Chapter 3
It wasn't long before three men could be seen moving carefully along the tree line towards the ruined building. As they got closer, it was obvious they were not in uniform, though one man was holding a rifle.
''Resistance?'' mouthed Actor to Garrison, who nodded with a slight shrug, there was no way of knowing at this point.
When they were a few yards away, the men hesitated as if unsure how to proceed. Staying out of sight, Garrison shouted to them in French, asking who they were and what they wanted. One of the men stepped forward, he was carrying an old rifle which he held casually, pointing it at the ground, and replied in French.
Garrison translated for his men. ''Local villagers.'' Standing, he held his hand gun aloft and then replaced it in his belt. Reassured, the three strangers started forwards, towards the ruins. Looking beyond them, Garrison asked ''Any more out there?''
A quiet ''Nope'' behind them, had the three men spinning around in surprise. Chief had followed the men out from the trees and stood covering them with his gun. With a nod from Garrison, he now turned and disappeared from view. Confident there was no one else in the vicinity, Actor, Casino and Goniff appeared from the rubble too, though Gina elected to remain hidden for now.
GG
It turned out the three men were indeed locals, ousted from their homes in a village hardly a mile inland from the new installation. Their leader, Bernard, explained how the German soldiers had descended on the area about four weeks ago. Everyone was rounded up and herded into the village square. Young men were ordered into trucks and driven away, nobody having seen or heard from them since. The older men, women and children were told to take what they could carry and leave the area by the following day. But even before they had left, the soldiers began ransacking the houses and molesting the women, so that many villagers abandoned their homes, leaving empty handed that same day. The emotion in his voice was very evident as Bernard described past events. ''Now our homes are being used as barracks for the Boche,'' he finished angrily.
''So why are you still here?'' asked Garrison.
''Not everyone has found a place to go. Some have gone to family or friends but the rest... well, for now we are living in barns and caves,'' explained Bernard . ''We had been using some of the isolated empty buildings, like this one, but as you can see they have been deliberately destroyed. Maybe to force us away from the area.'' Looking at Garrison but sweeping his hands around to encompass everyone with him, Bernard asked, ''And you, why are you here?''
The story they had just been told sounded genuine enough but Garrison was reluctant to divulge too much about his team. That they were Americans must have been obvious to these Frenchmen from the start, if only because Actor had been translating the conversation, however there was no need to go into details. If these men turned out to be collaborators, the fact that he and his men were not in uniform would certainly be an issue. But he'd face that problem if it arose.
''We are trying to get back to England and heard there was a safe house here,'' was all he was prepared to say for now. ''From what you have told us, it looks like we shall be moving on again soon.''
Bernard accepted this, realising the Americans would not, or could not, disclose any more information. With nothing else to be said, Bernard wished them a safe journey, then he and his companions made their way back into the trees.
GG
Within the hour Gina and Chief reported back, having followed the men to a dell just over a mile away. There they had seen several families living in temporary shelters, created by draping tarpaulins and blankets over rocks, branches and wooden stakes, to stave off the worst of the weather.
Gina translated what she had heard. ''Bernard explained to the others that you were American soldiers trying to get back to England. There was a discussion as to whether they should inform the Germans in exchange for food and somewhere to shelter. But after the way they were treated, no one was willing to approach, or even trust, the Nazis. They all seemed to agree that if you were leaving anyway, there was no point in them stirring up more trouble for themselves.''
The team looked at Garrison, who was mulling over what he knew so far before coming to a decision.
''Well, I don't like it,'' grumbled Casino, needing to voice his feelings. ''It only takes one of 'em to go running to the Krauts and we'd be in serious trouble. I say we get outta here now.''
''I agree, Casino,'' stated Garrison. Surprised, Casino grinned around at his team mates. ''But for now, you and Goniff can keep guard until we are ready to leave.''
''Huh! Thanks mate,'' declared Goniff, giving Casino a friendly slap on the shoulder as he passed. Together they picked their way through the rubble of the building, making for the higher ground.
Getting out the map, Garrison and Actor considered the best route to take to avoid the German soldiers, while Chief helped Gina with the radio, so she could make contact with London.
