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16 - We Were There at the Normandy Invasion by Clayton Knight · We Were There at the Normandy Invasion

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Fighting. Andrea's trip with Victor was unexpectedly easy. At the beginning.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: When they passed through Saint mar the town seemed almost quiet,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: although the litter and destruction on all sides were heartbreaking.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Beyond the town, the roads were clogged. Victor was not
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: challenged as they wove through marching troops and rolling equipment.
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  Speaker 1: Ze looks a really unpleasant ahead of us, Victor stated, disapprovingly.
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  Speaker 1: When they had crossed Semdeley Bridge, shell bursts, dust and
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: smoke hung over the once orderly fields and patches of woods.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Noise burst out loudly behind clumps of trees and died away. Presently,
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  Speaker 1: Victor announced, we proceed, but a short distance further along
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  Speaker 1: this road at Zenoak Tree ed, we turned left to
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: thee village where my daughter is. It was then that
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Andre put forward his own plans. He watched Victor's look
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: of shocks surprise, anxiously suppose Victor would not let him go,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: But Victor said, you know I cannot accompany you until sansevere.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Now I'll sure you all comprehended. Andre said firmly, I
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: did not expect a Victor. I will go on with
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Pachu only Captain Doby is near here, so I won't
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: be alone. Even as Andre said this, he began to
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: doubt whether Captain Doby would welcome him. He also began
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: to wonder whether he could find the captain's new post.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: As he and Victor drew near to San Severe, Andre
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: began to notice that the sound of firing came from
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: many directions. He turned his eyes from north to south
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  Speaker 1: and counted several rising pillars of smoke. Sometimes the ground
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: shuddered and rocked the cart. It would not be easy
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: to enter the city, he thought, But after he and
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Victor had talked a minute, Victor agreed to let him go. However,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: you must use good sense, Victor said, as Andrea climbed
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: down from the cart. Did not approach a single German,
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  Speaker 1: even if he looks kidly. You must recall that not
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: all Nazis are like our Papa Schmidt. After this good advice,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: he added, you are quite right to Sika Maaza. I
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: shall no doubt get along without you. Well enough with this,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: he clapped the reins and drove off. Andrea and Pachu
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  Speaker 1: skirted the jumbled rumble that had once been the village
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: of poor Labat. They continued on through bypaths and across fields.
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  Speaker 1: If you stay close to me, you may walk, Andre
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  Speaker 1: told Pachu. Pachu trotted along obediently, trembling, shoulder pressed tightly
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: against Andrea's leg. Andrea looked the skyline ahead. As he stared,
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  Speaker 1: new blazes broke out, billowing smoke hum over somevere beyond
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: the hills. After a moment, he realized that the city
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  Speaker 1: was being bombarded by big guns. We may as well
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: get as close to Maman as we can, he murmured. Comellong, Pachu.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: He could see a file of soldiers hugging the roadside
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  Speaker 1: and straggling toward the city. He led Pachu into a
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  Speaker 1: cow path and they trudged on. Twice. Andre po Pachu
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  Speaker 1: down into a ditch as rifle and machine gun fire
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  Speaker 1: broke out in nearby villages. After the second dive into
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: a ditch, Andrea sat thoughtfully silent. It would be better
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: to go back, he knew, But then he thought of
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: his empty house. Come on, Pachu, he whispered. When we
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  Speaker 1: get across ze meeno to sinsvere Jesovere, we will try
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  Speaker 1: to find somebody to tell us how to fin maman
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: is the hospital. They scurried across the tree lined highway.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Where they crossed. The road seemed deserted. Andrea could not
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: see far in any direction. Back in the fields, a
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  Speaker 1: stone barn stood among shredded trees. Below ill a chateau
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: stood on the hilltop, almost hidden by trees. Just as
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  Speaker 1: Andrea looked up, a shell arched down from the sky
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: a hundred yards away. Before Andre could grab Pachu's collar,
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  Speaker 1: the explosion showered them both with stones and mud. Andrea
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  Speaker 1: reached wildly for Pachu and ran headlong with him into
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  Speaker 1: the field where the nearest building he could see, the
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  Speaker 1: stone barn. The blast of another shell threw Andrea onto
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: his face in the hail of debris, and Pachu twisted
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  Speaker 1: with a wild jerk and broke away. Andrea leaped to
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  Speaker 1: his feet, shrieking, Pachu, Pachu. But Pachu had disappeared, and
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  Speaker 1: while Andrea called wildly, another voice shouted, here, kid, come
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  Speaker 1: here the barn, Run, Kid run. The scream of another
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  Speaker 1: eighty eight from the sky I brought Andrea to his senses.
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  Speaker 1: He saw a figure in the half open door of
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  Speaker 1: the barn, waving to him frantically. Andrea raced up to
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  Speaker 1: the entrance and threw himself into the arms of the
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  Speaker 1: tall soldier who had called. The door banged shut and
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  Speaker 1: the bolt was shot. Immediately, a patter of machine gun
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  Speaker 1: bullets rattled against the broad iron hinges. The hail of
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  Speaker 1: bullets whined and flutted steadily. Another voice in the barn
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  Speaker 1: shouted angrily where the reinforcements. Lieutenant Ovarski a Rama wasn't
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: going to hold out much longer. The strong arms that
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: had pulled Andre in set him on his feet, and
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  Speaker 1: he caught a glimpse of Lieutenant's shoulder bars. The lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: said gently, it's all right, boy, but what were you
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  Speaker 1: doing in the battle area? Andre could only gasp for breath.
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  Speaker 1: After a moment, he stammered, I did not know I
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  Speaker 1: was so close to Zelene, but you can I get
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  Speaker 1: him soon. The light from broken places in the roof
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  Speaker 1: high overhead was dear. Andre caught glimpses of shadowy faces
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: stastened a windows and small brakes in the walls. Rifles cracked,
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  Speaker 1: and a bezuka at a far window flamed. We're in
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  Speaker 1: a German trap, the lieutenant explained to Andre hastily. I
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: set out for help. I hope it comes. You get
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: over in that major kid and keep down. Then the
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  Speaker 1: lieutenant turned to shout orders and warnings to his men.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Don't show yourself above that window again, Donovan, you want
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  Speaker 1: to get hit. Two hei knees edging round the wall,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: screamed an unseen rifleman. Watch a lieutenant. After shattering fusilade
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: of machine gun fire against the old stone walls, a
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: sudden silence fell, and outside a German voice called, do
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: you give up or dove take you vun by one?
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Silence fell again, and then the bark of the lieutenant's
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: automatic six rapid shots. Here's your answer, fritzy boy, Lieutenant
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: oversee growled. The voice outside did not speak again. The
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: lieutenant wiped his face on the sleeve of his shirt.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Andre thought, I hope my Mosee and Fozza and Marie
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: are in a deep stone cellar. Then suddenly he was
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: too tired to remember why he was there. He did
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: not even hear the corporal say what his own dobe
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  Speaker 1: Thinkin's doin about those reinforcements he promised, sendin him by
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  Speaker 1: way of Alaska and of Chapter sixteen