THE BATTLE OF FRANCE

long cry from the sirens ended it. The whole
column of cars moved forward. That evening, we
learned that the German had been brought down by
an English fighter.

The Squadron
Next morning my friend Duncan and I had an
amazing stroke of luck and while looking for another
unit fell slap upon the victor's squadron. The
machines, camouflaged into a jig-saw puzzle of
blue, yellow, and brown stretched in line the length
of a field, ready to take the air at five minutes'
notice, A group of young officers in their wide-
lapelled overcoats of light blue-grey, the colour of
an Ile-de-France sky, were pacing the muddy road.
Duncan, knowing one of them, made the inquiry.
'We're waiting for the Air Vice-Marshal/ he was
told, 'he's coming along to congratulate the people
who did some good work yesterday. Would you
care to see them?'
1 should indeed. . . . What did they do exactly?*
'One of them, N------, the little lieutenant you see
over there, brought down single-handed a Heinkel
bomber with a crew of four. Two others think they
got the second plane. . . . But we're actually waiting
for confirmation of that. .. .*
'And you lost nobody?'
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