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Clank-clank-clank-clank!
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It's the sound an infantryman dreads most, the sound of heavy steel tank treads coming
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your way.
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For the British paratroopers caught far behind enemy lines, it's the sound of death- and
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it's coming from all around.
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Operation Market Garden, meant to hasten the end of the war against Nazi Germany by as
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much as six months, is a complete disaster.
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The airborne assault was meant to secure vitally important bridges behind enemy lines, opening
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up an invasion route into northern Germany which would allow Allied troops to pour into
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the heart of the Nazi regime itself, and rip it out while still beating.
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For the Nazis, this would've been a strategic disaster, and likely signaled the end of the
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war.
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With over 41,000 airborne troops, it is the largest airborne assault in history, and yet
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the Allies would severely underestimate the Germans, leading to a defeat five days later.
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For now though, Major Robert Henry Cain, commander of Bravo company, 2nd South Staffordshire
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regiment of the 1st Airborne Division, has greater concerns than the imminent defeat
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of the ambitious Allied airborne thrust into Germany.
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He has two Panzers bearing down on them, and only a PIAT- Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank-
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to defend himself with.
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Allied armor never got a chance to make its crossing, and these tanks aren't going to
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blow themselves up.
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Bleeding from several bullet wounds, the good Major lifts up his PIAT and takes aim at the
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lead tank....
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Five days earlier and Major Cain is loaded up into a glider along with the rest of his
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men.
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The Allies have made extensive uses of gliders to ferry airborne troops to battle, cheap
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and unpowered alternatives to the lumbering transport planes that tow them to their destinations.
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As the plane towing them lifts into the air, the glider soon follows suit, and is quickly
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several thousand feet in the air.
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Then, the first of many disasters strikes.
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The tow rope keeping the glider attached to its plane snaps, leaving the glider flying
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through the air completely unpowered.
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The pilot at the front desperately works the controls, trying to find a safe place to set
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the glider down.
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Despite being paratroopers, the men aren't wearing parachutes as they are meant to ride
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their glider all the way to their final destination, a battlefield in Belgium.
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While this places the men at more risk, the use of gliders also means that the men won't
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be as widely dispersed as they would be if they simply parachuted in, and allows them
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to retain unit cohesion and to stay close to their supplies and heavy equipment.
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Incredibly though, the pilot manages to bring the glider down to a rough, but safe stop
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on a nearby field, smashing into a tall hedge.
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The pilot is in disbelief, this exact same thing had happened to him on D-Day.
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Perhaps he's just lucky, for the Major though, he and his men had a battle to get to.
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Early the next day, Major Cain and his men make a rough landing near Arnhem.
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The Major's company's currently involved in heavy fighting as they attempt to reach their
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target, the strategically important bridge at the town of Arnhem, which will allow Allied
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ground forces to cross the river and join the fight.
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If the bridge isn't taken, the ground assault element won't be able to cross, and this could
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spell doom for the entire operation.
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The Germans however are no fools, and they've set up a blocking force to stop the British
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soldiers from reaching their objective.
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For over a day the fighting is intense, only barely letting up at night before resuming
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once more early the next morning.
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The British are in effect boxed in by German units, and are receiving terrible casualties.
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Supported by artillery and self-propelled guns, the Germans completely outgun the relatively
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lightly armed British paratroopers, and are decimating British forces.
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To make matters worse, the Germans now have tanks rumbling down on the Major and his men.
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With the Allied ground assault unable to cross the river, German panzers have been freed
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up from engaging allied armor and now join in a push to eradicate the British and American
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paratroopers.
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Fighting that was desperate has just now been kicked up a notch as the tanks lend their
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cannons and machine guns to the fight.
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The only thing the paratroopers have to fight off the tanks is the British PIAT, a shoulder-fired
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anti-tank weapon that fires a 2.5 pound (1.1 kg) explosive warhead.
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The weapon has an advantage over the American bazooka and the German Panzerschreck, and
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that's the fact that it is spring-fired, meaning there is no distinctive puff of smoke that
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can give away a soldier's position as he fires it.
