Читать книгу Remembering D-day: Personal Histories of Everyday Heroes - Martin Bowman - Страница 73

a farmer living with his young wife in Pretot near Ste-Mère-Eglise.

‘At 4 a.m. there was a knock at the door. When I opened it, two Americans walked in. They pulled a printed message in French from their helmets, which read “My comrade is wounded. Please help.” They led me to a para with a broken leg and we carried him to my house. By dawn we had found another six. For two weeks they hid in my attic, but then the Germans came to arrest me. Someone had informed on me. An Austrian captain interrogated me. He knew who I was but protected me by pretending I was someone else. He told me, “If we find the owner of this farmhouse he will be shot.” He saved my life by letting me escape. That night my wife and I crossed the German lines, got through an American minefield and were taken directly to American HQ. I warned them my farm was a German base and asked them to shell it. Half an hour later there was nothing left of my house . . . and nothing left of the Germans.’