had slept less soundly and stood by the window, already dressed. ‘I wonder how it’s going,’ Marc said. ‘The Germans have had four years to fortify the beaches.’
Henderson sat up and rubbed his eyes. ‘There’s not enough money in the world to make me swap places with some poor infantryman jumping out of a landing craft, that’s for sure,’ he said. ‘The sea will be choppy too, judging by the way that tree out there is swaying.’
‘You think they can do it?’ Marc asked.
Henderson laughed. ‘If they’re trying, someone must be confident that they can pull it off.’
‘What’s in the dossier Colonel Hawk gave you?’ Marc asked, pointing at a fat manila wallet on the table between the beds.
‘Hawk’s got a task for us. Says it’s going to be our only focus during the initial phase of the invasion.’
As Henderson spoke he opened the wallet, pulled out a map and spread it over the bed to show Marc.
‘I only got a minute with Hawk, because he had dossiers for all the other resistance groups too,’ Henderson explained. ‘The thing that scares the Allies most is getting their men off heavily defended beaches. Once that’s accomplished, the thing that scares them most is the German heavy tanks, in particular the Tiger and King Tiger.’
‘Our side will bring tanks though, won’t it?’ Marc asked.
‘Naturally,’ Henderson said. ‘But Tigers have bigger guns with much greater firing range than any British or American tank. In the east, Tigers have wiped out whole battalions of Soviet T34 tanks before they return one accurate shot.’
‘Are our tanks better than Soviet ones?’
Henderson shrugged. ‘American Shermans are fast, but they’re lightly armoured and none of their crews have battle experience. British tank crews have more experience, but the less said about the quality of British tanks the better.’
‘The Tigers can’t be indestructible,’ Marc said. ‘The Soviets have been winning their war for months.’
‘Of course not,’ Henderson said, as he pointed to the map. ‘The turret of a tank has to be light enough to move quickly so that’s always lightly armoured, and if you’re brave enough to get close, a wodge of plastic or a well-placed grenade will blow the tracks off. There’s also a reason why everyone but the Germans prefers light tanks. Tigers are expensive to make and difficult to maintain, so they’re only built in small quantities.’
‘So what’s our job?’ Marc asked.
‘Hitler has no idea whether the Allies are going to invade via the shortest crossing near Calais, further west in Normandy, or both.’
‘So where are we going to invade?’ Marc asked.
Henderson smiled. ‘Colonel Hawk didn’t tell us that, probably doesn’t even know himself. I expect we’ll find out where the first landings have taken place when we next listen to BBC France. The point is, Hitler has merged two tank battalions to create the 108th Heavy Tank Battalion and stationed them exactly halfway between Calais and Normandy.’
‘Beauvais,’ Marc said, as he worked it out. ‘That’s why Luc and Paul were sent to blow up the tank train.’
Henderson nodded. ‘Our masters in Britain clearly knew the invasion was coming when they asked us to pull that one off.’
The conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. As Henderson threw his bedcovers over the map, a stooped maid waddled in holding a tray of bread and cheese, a carafe of water and a pot of coffee.
‘Your fuel will be here in one hour,’ the woman said. ‘The sooner you leave the better, because your German truck can be seen from the road.’
Henderson nodded in agreement. ‘I’ll be gone as soon as I’m fuelled.’
Marc peeled the covers off the map as the maid closed the door.
‘So,’ Henderson said. ‘According to this dossier, the 108th currently has twenty-two Tigers and thirty-four King Tigers – and they’ll be low on fuel and spare parts following the tunnel blast. Our job is to keep the 108th in the Beauvais area for as long as possible. And when they set off for the front lines, we’ve got to try getting ahead of them to make sure they don’t go anywhere fast.’
Part Two
June 15th–June 16th 1944
CHAPTER TEN
Thursday 15 June 1944
The Germans who swept through France in 1940 had snappy uniforms and modern equipment that made them seem like men from the future. These first occupying troops had orders to behave correctly towards French people and faced heavy punishment from their own officers if they looted or behaved badly.
Four years on, Captain Henderson found himself among Germans who seemed much more sinister.