The Shadow of War by Jack Murray (latest ebook reader txt) 📗

with him and then an image of his two friends rose upin his mind. He stopped and looked around wildly.

‘No,’he shouted.

Thehubbub around him quietened for a moment. At that moment Manfred realised hewas responsible for this. He felt his face redden in embarrassment. All aroundhe could see faces looking at him.

‘Ourfriends are out there.’

Itwas Gerhardt.

Therewas a sigh and then a Lieutenant came over to the two boys and said, ‘No onecould have survived the sinking.’

Therewas no malice in his voice. No attempt to dismiss their view. It was just agentle a nudge towards reality. They knew he was right. Once again, Manfredresisted, with all his might, the desire to cry. The hard, cold truth was out therein the vastness of the sea. Death would visit them all many times over the nextfew months, perhaps years. They would have to grow a shell that would helpprotect their mind from the fear and the fragility that would shadow them everywaking moment.

‘Hurry,’ordered the Lieutenant. ‘We’re not stopping to look for anyone. The British mayreturn. We still have a few hours before we make port.’

Manfredand Gerhardt turned around and said, ‘Yes, sir.’

Gerhardt looked at Manfred and then the Lieutenant. He nodded inacceptance. Manfred’s shoulders fell. He knew the officer was right. The Lieutenantput his hand on Manfred’s arm. It was over. He had to move now. To stand stillwould have been to object to the implied order. He felt empty, cold and scared.They had had not even reached Africa anda foretaste of what was to come had proven terrifying and unexpected.Afterwards he would discuss this fear with Gerhardt. No one else.

Hepushed forward in a line with the others. Gerhardt fell in step with Manfred.They walked along the deck in silence then Gerhardt said what was on both theirminds, ‘There was nothing we could do. He should’ve left Sepp.’

‘Wouldyou?’

‘I’dhave thrown him in.’

‘Metoo,’ said Manfred. There was no humour in his voice. Instead, there was anger.This, oddly, was not directed towards the British but insteadtowards Sepp. In Manfred’s mind, Sepp was responsible for Lothar’s death; if hewas dead. He thought about the life vest. He turned and gazed out towards thedebris. The sun glinting off the water made it difficult to see anythingclearly.

Just behind Manfred walked the Lieutenant. He saw Manfred looking out to the sea. The two boys had fallenbehind the others. The Lieutenant walked alongside Manfred in an effort to makethem move faster. Manfred glanced down and looked at the object in theofficer’s hand. The officer looked at Manfred sympathetically. He was probablyonly a few years older than Manfred. He understood how it felt to lose acomrade. He had seen his fair share over the last eight months convoying in theMediterranean.

‘Youdon’t give up, do you?’

Manfredsmiled grimly. He nodded at the object and said, ‘May I?’

‘Makeit quick,’ said the Lieutenant handing Manfred his binoculars.‘And keep moving.’

AsManfred walked, he put the binoculars to his eyes. It took a moment to adjustto the glare from the water. He began to scan the debris which was spread outacross a hundred metres of water. They were at least a mile away or more now.Suddenly some movement caught his eye. He stopped. Gerhardt and the Lieutenantstopped also.

‘What’swrong?’ asked the Lieutenant irritably. ‘I told you to keep moving.’

‘It’sLothar. I can see him. What’s that he’s holding?’

Thethree of them stopped. Manfred could hear his heart thumping against his chestand the chill of the wet clothing against his skin.

‘What’shappening, Manny?’ asked Gerhardt. He could see the growing irritation of the Lieutenant.

Ashe said this a shot cracked the silence of the sea.

THE END

 A Note from the Author

Ihave made every effort to ensure historical authenticity within the context ofa piece of fiction. Similarly, every effort has been made to ensure that thebook has been edited and carefully proofread. Given that the US Constitutioncontained around 65 punctuation errors until 1847, I hope you will forgive anyerrors of grammar, spelling and continuity. Regarding spelling, please note Ihave followed the convention of using English, as opposed to US, spellings.This means, in practice, the use of ‘s’ rather than a ‘z’, for example in wordssuch as ‘realised’.

Thisis a work of fiction. However, it references real-life individuals. Gore Vidal,in his introduction to Lincoln, writes that placing history in fiction orfiction in history has been unfashionable since Tolstoy and that the result canbe accused of being neither. He defends the practice, pointing out that writersfrom Aeschylus to Shakespeare to Tolstoy have done so with not inconsiderablesuccess and merit.

Myintention, in the following section, is to explain a little more about theirconnection to this period and this story.

Forfurther reading on I would recommend the following sources, of which I madeextensive use: The Tank War, Mark Urban; Forgotten Voices Desert Victory,Julian Thompson; SS Panzer SS Inferno - Eyewitness Panzer Crews - Normandy toBerlin; Rommel the Desert Fox, Desmond Young and The Memoirs of Field MarshallMontgomery by Bernard Montgomery of Alamein, David Fletcher – British BattleTanks. YouTube is, of course, a treasure trove of documentaries covering thisperiod. Finally, BB2 People’s War is also a great resource for individualstories from this period -https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/

Anexcellent resource for life in Germany after 1933 is Julia Boyd’s ‘Travellersin the Third Reich’. It is meticulously researched and provides a great pictureof life during this period. I am convinced that the success of Hitler wasdriven by his appeal to the younger generation which he cemented through theHitler Youth. He created a supply not just of future supporters but alsosoldiers for his bigger project.

 Research Notes

Ihave mentioned a number of key real-life individuals and events in this novel.My intention, in the following section, is to explain a little more about theirconnection to this period and this story.

ErwinRommel(1891 – 1944)

German World WarII Field Marshal. Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel led the North African campaign of1941-1943. With a small German force, Rommel’s audacious leadership turnedaround Axis fortunes in North Africa causing the defeat of the British atGazala in May 1942, followed by the taking of Tobruk. A vastly superior alliedforce under Bernard Montgomery won a convincing victory at El Alamein. Rommelwithdrew the survivors of