The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

the banks of the Escaut at Tournai when it came under fire. ‘Can you use
your rifle?’ the company commander asked him.
‘I can shoot a gun,’ Sid replied, ‘but I’ve never shot this one.’
‘Do you know how to load it?’ the captain asked.
‘Yes,’ Sid replied.
The CO then pointed out a house at the edge of a wood on the far side
of the canal. ‘If you see any German soldiers on that side,’ he told Sid, ‘fire
at them. But only if you see them in that area.’
Sure enough, eventually he did spot a German, recognizing the
distinctive enemy helmets. Taking aim, he squeezed the trigger and fired,
but to Sid’s surprise the German kept on walking; he never even ducked.
The lance corporal hurried over. ‘Have you just fired?’ he asked. Sid told
him he had.
‘Did you hit him?’
‘No.’
‘Let’s have a look at your rifle.’
Sid passed it to him and the lance corporal looked at it. ‘Your sights are
set to six hundred yards. That shot will have gone miles over his head.’ He
put Sid’s sights back to one hundred yards.
Later, on the night of the 21st, ‘C’ Company had taken over positions
held by the Lancashire Fusiliers. ‘We were walking up in the middle of the
night,’ says Sid, ‘and it was pitch black and suddenly a Lancashire voice
comes out of the darkness, saying, “I shouldn’t go up there, mate – they’re
killing one another.”’
Now the battalion was back inside France and this time, when the
enemy caught up, he would be at the sharp end, not behind with the rest of
B Echelon. He’d only been an infantryman for a few days. His was a crashcourse
training, learning on the job.
Momentous decisions were now about to be made on both the German and
British sides, decisions that would have far-reaching consequences in the
days and weeks to come. Running south-east from Gravelines, just ten
miles west from Dunkirk, lay the River Aa, which south of St Omer joined
La Bassée Canal. This was the Canal Line that was protecting the southern
– or right – flank of the BEF and the French First Army. By the morning of
the 24th, Guderian’s 1st Panzer Division had reached this line and by
midday had secured crucial bridgeheads across it in three separate places.