Behind the enemy's position was a massive red bridge and across that bridge was a small town. Our objective was to take over that town and make base camp. It would be hours before we reached that bridge. There were about twenty-five German troops defending the bridge from the front and there was about forty of us. But so many men were getting shot and that brought us down to thirty.
An order was given, “Everyone, throw two smoke grenades each and wait for the smoke to fill the air. I will give the signal to go.” We all threw our smoke grenades and in about thirty-five seconds the smoke had filled the air. Again the signal was a loud whistle. Once the whistle blew, we all stood up and ran towards the enemy for dear life trying to take as much cover as we could. Three men were shot within about a minute. I threw three grenades in different positions hoping the enemy would be killed. Soon enough we were standing twenty yards away from the bridge and the smoke was still filling the air. Another order was given; “Run for the river banks and take cover under the bridge.” That's exactly what we did. For some strange reason the river was bone dry. There was no water to be seen.
We were now under the bridge. There were only twenty-seven of us but thankfully we still had a box of grenades and smoke grenades. We still had to take out the troops on the bridge. They had no idea that we were under the bridge. Sergeant Quinn said that there were only ten troops on the bridge and the rest would be in the town.
We waited for night fall to make an attack. It was about 4.35am and men were getting drowsy. One man was sent up the bank to check for German troops on the bridge. “Sir, I've got good news. Three men are on the bridge and two have fallen asleep. The other man is sitting on an old box filling his rifle with ammo.” The sergeant's face lit up with joy. “OK, let’s go... every one; get into groups of nine.” This made three groups. “On my order, group one will go take out the three men on the bridge. Group two, go to the left side of the town and shoot on sight and finally, group three go to the right side of the town and shoot on sight. Other troops have been called and they will arrive in 0800 hours. Now GO!!”
Soon the whole town was cleared. Well that's what we thought. I heard a strange language coming from upstairs in building 13. I slowly left my group and made my way upstairs. The voice got louder and louder. I was soon upstairs and standing outside the door of which this strange voice was coming from. The door was slightly open. I kicked the door open and pointed my AK-47 at the man huddled in the corner. The figure raised his head and stared with wide terrified eyes. The dark grey uniform and the customary jackboots gave away the figure’s identity; A German. The German cried out in a language that I could not understand. He was holding a picture of what looked like a woman. This must have been his wife or girlfriend. He had no gun or knife on him to attack me with so I was safe. My gun was still pointing at him. Half of me screamed “Pull the trigger you fool!!” But the other half had taken sympathy on him. I then thought to myself, this was the man I was taught to hate, our enemy. The one who had invaded my country and killed my relatives and family. With anger and rage I put my finger back on the trigger and paused...
I could feel cold air on the back of my neck and a gun being pushed against my head. Again I could not understand this strange language coming from the man behind me. I was terrified but at the same time I was not scared to be shot; I was still full of rage, I had nothing more to lose... I turned around and looked the German in the eyes. “Go on, shoot me”. I pushed the German and then pushed him again. “Shoot me you coward!! You've already killed the one thing in this world I loved most. So go on!!! SHOOT ME!!!”
Without hesitation, the German stood back and shot Simon on the forehead. The German looked down on him with disgust, took his gun and possessions and left the room.
