The Long War
by
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They were still talking about this when there was a sudden jolt that nearly sent everyone sprawling on the floor. They heard the screech of iron wheels locking and grinding on the rails and the train slammed to a shuddering stop. When it did Dave, who had grabbed Bostwick to prevent him from going down on the floor, yelled: “Out! Out! Everybody out!” With these words everybody rushed from the windows and ran for the doors. Both of them followed. They ran for the door on the left side of the wagon. This was the door on the side away from the Route Nationale and on the side of the field. At the door Bostwick turned and looked at Dave.
Their eyes met and at that precise moment the look in Bostwick’s eyes said: “Wait. Wait.” As Dave could see the look in Bostwick’s eyes he could hear again, but not see, another V of planes diving in on them. He could also hear the noise of their diving growing bigger and bigger until it seemed to be roaring inside of him. At that moment the look in Bostwick’s eyes suddenly said: “Now!” When he saw this Dave jumped clear out of the wagon with Bostwick. Dave’s heart leapt into his throat, however, when he saw the plane on the outside of the V spring out of nowhere over the train and grow huge. Its twin 20 mm cannons were firing point-blank at the soldiers and people in the field. Dave and Bostwick dropped in a free fall between the two spitting slashing rows of bullets and hit the pale green-grass embankment.
Dave reached out and grabbed Bostwick to stop him from rolling to the bottom of it. He pulled him underneath the wagon with him and saw Bostwick’s wounded leg leave a wide bloody trail on the grass. Then, as they both lay underneath the wagon, they looked at this V of planes also climbing and turning west. At the top of the turn the plane on the left side of the V dipped its wings.
Then the planes were gone and they both lay underneath the wagon.
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About the Book
In the tradition of the great Second World War novels, THE LONG WAR is the story of David Lindsay, soldier, officer and war hero. Joining the Westmount Fusiliers, an elite assault Regiment, at the start of the war, David Lindsay is taken on a surprising and unexpected journey to
During those campaigns David Lindsay fights alongside his sardonic and unpredictable Sergeant Major, Harold T. Bostwick, and a group of soldiers from his company, B Company, who are called the Big Ten. Made prisoner in the attempted
THE LONG WAR also deals with three magnificent women David Lindsay meets: Barbara Bradford, the young aircraft plotter from Croydon; Jeanne, who runs an escape line called La Ligne Interallié; and Nina Haegen, a German nurse who takes care of him when he is badly wounded. THE LONG WAR is a novel that deals with the very fabric of life itself and with the art of survival and of learning to come to terms with oneself. Above all, it is a study in the responsibilities of command and of what it takes to go on and fulfill those responsibilities.
About the Author
Paul Desautels’ vast and extensive interest in military affairs led him to write The LONG WAR. This novel is the first of a series of seven novels to be published under the general title of THE WAR CHRONICLES. Now retired, Paul Desautels was the Inspector General and Academy Director of a large security corporation with world-wide security interests. He was also the Director of a Security Program at the TAV campus of the