AAR - 'On the Day, Went the Eagle's Landing Well?' - Part 7

PART 7 – BLOODY MURDER AT THE HALL

At Cold Comfort Farm, Sergeant-Major G’Bond has finally managed to start the Beaverette 4-cylinder petrol engine and is heading for the farm exit to get out on the road.

As the Beaverette emerges from the farm entrance a sad scene unfolds in front of G’Bond’s eyes. He is too late to save the girls of the WLA. Bodies surround the Pickett-Hamilton fort where the fighting was at its fiercest.

Here we can see that although the girls are down, they have taken a heavy toll of the brutal invader. Oberleutnant Manfred Schimmel has been shot by Bobbie Wickham. Staffelkapitän Peter Wilhelm Stahl himself has been killed leading the charge against the brave girl’s shotguns. Lady Florence Cray and ‘Stiffy’ Pinker (‘Stinker’ Pinker will be inconsolable) have been mown down by Feldwebel Jürgen Zimmermann with his MG-15. Zimmermann appears to be the Grim Reaper himself with the number of casualties caused by his machine gun. Will he be able to sleep at night after this bloodbath? At present, only Claude ‘Catsmeat’ Potter-Pirbright is returning fire with his Tommy Gun and his lone resistance sadly, cannot last.

Back at the Hall, the Black Shorts are trying to carry out Stahl’s last order, ‘get the charter if it’s the last thing you do’. Unity Mitford is trying to enter the Hall through the main gate. The Black Shorts have not committed any outright offensive action yet but Warden G. D'Arcy ‘Stilton’ Cheesewright has taken charge at the gate and is rightly suspicious of the devious Black Shorts and is refusing to allow Unity access.

At the sound of shots from the Hall itself, the villagers who were heading up Market Snodsbury Road turn into the Hall instead to investigate. ‘Peaches’ Snapcase, in the care of Dame Edith FitzPilchard, has reached the door first armed only with her catapault. Captain Snapcase himself has returned to his ancestral home at the sound of gunfire and shoulders the Mitford sisters aside as he attempts to find the cause of the shots.

But now the real tragedy of this invasion plays out. Shots are fired through the main door to the Hall by the Kriegsmarine. ‘Peaches’ is cruelly murdered in cold blood on the steps of the Hall! Will the killer of this fourth-former from St. Trinians ever be held to account? Cries of outrage and horror are heard from the following villagers.

As ‘Peaches’ lies dying on the steps, Hermann Görtz of the Abwehr hides behind the stone wall and tries to kill more of the villagers. Will the horrors never cease?

Even now, more tragic events are unfolding. ‘Peaches’ had managed to down Bothman with her catapault before being mortally wounded. Seeing the carnage, Private Charles Godfrey under the auspices of the Red Cross approaches the Kriegsmarine to try and negotiate a cease-fire whilst he removes the body of young ‘Peaches’.

“My sister Dolly has made some lovely cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off. I wonder if you chaps would like to take a break and have a sandwich?”.

These are the last words spoken on earth by Godfrey as even under the protection of the Red Cross he is cut down by a hail of sub-machine gun fire.

To be continued…