Crusader (A Novel of WWII Tank Warfare) by Jack Murray (important of reading books .TXT) 📗

of the truck indicated to him, in termsas explicit as they were succinct, that he’d be on his own in this endeavour.

-

The first sight of the camp based at El Alamein was impressive. Somuch so that it silenced for a few minutes the men on the three-ton truck.Stretching for a couple of miles were hundreds of M3 and Crusader tanks, lorries,half-tracks and jeeps. Amongst the motor vehicles were tents of varying sizes,all a khaki colour. It was difficult to know how many soldiers were in thecamp, but it could have been a few thousand or more. Danny glanced at Arthurand raised his eyebrows.

This was it. They were at the war.

Overhead a couple of planes flew over the camp. Danny caught hisbreath before recognising the distinctive shape of the Hurricane. The twoplanes landed somewhere in the distance at the far end of the camp.

Arthur was the first to find his voice.

‘Bloody hell.’

This seemed to sum up the feelings of the other men on the truck.They were silent for a few moments and then Arthur added, ‘I don’t see theswimming pool they promised in the poster.’

The truck erupted into laughter as they pulled into the camp. Afew of the soldiers glanced up in irritation at the new arrivals. Some shooktheir heads. Danny noticed one soldier restraining another from marching overto the truck, which had halted in a large square with several tents on theperimeter.

‘We should go easy a bit, Arthur. They look a bit down.’

Arthur nodded.

‘They looked whipped,’ said Ray Hill, another of the young menDanny and Arthur had befriended in Alexandria. They did, too. The faces of themen in the camp seemed unvaryingly battle-shocked. Their movements were slow,as if they were wading through quicksand.

Danny was stunned by the appearance and demeanour of the men inthe camp. To a man, they seemed underfed. Many went without shirts. Others woreshirts, unbuttoned. A vacuum seemed to exist where spirit, discipline andmorale should have been present. If this was what Rommel was fighting against,thought Danny, no wonder he’s winning.

-

Observing the arrival of the fleet of trucks was a colonel. He wasa man in his early forties. Beside him stood a slightly younger man, a captain,smoking a cheroot. He looked at the new arrivals and shook his headdismissively.

‘More lambs to the slaughter.’

The colonel glanced at the captain. Once again, he felt his angerrise. Rather than rebuke the captain, he said, ‘See that Sergeant Reed sortsthe men out.’

‘He’s on his way,’ said the captain before remembering to add,‘sir.’

The colonel was a distinguished looking man wearing shirt andshorts. Greying hair peaked out from under his cap. The man beside him wastall, elegantly dressed, seemingly immune from the intense African heat.Fair-haired, with a slim moustache and clear blue eyes, he would have been amovie producer’s dream of how a British army officer should be.

Lieutenant-Colonel Lister would have begged to differ.

The two officers watched Reed march towards the trucks. He beganto direct the new arrivals to form ranks. Lister looked on with approval. Nowthis was a soldier, he thought. He glanced again at the tall captain. There wasnothing he could do. He was stuck with him.

-

Danny jumped down from the truck and turned to Arthur with a biggrin on his face.

‘Do you want some help?’

Arthur’s two word response suggested not. However, it did raise a anotherlaugh from the group. Danny regretted the wisecrack, not because he was worriedabout offending Arthur, but he realised the laughter had already drawnunwelcome attention to the new arrivals. Danny motioned to the others to stoplaughing.

But it was already too late.

A nearby soldier sped over towards them. There was anger in hiseyes. Danny spun around as the soldier neared them.

‘What’s so bloody funny?’

‘Nothing, chum,’ said Danny, ‘It’s been a long trip.’

One of his mates shouted, ‘Leave it, Harry!’ But the soldier wasbeyond listening. He was as tall as Danny, wiry like so many of the soldier’sthey’d seen on the way in. He was shirtless. The soldier’s ribs glistened inthe early afternoon sun.

He aimed a swing at Danny who, he had decided, was to blame forthe laughter. This was probably true, but nonetheless unfair. Danny easilyducked the punch. The momentum of the soldier called Harry, carried him towardsDanny. Moments later Danny flipped him into the air, and he landed on theground with a thud. Danny stood over him and offered to help him up.

A bunch of soldiers, aware of the ruckus, stopped what they weredoing. Harry snarled and was on his feet in an instant. There was mad gleam inhis eye. Danny knew this was not going to end immediately. He fancied hischances. Though the soldier was older than him, Danny was taller and more muscled.The two men, eyes fixed on one another, circled slowly.

‘Disgraceful,’ said the captain. He was about to move forward whenhe felt the stick of Lister stop him. He looked at aghast at the lieutenant-colonel.‘You can’t seriously countenance this?’

Lister noted, once again, the absence of ‘sir’ from the captain. Hestudied the captain for a moment. Finally, he removed a pipe from his mouth andturned towards the two opponents.

‘Let them blow off steam. It might do people around here some goodto see what fighting looks like.’

The captain turned and glared at his superior officer. Listerlooked back to his captain, a half smile on his face. For moment the captain seemedprimed to say something but then thought better of it. Meanwhile Sergeant Reedhad caught the eye of  Colonel Lister. The merest shake of the head told Reedto let things play out. He nodded back to Lister.

Harry made his move on Danny. Despite anticipating this, Danny wasimmediately conscious that Harry was no mug. Seconds later he almost proved itby throwing Danny to the ground. Danny only just managed to stay on his feet. BeforeHarry could press home, his advantage Danny swept in low and nearly depositedhis opponent once more on the ground. However, this left him open to counterattack.Seconds later Harry managed to trip Danny while he was still unbalanced by hisinitial attack.

This was like a sucker punch to Danny. He cursed himself for beingtoo complacent.