Scorched Earth - Robert Muchamore Page 0,48
searching if we hole up here for a few hours.’
‘Wouldn’t we be better off trying to get out of town?’ Paul asked.
Henderson shook his head. ‘The communists are based at the railway station and I’ve got no civilian ID to board a train. Major roads in and out of town are for Germans only until the 108th blows through, and in case you’ve forgotten, we’re still supposed to be stopping the 108th.’
‘So what’s our plan?’
‘Haven’t got one, yet,’ Henderson said. ‘But our snivelling friend down there on the floor is about to start telling us everything he knows about Rouen and his resistance friends.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Team A was shaken and tired as they carried their bikes through fields of barley, being careful not to leave obvious tracks behind them. Half a kilometre from the truck, Luc stripped his mechanic’s overall, while PT and Marc switched 108th uniforms for civilian gear.
‘We’ve got two days of rations,’ PT said. ‘We blew almost all of our explosives back at the bridge. So, I say we ride a few kilometres to put space between ourselves and the Germans, then find a decent place to hide. Hopefully we can grab some sleep and move on once the rest of the 108th has passed through.’
Marc nodded in agreement. ‘Paris is about ninety kilometres. We can stick to small roads and tracks and ride through the night. Even if we don’t push hard, we should make Paris by late tomorrow morning.’
They were about to resume walking when a swarm of Tempests dropped out of the clouds. It was unlikely the rocket-firing fighter planes would come after a group dressed like regular teenagers, but it seemed best not to take chances with 500-kph rocket-firing planes so they took cover at the edge of a field and watched the action through branches.
The German anti-aircraft gun protecting the second tank convoy started the battle, but a single British pilot swooped in on a curving course and used two of his eight rockets to destroy the gun. Once this cannon was out of action the Germans’ only defence was to drive under trees, or abandon their vehicles. Over the following three minutes the Tempests took turns, making sweeping runs and firing rockets.
Team A had no view of the bridge, but they could see the planes dive and hear the distinct whoosh of rockets firing. Based on the explosions they heard, most of the first dozen rockets hit something, but the pickings got slimmer on their second and third attack runs.
‘I counted eleven big explosions,’ PT said, as the RAF’s finest shrank into summer haze.
‘They’ll want an accurate report when we get to Paris,’ Marc said. ‘If we head for higher ground, we can send Daniel up a tree.’
They headed north-east across gently sloping fields and eventually found a footpath they could ride bikes on. It was tough to ride fast because the day was getting warm, and even though they were a couple of kilometres from the bridge there was a smell of burnt fuel that made it hard to breathe.
Daniel was always eager to prove his worth, so he was disappointed when a vista opened up, showing the bridge and its surroundings without any need for his climbing skills. The bridge itself had now completely given way. The scene on the near side was more or less how they’d left it, with one Tiger, the truck and the command tank out of action.
The Tempests had done all their work across the water. By the time the aerial attack started, the Germans had planned their diversion and turned their vehicles around. What remained of the first group and the whole of the second had been caught on open road that offered little cover.
Much of the view was obscured by smoke, but Luc raised his binoculars and reported what he saw between gusts of smoke.
‘They’ve lined about ten dead up by the road,’ Luc said. ‘There’s at least two dozen in the field getting medical treatment.’
‘What about vehicles?’ PT asked.
‘Looks like the planes hit four Tigers, two motorised artillery and wrecked at least ten trucks or cars. There might be another Tiger. It looks like a busted track sticking out of a ditch.’
PT took the binoculars to confirm Luc’s estimates.
‘So four or five Tigers,’ PT said happily, ‘added to the one on our side and the one that tipped over when we blew the bridge. If they started with fifty-four, they’re now down to forty-seven or forty-eight.’
‘Almost fifteen per cent of the 108th’s