CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Patchou on the Battlefield
A FEW minutes after André left Victor, Captain Dobie, Weller, their colonel, and his aide were poring over a map. They were hidden under trees, a mile and a half from the stone barn.
They looked up every moment or two toward St. Sauveur.
“Things are going along fine,” the colonel said. “The engineers have got a rubber pontoon bridge over the Douve River, and troops are crossing there already. They’ll have a steel one over the river for the tanks to cross, in an hour or two.”
Dobie nodded. “How soon do you think we’ll be sending our first patrols into St. Sauveur?” he asked.
“By sunset,” the colonel said. “As soon as the 9th gets the rest of these towns around here cleaned up, we’ll send our fellows through. How are those new lieutenants I sent you, Dobie?”
Captain Dobie grinned. “Schoenfargle took forty-seven prisoners yesterday. And Ouvarski’s squad took over a hundred. That answer your question, Colonel?”
The colonel laughed. But his aide suddenly held up a hand. “Wait a second. SOS of some kind on the field telephone. Yes, yes ... I get you. Yes. Ouvarski ... a dozen men. What? Trapped in a barn.... Okay.... But where, man, where?”
He saw the colonel reach out, and handed the phone to him.
The colonel consulted the map and noted the position of the barn. After a minute’s delay, he got a battery commander by radio. Calmly, he gave the map location.