A Cowardly exit

Ordering two men to go collect our shot comrade,I inwardly cure the situation,from twenty-five men to thirteen,one useless to us except as a distraction. They return and deposit the body in the basement across from the children,causing then to shrink back in fear.

All is quiet as the day gives way to the start of night. The sun is half down when my men shout "Three Canadians approaching!" We grab our arms and move to over the windows.Sending my two aides out the no sooner clear the open door when the same message is repeated "Surrender,let the children go unharmed or face the consequences" Two of my men draw aim on their backs as they turn to leave but stop when a vehicle motor is heard,a jeep with mounted machine gun drives towards the hall,then passes by going out of town.

Gathering me men i announce that we are going to try to escape under the cover of dark. The men perk up,hunger and fear deadening their sense of pride. Gathering eleven men i order them to gather anything that can be made to look like a person,any old clothing available and make dummies to post by some windows. Five such dummies were made, two put in the windows on the side of the hall,one on the second floor above the door. One we place by the the stairs leading into the basement,the last in my room.

Leaving our great coats behind on the dummies we wait for the hour of one to strike before we make our way out a side window on the side leading out of town. I have one man remain with our wounded man to look after the children. Eleven men are through the window when a noise is heard coming from the basement. I jump out the window and order the men to run across the fields leading out of town. Ten minutes after leaving the hall we think we have made it,then the ambush by those ficken Canadians.

Popping up from a prone position i count at least forty of the uneheliches, shouting to my men a call a retreat back to the town .Four men try to cover our escape only to be cut down.The rest make they way back in groups of threes, the final two,me and one of my aides barely making it as the Canadians herded us like sheep back to the town hall.

Posting guards at the windows and i go down to the basement finding no men and no children cowering! Off by the back room i see a door open leading to stairs then into the night!

Turning around going back in i scream "Verdammt! Ficken Canadians!" firing my luger into the ceiling.From above a scream of someone being hit by my shot, then a thud of a body falling.