made up bis mind.

‘We’ll try it. Penn, your job is to watch that hill crest. At the first sign of movement bellow like the bull of Bashan. Reynolds, stop tinkering with that engine, there’s work to do.’

Between them, Barnes and Mandel organized a work system: while Etienne dismantled the stack on one side, Reynolds and Jacques began lifting bales of hay and moving them to form a wall parallel to the rear of the tank. At the same time Barnes and Mandel formed a second team, carrying their own bales to build a wall across the front of the tank. Even here, Mandel was showing foresight.

‘If the Panzers arrive too soon,’ he explained, ‘we may at least have two walls up. If we were very lucky they might not see the open back.’