Колин Форбс - Tramp in Armour

‘Let’s hope we don’t have to be that lucky.’

Half an hour later it all seemed to be taking too long to Barnes. The Germans would arrive and catch them in the middle of it. He urged everyone to move faster. It was still chilly but they were all working feverishly, their jackets lying on the ground as they heaved the huge bales up, balancing the load between them, staggering across to the walls to lay their new ‘bricks’, and then going straight back for another load. The two side walls were still only half-built when Marianne appeared with a tray of coffee. Laying it on the ground she watched them working for a minute and then went indoors without a word. Mandel grinned across a bale at Barnes.

‘You have misunderstood her – she knows that when men are working women must keep out of the way. She is the same when she brings us wine in the fields.’

‘She must be worried, though.’

‘We are all worried. So let us finish building our new haystack and then we can stop worrying.’

He’s wrong there, Barnes thought. If we do get the job done in time the big worry will then start – will the Germans find the tank? He glanced towards where Penn stood leaning against a fence as he stared towards the ominous hill crest. They’re going to catch us in the middle of this, Barnes felt sure of it.

‘Mandel, whether we get the tank hidden or not in time I think you should clear out until the Germans have gone – take your family into the fields.’

‘We could hide, certainly – and if they come too early we shall. But if we have finished, then we must stay. It would look strange if the place was deserted at this hour of the day.’

‘No, it won’t. People are fleeing all over France.’

‘Yes, my friend, but they take things with them. Anyone who goes inside our house will see that we have taken nothing and will know we are hiding. They might well burn down the house. And do not forget Jacques’ car – that will show someone is about.’

‘Hide that in the outhouse where we hid Bert.’

They had laid the fresh bale on top of the wall in front of the tank, a wall which was now about the same height as the rear wall, Reynolds and Jacques were building, and so far both walls only concealed half the hull. It was all taking far too long.

‘Your idea about the car is good,’ said Mandel. ‘If they ask to see Jacques’ papers they will see that he comes from Lemont and may wonder why he is here – so take him with you when you hide and I will get him to move the car at once.’

An hour later they were making tremendous progress, encouraged by the sight of the tank sinking lower and lower behind the walls of hay. The work had been considerably speeded up by Ederme who had now completed dismantling three quarters of the haystack and was using his power-grab to transport the loose bales right up to the walls, so that all the others had to do was to manoeuvre the ‘bricks’ into position. Soon the end walls were finished and within another half-hour the rear wall was over five feet high: even at the back only the turret still protruded, looking rather like the conning tower of an invisible submarine submerged in a sea of hay. They were all working in a frenzy now, standing on the rear wall, on the hull of the tank as they wrestled the, bales into position, never stopping for a moment. The unspoken thought that they might just fail for the sake of a few bales gave added impetus to their efforts and now Mandel and Reynolds worked stripped to the waist, their bodies running with sweat in the warm sunshine. It was going to be another lovely day – for the Germans.

There had been no traffic along the main road since they had started, not even a farm cart, and this puzzled Barnes until he mentioned it to Mandel who laughed grimly.

‘No one comes this way at the moment because they know that the Panzers use the highway, so what happens? My neighbours go miles out of their way along side roads when they could use this road easily, but they will not risk the Panzers.’

‘What happens when the Panzers meet something?’

‘If they meet a vehicle or catch it up they tip it into the ditch. Nothing must stop the progress of the Panzers. That is why people are keeping away from here. You see, Sergeant Barnes, soon we shall be finished.’

With the four walls completed they turned to the final task – the roofing-in of the new structure. Putting the icing on the cake, as Mandel called it. From this stage Barnes and Reynolds stood on top of the walls while Etienne handed up bales with the power-grab. It proved to be a more difficult stage than they had anticipated, because first they had to fill in the area round the turret, dropping bales down on to the hull and tracks and fitting these in round the gun. The gun was a nuisance because they had to wedge in bales round the long barrel and it slowed them down, but they persisted and then suddenly they had done the job. The drawback was that they ended up with an irregular roof which looked strange; once again Mandel came up with the solution, telling Etienne to use the power-grab in a certain way. Standing back on the road Barnes watched as the machine moved forward, the grab hoisted to its highest elevation. When it stopped Etienne brought the shovel down full force again and again, hammering the roof of hay flat. When he had completed the job even Barnes had to agree that from the road the haystack looked perfectly normal and he could hardly believe that Bert nestled inside the new structure. Then his eyes dropped to the ground in front of the stack and his mouth tightened. The earth was littered with hay relics and flattened dead grass which described a neat rectangle clearly locating the original site of the stack.

‘Mandel – the Germans will see that. ‘It’s a dead give-away.’ ‘All has been prepared. Do not worry. You will see!’ Reynolds and Etienne were now walking slowly back from the farm and between them they carried an enormous tarpaulin which they proceeded to spread over the marked area under Mandel’s guidance. When it was in place the farmer began pulling hay from underneath the sheet and throwing it at random over the top.

‘Now it means nothing. Perfect camouflage! This cover could have slipped off the haystack or been pulled off to let the sun dry the stack out. So now we can go inside and wait for them.’

‘I still think you ought to hide in the fields with us.’ ‘No, we shall stay here to welcome them. More camouflage! So long as we line up on the roadside acknowledging their achievements they are quite happy. You will come in for some wine?’

‘No, I’ll wait here and relieve Penn. Why is Etienne dumping those spare bales in your yard?’

‘To create a diversion. If something exciting is happening when they arrive it will take their minds off other things -including that haystack. Leave this to me and do not worry if you see signs of fire when the Boche comes. Marianne will bring a glass of wine to you and inside we shall drink a toast. To the tank!’

Barnes went into the middle of the road and waited alone as he watched the deserted hill crest. Supposing that after all their troubles the Panzers didn’t come? But they were halted on this side of Beaucaire and he remembered that apart from one or two country lanes there had been no major road leading off this one. Could they possibly get away with it? He looked at the stack again, amazed by its appearance of normality. Just so long as they didn’t start pushing bayonets into it, although it would need a pretty long bayonet to reach Bert through those walls. And this, he thought, is a method of camouflage you won’t find in the textbooks.

Frequently he looked behind him along the road towards Cambrai and then he looked up into the brilliantly blue morning sky. Not a cloud anywhere, but more important still, not a plane either. Again it was hard to believe there was a war on. A few minutes later, at 7.15 am, he was running at top speed towards the house when he met Marianne on her way out with a glass of wine, a glass he knew that he would never drink. He had just seen the first German tank coming over the hill crest.