“They’re going on to get the boys heading for the dam and the bridge,” he said. “And they’re sending plenty off on that job! The rest will come up after us. Well, we can hold off almost any force in this position for quite a few hours.”
Dick Donnelly and his twenty men had been making fast time toward the dam, down the slope of the crest they had crossed, and up the next parallel ridge. Dick looked frequently at his map to check position and glanced almost unconcernedly at the observation plane which returned occasionally to keep them under scrutiny.
“They’ve probably got a small force guarding the dam,” Dick told his men, “and we might as well get rid of them before the detachment from the main camp arrives to take care of us.”
He noted with satisfaction that the slopes surrounding the reservoir up ahead were covered with trees whereas the surrounding countryside was rather barren.
“Moisture from the reservoir,” he told himself. “Makes a regular oasis here in the hills, and those trees will give us good cover.”
As they entered the thicket of trees, Dick stopped his men, who gathered around him. He held the map so that all could see.
“Here’s where we are now,” he said, putting his finger on a point near the reservoir. “The dam is up ahead on the left a few hundred yards. We’ve been covered by this shoulder of the hill as we approached, so the guard there probably hasn’t seen us, but they’re likely to have radio and know we’re coming. They’ll all be centered at the dam itself, I’m sure. Lefty, you take these five men and head up the hill farther, then cut down to catch them on the flank just after we’ve gone straight in at them. And Bert, you take these three and circle down around to the left and come up on them from that side. But don’t go as far as the road leading from the Pass up to the dam. The Jerries will be rushing a few truckloads of reinforcements up the road to get us, and we’ve all got to stay on this side.”
“I get it, Sarge,” Bert said.
“Okay—me too,” added Lefty. These two corporals were men who were calm in an emergency and possessed plenty of initiative, as Dick well knew.
“This shouldn’t take more than about five minutes,” he went on. “And we haven’t got much more time than that. The minute it’s over, all the rest of us will switch up beyond the reservoir here where Lefty’s group is going down, but we must stick close to the shore. We’ll have cover, because the trees come right down to the edge. Okay—get going, boys. Wait for my first fire to draw them toward us. Then come in at the right moment.”