Not Flag or Fail Page 11

  “And it is the most powerful top-break revolver produced so far, so what do you need to know? Well it has a range of about three hundred yards but if I had you on the range for a week I doubt you’d hit anything at that distance, however at fifty yards it’s a mean little lady.” He opened the box of Webley cartridges and put six into the pistol,once again he showed us the safety catch and repeated the bit about shooting your mate Handing the gun to Ronny he said “Stand as far away as you can, point and shoot, three in each target please.”

  The results were not as dramatic as with the Thompson but even so, with an almost casual ease Ronny took the paint off in three places on each target. He broke the revolver, ejected the spent cartridges and handed it back to the CPO, who reloaded it handed it to me and asked me to do the same. Initially I was surprised by just how heavy the pistol was but having felt the weight for a while I got used to it. I raised it, pointed it at the target and also managed to get three shots into each, although they were not as well grouped as Ronny’s.

  “Well done Mr. Hibert, that’s good enough to stop em.” he said, taking the pistol from me. He put both guns and the ammunition back into the cupboard took out a wooden box, about the size of a shoe box, closed both doors and locked it up again. We then followed him down towards the target area, Ronny and I paused to look closer at our handiwork on the targets but the CPO carried on over to the left hand wall and released a couple of ropes that sent swinging towards us two sandbags suspended from a beam in the ceiling, on ropes. The bags narrowly missed us; eventually they came to a stop, almost in the centre of the room. They were shaped to be about the size of a human torso, even having a smaller bag at the top to represent a head.

  We could see the CPO getting ready to speak again.

  “So gents, normally we would spend a long time practising on the bags but you obviously don’t have the time, so I’m going to show you a couple of basic actions that, you never know, could just save your life. There could be situations where for one reason or another you just can’t use the gun but you may be able to use one of these.” He opened the box and we saw that it contained about six knives, he took two of them and handed one to each of us. Overall they were about thirteen inches long with a ribbed, metal handle, painted black with a black steel sheath. He told us to take them out and take a look at the blade, we did so and saw that the blade was double sided and tapered into a very sharp point. I notched that there were no serrations on the blade so I guessed that it wasn’t for gutting fish. “Ok, so if you just put your knives back into the scabbard and put them down for the moment, all that I want both of you to do is, thump the bag in the stomach, quite hard if you will, but please don’t damage your hands.”

  We did as he requested and waited to see what came next.

  “Right, if you could repeat the exercise, only this time thump me in the stomach.”

  We saw him tense his muscles and then we each gave it our best shot, if he felt anything then he didn’t show it.

  “So what you should have learned from that is that there is very little difference between me and a sandbag.” He must have said it a few times before but it still made him smile, “Joking apart, what I am trying to prove to you is that the sandbag will require roughly the same amount of force to stab it, as a man would, So essentially there are only two targets to consider, both are best served from behind the target, with one it’s more messy than the other. The targets are? Would either of you like to tell me?”

  “Throat and Heart.” suggested Ronny.

  “Correct Mr Regis, the throat and the heart, the throat being the messier option, so let me show you.” He picked another knife out of the box, and took it out of the scabbard. “Go around the other side gents, so that you can see where I put the knife in.” He stepped up behind the first sandbag. “Left leg extend to side of victim, left arm under chin, pull head back, keep mouth closed so that alarm is not possible, right arm slice throat, hold position till victim is dead weight, lower to the ground… Any questions? Ok then, second option. Same position with left leg and arm but this time, bring the knife in under the rib cage, continue up into the heart, again hold until dead weight, and lower to the ground. Remember with this one it takes a lot of force to get the blade in, mess about and you may not live to regret it.”

  We spent quite some time practicing both maneuvers; I was surprised by just how much force was required to push the blade into the sandbag.

  CPO Smith walked between us and watched he altered a position here and there until finally, he was satisfied that we were doing it correctly.

  He asked us to swing the bags back into the side wall again and tie them off. While we were doing this he took out his keys again and unlocked another door, which opened onto a storeroom from which he brought out two mannequins, they were dressed in the uniforms of German storm troopers. One was in a relaxed posture smoking a cigarette, the other, looking more alert and holding a machine pistol. He positioned these to his satisfaction in the middle of the room and then walked over to the light switches, where he turned off all but one light at the far end of the room throwing our end of the room into darkness. He then turned on two small spotlights that lit the dummies with an eerie, but very realistic glow. He walked back to join us almost unseen in the darkness and whispered,

  “Those are your enemy gentlemen, they stand between you and escape, remember what you’ve learned, put the lessons into practice and as they are in heavy uniform I would suggest you use the throat.”

  We walked quietly up behind the targets remembering the lessons. I extended my left leg and slid my knife across the dummies throat, as I did so, something wet and warm ran down my right hand, shocked I let go of the knife which clattered across the floor

  The lights came back on and I looked at my hand it was covered in a red goo Ronny was still holding his dummy CPO Smith was standing by the light switches.

