The Odin Mission Read Online Free PDF

them.'
    'We'll have to leave them, sir. Might be worth mentioning to Captain
Webb that we should think about blowing it up, sir. Don't want Jerry to get his
mitts on it.'
    'I'll do that right away, Sergeant, thank you.'
    Tanner followed the subaltern as he strode toward Captain Webb.
However, just as Lieutenant Dingwall began speaking with the quartermaster, two
lorries arrived back for another load.
    'Jerry's not here yet,' Captain Webb told him, 'and so, for the moment,
we'll do no such thing. Let's get your men busy, Lieutenant, and load up these
trucks pronto.'
    Tanner groaned to himself. The bloody fool ,
he thought.
    Half an hour later, with the trucks despatched and the working party of
Foresters already gone, he broached the matter with Lieutenant Dingwall again.
'Sir, I really think we need to get this place wired and move out. The Jerries
could be here any moment.'
    'Yes, all right, Sergeant,' Lieutenant Dingwall snapped. He paused,
then said, 'Well, surely you've got other things to do, Tanner,' and strode
off.
    He had not gone ten paces, however, when there was a brief roar of
aero-engines followed by whistling and a series of colossal explosions. Seconds
later two more aircraft hurtled over, flying at no more than a few hundred
feet off the ground.
    Tanner immediately fell flat on the ground but turned his face to see a
stick of bombs falling, thankfully wide of the yard but still terrifyingly
close. As the bombs exploded, with an ear-shattering din, he felt the air
around him sucked away before he was lifted clean off the ground by the blast
and smacked back down again. He gasped, the wind knocked out of him. The air
seemed full of debris and he closed his eyes as stones, grit, shards of wood
and glass rained down around him. Choking dust and smoke shrouded the yard and
warehouse. He pulled his handkerchief from his pocket, dampened it with water
from his bottle, then clamped it to his mouth and staggered to his feet.
Christ, the Germans would blow up the stores for them at this rate.
    'Number Four Platoon,' he shouted, 'to me!' Men stumbled towards him,
including, he was pleased to see, Lieutenant Dingwall. 'Right, lads,' said
Tanner. 'Get your kit. Make sure you've got everything attached to your
webbing, that your rifles are loaded, then grab as much ammunition as you can
easily carry. It's time we got the hell out of here.' Wide-eyed and silent, the
men did as he asked. He turned to Lieutenant Dingwall. 'I hope that's all
right, sir. I'm assuming that since Jerry's started his assault we should hurry
back to the new lines.'
    Lieutenant Dingwall nodded.
    By the warehouse, Captain Webb was also barking orders for them to
retreat. 'Everyone fall back!' he shouted. German guns had opened fire too.
Shells were now thumping into the southern parts of the town. 'Leave
everything!' yelled the quartermaster. Tanner saw him hurrying to the civilian
car the lieutenant had been driving earlier with the regimental quartermaster
sergeant.
    'Goddamn it,' said Tanner, as he grabbed his own rifle and kit. Two
shells hurtled overhead, whooshing through the air like a speeding train,
before exploding some several hundred yards to the north.
    'All right, men!' shouted Lieutenant Dingwall. 'Let's move.'
    Tanner hurried to his platoon commander. 'Sir, I'll follow you out.'
Lieutenant Dingwall swung his arm above his head, then down below his shoulder,
signalling to the men to run from the yard.
    Tanner stood back. 'Move it!' he shouted. 'Come on, get going!'
Spotting Hepworth, he grabbed him, and said, 'Not you. I need you to help me
with something.'
    More shells whistled overhead. Hepworth looked distraught. 'But, Sarge,
the Jerries'll be here.'
    'We won't be long. Now, follow me,' he snapped. Tanner was fuming -
with Captain Webb for not thinking ahead and for cutting and running before the
others, but also with the lieutenant for not pressing the quartermaster hard
enough. As a result, they were leaving the stores in too much