Then And Back Again

[F2d5thCav]

The tension in Herve's unit was palpable.  All anyone really knew was that the Germans were attacking, and it was on a large scale.  And the rumors!  Everything from SS commandos in American uniforms to claims that General Eisenhower had been assassinated.

As a caporal, Herve was a non-commissioned officer and therefore responsible for good order and discipline in his section.  He clamped down on rumors and wild talk to the dismay of the babblers.  He didn't care; he wanted to be respected, not popular.  A brief stint in the resistance had won him rapid promotion when the Kingdom of Belgium, freshly liberated by Allied forces, had begun rebuilding its army.  As small units were easier to stand up than larger units, the Belgians opted to organize infantry battalions they called fusiliers.  Since the liberation, the fusiliers had proved their worth by ensuring the areas behind the American armies were orderly, and by taking on "housecleaning" tasks like rounding up German soldiers who had not yet surrendered.  If there was any truth to the rumors about German infiltrators, he thought, his unit had dangerous duties before them.

He ordered his men to project confidence even if they didn't feel it.  The German attack had extinguished the euphoria of the recent liberation and replaced it with grim foreboding.  It was, he believed, important for the Belgian people to see their own soldiers confident and in control of themselves.  God knows, he thought, that already too many people were panicking, including men in uniform.  And it was, in another sense, grand theater on his part.  Here he was, he thought, the "old man" at a ripe 20 years of age.

Motor noise interrupted his thoughts.  A convoy of Studebaker trucks, with olive-colored canvas covers over their beds, were parking nearby.  Apparently, headquarters had decided where they wanted to deploy Herve's battalion.

~ ☼ ~