  “Always best to keep hold of the knife Mr Hibert you never know when you might need it again, put your knives back in the box please gents. You’ll find a sink just behind the blue door when you’ve washed up we can go and have some lunch.”

  Over lunch the CPO told me not to take it to heart, saying that on every course someone always dropped the knife that was the whole point of the exercise. If you really had to do it in the field then you would not be surprised by the feel of the blood.

  After lunch we returned to the same building, the CPO rolled out a large coconut mat onto the floor. For about an hour he gave us a brief, but effective lesson in unarmed combat.

  Or has he called it, fighting without the Queensbury rules.

  “I suppose it was really just dirty fighting,” he explained, “for example, legs only bend in one direction so, if you could persuade one to bend the other way you could leave your opponent in a great deal of pain, while you catch the last bus home.

  If whilst wearing army boots, you chose to run your instep down the shin of an adversary, before stamping on the top of his foot, it was apparently doubtful that he’d follow you down the street. The elbow was also mentioned and was given increased status as a weapon. CPO Smith explained that it was far more effective than the fist could ever be.

  At a little after three –thirty the chief petty-officer called a halt to the lesson and we left the building stepping outside into a lovely sunny afternoon. We waited whilst he locked up and then followed him, still with the keys in his hand, to a building across the other side of the court yard where he again used the keys to unlock another door. We followed him inside a windowless room and waited whilst he turned on the light and then closed the door. This room was about twelve feet square and lined with cupboards, the first of which he opened and having asked our collar sizes issued us both with a shirt. This procedure was repeated for two pairs of socks, one pair woolen, and the other cotton. Next he gave us trousers which were different than our usual issue, more of a cotton finish than the woolly type we normally had, with additional pockets on the thigh and calf a
reas. Finally from this cupboard came a ribbed woollen sweater. CPO Smith closed the doors and opened the next cupboard from which he issued us each with a pair of rubber soled soft leather boots which he told us were specially made for the Major and were half a size bigger than our usual size.He guaranteed us that they would be comfortable. Out of the last cupboard he took two jackets in a similar material to the trousers, they had a big collar that could be turned up, two big breast pockets, still bigger pockets at hand level and a map pocket on the inside at the back. The arms on both jackets had already had the Sergeants chevrons sown onto them and there were button down epaulets on the shoulders. From the same cupboard he took two black berets which we tried on, finally he gave us both a khaki green, mesh cotton scarf.

  The cupboards were closed up, the building was locked and carrying our new kit, we walked through the sunshine, back to the house. CPO Smith informed us that we had just time to get a shower and get into our new kit before meeting the Major again for tea at sixteen thirty hours.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Showered and dressed in our new uniforms and wearing our new sergeant’s stripes, we went down to tea. The Commander and the Major were already in the dining room when we arrived; for the first time since we’d met he was in full uniform and looking extremely smart.

  “Hello chaps how are you feeling now? The Chief shown you all need to you know has he?”

  I don’t think either of us knew how to answer that so neither of us did, eventually as if to fill the space, the Commander said “Help yourself to some sandwiches chaps, there’s potted beef and then whilst examining a sandwich with a quizzical look continued or some sort of fish paste, they tell me there’s a war on.”

  All four of us were sorting our food onto plates when the CPO arrived and he too was in full uniform and also looking very smart.

  We all sat down at the dining table and the Major said. “Thought we’d do the full uniform men, this is after all your passing out parade eh? Seriously though,” he continued, “we’ve had to rush you through, much faster than we would want to. I want to take this opportunity now to run through what’s expected of you so that we can maximise your chances of survival. First point is that of your regiment. You are still considered to be artillery men, later the CPO will give you some cap badges and your new pay books that tell the truth about who you really are. Just two sergeants in the artillery, so you see, no cloak and dagger stuff. If you get captured, you just say that you stayed behind to fix demolition charges and you got cut off from the rest of your battery. Use the true history of your last days; just extend the time periods a bit eh?”

  The Major paused and then continued, “Now then, in our opinion the new uniforms that we have kitted you out in are far better suited for your needs than the standard issue, but again if you get caught they will cause speculation so just say that your battery most of whom are now safely back in England now were chosen to test a new type of uniform in the field you know nothing more than that.

  There is one final point that I should mention and that is this; when you’re out there you may need to make a choice? Please understand that we would very much like the contents of that briefcase back and I’ll tell you the reason why. Through an almighty series of cock ups, it is the only remaining copy of our intelligence reports on the suitability of French and Belgian beaches for assault landings and we really could use it because believe me, one day we will be going back again and when we do it will be very useful to us.

  Now we could get the boffins working on rewriting the report, I guess that a few months would see it completed. Frankly however we could be better served by them doing other newer more pertinent work. So do try and bring it back to us. Now here’s where the choice comes in, your main reason for going is to ensure Jerry doesn’t get hold of it for obvious reasons. If it does get tricky then you have to decide whether to hang onto it or whether to destroy it. Any questions chaps?”

  “Yes are we going back in by boat sir?”