GG
It wasn't long before the team were ready to leave. Garrison had decided to move further inland to get around the occupied village and the unknown facility. Gina had passed on the information she had discovered so far to London and was expecting to transmit again that evening once they had established a new base. As usual, Casino and Goniff had grumbled about the need to get home in one piece without taking on the whole German army. And, of course, the lack of food. Not that they got any backing from the rest of the team, who would have been more concerned about the two men, had they kept quiet.
As before, they avoided roads and settlements where they could. Occasionally, a couple of the team would check out a barn or abandoned building, in the hope of finding something useful or an abandoned vehicle. By mid afternoon, Garrison reckoned they had travelled far enough and called a halt. They were in a wooded area, overlooking a farm, with a village beyond. Everyone had refilled water bottles from a nearby stream but stomachs were rumbling. After a short rest, Actor and Gina were allocated the task of finding food from the farm or the village, while Garrison took the rest of his men in the general direction of the new building works and occupied village, hoping to establish the extent of the cordon around the area and spy out what they could.
GG
Actor, having dug into his pack and found an old beret, cut himself a stout stick and accompanied Gina down a track towards the farm below. As they approached, he leant more heavily on the stick, in an effort to appear older and reduce his height. A woman scattering grain in the farmyard, was alerted to their presence by the honking of her geese. Keeping his distance, Actor made a show of easing himself down to rest on a bale of hay while Gina called out to the woman as she walked across the yard. Listening to Gina, the woman appeared wary at first constantly glancing at Actor and then pointed back the way they had come. Eventually, she reluctantly nodded and went inside. Within moments she returned with some cheese and stale bread in a small sack, which she thrust at Gina before ushering them quickly on their way.
''What did you say to her?'' Actor was curious to know.
''I told her my Papa hadn't eaten for several days and was very tired,'' Gina grinned as she jumped to one side to avoid the stick Actor swished in her direction. ''I also asked if there were any soldiers around and she pointed back over the hill. The woman seemed scared though. I think she only gave me the food to get rid of us.''
''Hmm, that doesn't sound good,'' said Actor as he glanced in the bag. ''I hope the village has more to offer, this won't satisfy Goniff's appetite.''
Actor and Gina had more success in the village and managed to purchase enough food for a couple of days. However, the locals were suspicious of the two strangers and, despite their best efforts, neither Actor nor Gina managed to prise any information from the few people they had met. Even the shop keepers, normally a good source of gossip, were tight-lipped.
They left the village by the same road they had arrived on but, after a mile or so, Actor began to feel very uneasy and he was aware that Gina kept glancing behind them. ''Are we being followed?'' he asked.
''I think so. Three, maybe four men.''
''Germans?''
''Unlikely, they are being too cautious to be soldiers. Resistance probably.''
Actor considered what they should do. There was no point in trying to outrun these men, who were probably local and would know the area well. ''Maybe we should just sit over there for a while and see if they want to show themselves'' suggested Actor, pointing to a rocky outcrop, where it would be difficult for anyone to get behind them. He wasn't happy about facing a group of unknown men but at least he could choose where they met. However, he was also conscious of the young woman at his side. These people could be after more than just their food and guns.
They had been sitting down long enough to drink some water and share a piece of cheese when four armed men stepped onto the road. None of the guns were pointed directly at them but Actor knew that any sudden movement on their part might be their last. Behaving as if the appearance of armed men was perfectly normal, Gina and Actor continued to eat.
GG
Keeping within the trees, Garrison and his men clambered uphill for a while, before heading towards the coast. The trees continued along a ridge, from the top of which they were able to look down on the recently occupied village. Adjacent to the houses, nearest to their position, a compound had been set up containing a number of different vehicles and, more importantly, fuel cans. The main street seemed to be swarming with activity, with soldiers moving from building to building, loading items into trucks.
''Looks like a bloomin' ant's nest down there,'' declared Goniff. ''Wot they doin', anyway?''
''Lootin','' stated Chief.
''Wot? You mean they're stealin' from people's houses!'' Casino couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Goniff was shocked. ''That ain't right!''
