RETREAT
By Dale Rowe
Janette and Pieddre were listening to the news when suddenly a voice interrupted
it and said, “Men of France, the Nazis have attacked us. Those under 30 years join arms
and fight; other civilians to the coast. Janette and Pieddre lived in Straissburg, not far
from the German border. Pieddre was too old to fight. While Janette was cooking dinner,
Pieddre was finding means of transportation to the coast. He found that a bus was leaving
in three days, but that would be too late. The Nazis would be there by then. They quickly
ate dinner, loaded their food and clothing into a cart and started off.
After they had gone about six miles, they heard the roar of planes overhead. There
were six German” stukes” dimming down on them and the other refugees. Sirens were
screaming and bombs were whistling. After the raid was over, they marched on. At dusk
they came to a farmhouse and they asked for room to sleep. They were refused. After the
eighth house, they got room in a woodshed. They ate a supper of bread; then they lay
down the blankets which were ripped to shreds by bullets and went to sleep. Next
morning they had a meager breakfast of bread and potatoes and then moved on. After many
narrow escapes from the Nazis, they reached a town near Paris which was being valiantly defended by the French. Pieddre joined in with a French machine gun, but a grenade blew
his head open. Janette hid him in the ruins of a house. Then the Nazis moved in. She buried
Pieddre’s body. Then later the Nazis found her body in a river with a knife in her heart.
She loved Pieddre.
Posted in: 1943 Stories
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