  “No it would take too long, normally we would have liked to have dropped you in by parachute but we don’t have the time to train you, so we are going to fly you in and land you. I see from your record Regis that you are no stranger to flying, what about you Hibert, have you flown before?”

  “No sir” I replied.

  “Oh well you should enjoy it then, nice full moon too. However it’s interesting that you mention boats, because as you know, if everything goes to plan then you will be coming out by boat from the place you departed from last time. Now we will have a boat standing off the beach for a two hour window between Oh.one hundred hours and Oh. three hundred hours every day for four days after the day of your arrival. Any more than four days and I’m afraid that you’re on your own. The Commander here has fixed up the signals procedure.”

  Looking up from some notes she had been reading, the Commander flashed us one of her best smiles and then said,

  “Ok chaps, the Chief will give you a torch each and two coloured lenses which you will hold over the front of the torch. One lens is red the other is green. Now remember this, it is very important, If you are in position for rescue and it is safe for the rescue party to come in for you, then you will flash green first the letter O, dash, dash, dash followed by red lens the letter K dash dot dash .

  Now if you are there but it’s not safe for the rescue party to come in flash red only the letter N for no which of course is dash dot. Repeat either of these signs at about five minute intervals if safe to do so. If the boat’s there and they are coming in for you they will send in plain white, the letter R for received, dot dash dot three times and then you wait, any questions? No, well then it’s time for the Major and I to wish you good luck and let the Chief fix you up with kit and get you started.”

  We stood up from the table and we both shook hands with the Commander and the Major and then followed CPO Smith out of the dining room.

  “Come on then lads, let’s get you sorted out”. He said and walked off; we followed him back towards the courtyard.

  He took the keys from his pockets and unlocked another windowless store and turned on the lights, we followed him inside, and he closed the door behind us.

  More big cupboards lined the back wall and a large counter stood before them; CPO Smith lifted a flap and standing behind the counter, unlocked the first of the cupboards.

  “Right,” he said “let’s start filling all those pockets. Now if everything goes to plan you’ll only be on a day trip so I am not going to weigh you down with stuff you don’t need. I’ll give you food for a day, if you get held up; you’ll have to live off the land or your wits.”

  The first thing he gave us was an aluminium water bottle with a clip, for belt fixing, this was followed by four small tins about the size of a sardine tin. He informed us that this was high energy food and would give us all the nutrients we needed for a day. He then gave us two thick bars of chocolate each. We packed these away into our jacket pockets. Next he pulled out a round metal tin from which he took some used French money, some notes, some coins, he gave us each a differing amount and said he didn’t think we would use it but that it would look more realistic if we were captured. He then locked that cupboard and moved on to the next.

  From the next one he issued us with a webbing belt with cross braces, this was followed by a holster which we slid onto the belt. When we had done this we put it all on; on top of the combat smocks we were wearing, then clipped on the water bottles. Next came a map of the area, he gave one to each of us as well as a compass; we put the compasses in our side pockets and put the maps in the inside back pocket. The torches and the lenses were next; our pockets were starting to fill up quickly. Finally from this cupboard he gave us each two webbing ammo pouches. Once again he locked the cupboard and moved onto the next.

  The last cupboard was the largest of them all and contained a variety of weapons but we were issued only with the ones we had used on the training. A Webley Break-Top Revolver complete with two boxe
s each of ammo, we both loaded our pistols applied the safety catch and put them away into their holsters and pocketed the spare ammo. Next he took out two new daggers in their scabbards, which we clipped onto our belts and finally he gave us both a clasp knife with a variety of implements built in, we clipped these onto the belt.

  “You never know might come in useful for something.” he said as he gave us each five box magazines for the Thompson SMG. While we were fitting these into our ammo pouches he took out two used looking Thompson’s.

  “Save a mag for these lads, you don’t want to have to stop later to load it, don’t forget the safety catch, don’t worry they are working fine, I had them test fired this afternoon.”

  He locked up the cupboards and reached under the counter, pulled out a wooden box which he placed on the top, from this he took out two dog-eared pay books which were made out in our names and showed that I had been a sergeant for nearly four months and Ronny for just over two.

  From the same box he gave us two artillery cap badges which we proceeded to fix to our berets.

  “Now then, I can’t think of anything I’ve forgotten?” and to confirm this he ran his finger down a check sheet that he had taken from his pocket, I noticed that it already had a lot of items ticked off.

  “If there is anything else you think you might need speak up now while I’ve chance to fix it.”

  Ronny and I looked at each other for a moment and then speaking for both of us I said, “Not as we can think of Chiefy I think you’ve done it all.”

  CPO Smith locked up the building and we followed him back to the front of the house, he told us we might as well wait there whilst he went back inside. We took the opportunity for a smoke while we waited for him to come out again and join us. A few minutes later a Morris 8 cwt driven by a lance-corporal pulled up in front of the house and on the Chief’s instructions the three of us got in, me and Ronny and our Thompson’s in the back and the CPO sitting up front with the driver.