Garrison was gratified to hear his men's reactions to the criminal act of theft, even though it was something they regularly engaged in and that they generally took for granted. However, he was well aware that what they were witnessing below was nothing short of systematic plundering on a very large scale. As they moved on, all the men's thoughts went back to the arrival of Bernard and his men earlier that day, when he had related how the villagers had been driven out of their homes. It highlighted to them all just how much innocent people suffered during wartime.
GG
Several roads from the village had led inland but one meandered its way along the side of a small stream. This flowed gently downhill towards the coast, causing a break in the cliffs at that point. The group moved in that direction, keeping within the cover of the trees as much as possible. At last, using binoculars, Garrison could make out a guard post just where the road dipped down towards the beach area. There appeared to be the usual sea defences of barbed wire and the signs that warned of the possibility of mines but the actual beach was not visible from their position. Surprisingly, the guard appeared to be a member of the Luftwaffe, unlike the men occupying the village who were German infantry.
The ground beyond here was quite open, so Garrison led his men away from their vantage point and down the other side of the ridge. Sending Chief and Casino to investigate a number of buildings in the valley below, which might be useful places for the team to shelter, Garrison and Goniff circled around the cliff, coming at it from the other side.
Keeping low, he and Goniff scrabbled along a dry water course, one of many zigzagging down the hillside at this point. What interested Garrison was a square concrete building towards the top of the cliff, that he had noticed earlier. It looked recently built and faced out across the Channel. It was about two storeys high, with a flat roof. There were windows on the side but not at the back. They couldn't see the seaward side, so it could be a gun battery but the windows appeared to be glazed. Unfortunately, the low scrub further up the hill had been consumed by a recent fire and there was no cover to allow a closer look during daylight.
GG
Back at the meeting place, Actor and Gina were already waiting when Chief and Casino arrived in a battered old farm truck. They had found it in an abandoned building not too far away and managed to coax the engine into life. The building had a few broken windows but would be a suitable place to accommodate them all for now.
Once Garrison and Goniff joined them, Actor explained that they had soon realised how scared and wary of strangers the locals were. ''Having seen what had happened to their neighbouring village, I have no doubt they probably feared their homes may also be taken, especially with the large number of German soldiers roaming the countryside.''
He then went on to describe how they allowed themselves to be waylaid by a group of armed Resistance who had been following them from the outskirts of the village. The men were suspicious of the questions Gina and Actor had been asking around the village, thinking they might be working for the Germans.
''We managed to persuade them that we were trying to avoid the Germans and get to the coast. We thought they may have followed us here,'' continued Actor. ''And Chief has just confirmed there are two men concealed in the bushes not far behind us.''
''Are you sure they are Resistance?'' asked Garrison, not wanting the Germans to know that an Allied unit were in the vicinity of a secret facility.
''Yes, I recognised the leader, Alain, from when I first worked with Jean-Pierre,'' confirmed Gina. ''I don't think he remembered me though.''
''Right, let's load up the truck and get away from here,'' ordered Garrison.
GG
Once they had checked over their new 'home', Actor glanced outside. ''Any chance we were followed here?'' he asked.
''No need t' follow us. Ground's so dry, could probably see the dust we kicked up miles away,'' remarked Chief from his perch by the other window.
While everyone helped themselves to food, Garrison and Goniff described the concrete structure on the cliff as best they could, despite the lack of cover meaning they were unable to get very close. Garrison had also been considering the presence of the Luftwaffe at the site and felt there might be more to the instillation than just for defence but decided to keep those thoughts to himself for now.
Having accompanied Gina when she went to radio London, Garrison was soon back with the bad news. ''Looks like we will be staying put for the time being. It seems the Air Ministry are keen to know more about the purpose of the new building. They are sending in a plane tonight. The film is to be handed over to the co-pilot when they drop off a technician from Southdown. London have suggested a landing site. It's some distance away but it has been used before and is suitable for a Lysander to touch down. We just need to get there in time to set the guide fires.''
''I knew it,'' groaned Casino.
''Let's 'ope 'e brings 'is Guardian Angel with 'im,'' muttered Goniff. ''We don't wanna upset the Brylcreem Boys by losing another one of their engineers, that'd be downright careless.''