There were stories. The rumor mill swirled around Lieutenant Speirs (
взводный роты "D" 506 парашютно-десантного полка, 2 батальон, 101 вдд, прим. Geier). ....
Then there was the day in Normandy when Speirs was walking down a road by himself and passed a group of ten German P.O.W.s. They were under guard and were digging a roadside ditch. Speirs stopped, broke out a pack of cigarettes, and gave one to each P.O.W. They were so appreciative he jumped into the ditch and gave them the whole pack. Then he took out his lighter and gave each one a light. He stepped back up on the road and watched them inhale and chat.
Suddenly and without warning he unslung the Thompson 45-caliber submachine-gun he always carried and fired into the group. He continued raking back and forth until all the P.O.W.s were dead. The guard was stunned. Speirs turned and walked away.
Tom Gibson, who related this story to me (
Стивену Амброзу, автору книги, прим. Geier) (I (
Стивен Амброз, прим. Geier)heard it from many other sources, although no one saw it happen), commented, "I firmly believe that only a combat soldier has the right to judge another combat soldier. Only a rifle company combat soldier knows how hard it is to retain his sanity, to do his duty and to survive with some semblance of honor. You have to learn to forgive others, and yourself, for some of the things that are done." Gibson said he had told the story often over the years, never naming names, but using it as an example of what can happen in war. He continued, "We all know war stories seem to have a life of their own. They have a way of growing, of being embellished. Whether the details are precise or not there must be a kernel of truth for such a story to ever have been told the first time."
Сообщение от Polar
Лейтенантом Спирсом из роты Д.
Ответить с цитированием