volley of bullets flew in their direction. The Germans had clearly worked out exactly where they were positioned, but Giles still instructed his two sections to hold fire. He cursed, put down the phone and ran across the open gap to join Sergeant Harris. A volley followed his trouble.
'What do you think, sergeant?'
'It's a half-company, sir, about eighty men in all. But I think they're just a reconnaissance party, so all we have to do is bed down and be patient.'
'I agree,' said Giles. 'What do you think they'll do?'
'The Krauts will know that they outnumber us, so they'll want to mount an attack before any reinforcements arrive. If Lieutenant Fisher brought up Three Section to cover our right flank, it would strengthen our position.'
'I agree,' repeated Giles as another volley greeted them. 'I'll go back and speak to Fisher. Await my orders.'
Giles zigzagged across the open terrain. This time the bullets were a little too close to risk that trick again. He was just about to call Fisher when the field phone rang. He grabbed it.
'Barrington,' said Fisher. 'I believe the time has come for us to take the initiative.'
Giles needed to repeat Fisher's words to be sure he'd heard them correctly. 'You want me to lead an attack on the Germans' position, while you bring forward Three Section to cover me.'
'If we do that,' said Bates, 'we'd be like sitting ducks on a rifle range.'
'Shut up, Bates.'
'Yes, sir.'
'Sergeant Harris thinks, and I agree with him,' continued Giles, 'that if you bring up Three Section to cover our right flank, the Germans will have to mount an attack, and then we could - '
'I'm not interested in what Sergeant Harris thinks,' said Fisher. 'I give the orders and you'll carry them out. Is that clear?'
'Yes, sir,' Giles said as he slammed down the phone.
'I could always kill him, sir,' said Bates.
Giles ignored him as he loaded his pistol and attached six hand grenades to his webbed belt. He stood up so that both platoons could see him, and said in a loud voice, 'Fix bayonets and prepare to advance.' He then stepped out from behind his cover and shouted, 'Follow me!'
As Giles began to run across the deep scorching sand with Sergeant Harris and Corporal Bates only a stride behind him, he was greeted with yet another volley of bullets and wondered how long he would survive against such overwhelming odds. With forty yards still to cover, he could see exactly where the three enemy dugouts were situated. He snatched a hand grenade from his belt, removed the pin and tossed it towards the centre dugout, as if he was returning a cricket ball from the deep boundary into the wicketkeeper's gloves. It landed just above the stumps. Giles saw two men fly into the air, while another fell back.
He swung round and hurled a second grenade to his left, a definite run-out, because the enemy's firepower suddenly dried up. The third grenade took out a machine gun. As Giles charged on, he could see the men who had him in their sights. He took his pistol out of its holster and began to fire as if he was on a shooting range but this time the bullseyes were human beings. One, two, three went down, and then Giles saw a German officer lining him up in his sights. The German pulled the trigger just a moment too late, and collapsed on the ground in front of him. Giles felt sick.
When he was only a yard from the dugout, a young German dropped his rifle on the ground, while another threw his arms high into the air. Giles stared into the desperate eyes of the defeated men. He didn't need to speak German to know they didn't want to die.
'Cease fire!' screamed Giles, as what was left of 1 and 2 sections quickly overwhelmed the enemy positions. 'Round them up and disarm them, Sergeant Harris,' he added, then turned back to see Harris, head down in the sand, blood trickling out of his mouth, only yards from the dugout.
Giles stared back across the open terrain they had crossed and tried not to count the number of soldiers who had sacrificed their lives because of one man's weak decision. Stretcher bearers were already removing the dead bodies from the battlefield.
'Corporal Bates, line up the enemy prisoners in threes, and march them back to camp.'
'Yes, sir,' said Bates, sounding as if he meant it.
A few minutes later, Giles and his depleted