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However, this is where the PIAT's strengths stop, as the weapon is largely inferior to
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either its American or German counterpart.
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For starters, the weapon sported less penetration power than a bazooka or a panzerschreck, and
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it was extremely awkward to operate.
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The firing mechanism required two fingers to pull back, and as the weapon was spring
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loaded, you had to put considerable effort into preparing it to fire.
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Once fired though, the recoil from the weapon was so severe that men's shoulders were often
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dislocated, and at times their collarbones broken.
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After just a few firings, any soldier's shoulder would be bruised purple, and yet today they
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are the British paratrooper's only hope of fending off the German tanks.
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The PIATs manage to hold off the advancing tanks, but the men are completely boxed in.
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The area has become a killing field, and a fighting withdrawal is ordered.
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By the time Major Cain manages to retreat, most of Alpha and Bravo company has been destroyed,
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leaving only a handful of survivors.
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The losses are staggering.
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With no clear chain of command left surviving, Major Cain assumes command of all the remaining
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survivors of the 2nd South Staffords.
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This leaves him with barely more than a reinforced company, and he orders the men to move to
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a more defensible position on high ground atop a hill a few hundred meters from the
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German blocking force.
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Their movement is spotted by German forward observers though, and soon heavy mortar fire
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begins to rain down on the British.
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The men desperately try to dig in as the mortars explode around them, but the ground is hard
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and covered in thick roots, making it all but impossible to dig fox holes.
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Major Cain is wounded by shrapnel, adding to several other wounds already suffered.
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As more enemy tanks begin to roll towards them and the mortar fire eases off, the Major
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is starting to realize something- someone in intelligence messed up bad.
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There weren't supposed to be so many German armored forces here, and yet somehow allied
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intelligence missed the fact that the Ninth and Tenth SS Panzer Divisions had both been
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recently redeployed to the area.
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Thousands of allied paratroopers, armed with only the weapons they could carry on their
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backs, had been sent to fight hundreds of heavy German tanks, supported by thousands
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of infantry equipped with self-propelled guns, artillery, and mortars.
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The operation had just begun two days prior, and it was already a blood bath.
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Major Cain orders the survivors to fall back, and as the sun rises the next morning he's
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been forced out of Arnhem, and of the 1,000 strong 2nd South Staffords, he now commands
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only a band of 100 soldiers- most of them wounded.
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Nonetheless, he orders the men to dig in, there's no escape for them, but if they can
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hold their ground then possibly other Allied assaults might have been successful, and rescue
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could come from other bridgeheads.
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The Major has no way of knowing that Operation Market Garden is officially a failure, and
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one of the worst defeats of World War II.
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The Germans advance under cover of fighters, and supported by self-propelled guns and tanks.
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The British are subjected to a blistering barrage of fire, and yet the men fight heroically,
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refusing to yield.
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The Germans hope to cut the British off from the river, which would make rescue impossible
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and doom the entire 1st Airborne to surrender or death.
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Despite being wounded and bleeding, Major Cain is moving from house to house, backpack
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full of rounds for his PIAT.
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He pops up behind windows, attacking the tanks from their vulnerable sides and tops, and
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the only angle at which a PIAT has a decent chance of defeating tank armor.
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His shoulder is turning black from the extreme pounding the spring-loaded weapon delivers
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on each firing, it feels like a horse kicking him square in the shoulder each time he pulls
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the trigger, and yet he knows that it's either this or death- the Germans are relentless.
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Falling back, Major Cain slips into a trench and calls out for an artillery officer to
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direct his fire with the PIAT.
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The artillery officer, located on the second floor of an abandoned house, spots targets
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for the Major, and Major Cain lobs over four dozen rounds with the aid of the artillery
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officer.
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The Germans however have caught on, and a self-propelled gun turns to the direction
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of the house and fires, obliterating the upstairs floor and the officer there.
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The chimney comes crashing down, nearly crushing Major Cain to death.
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Major Cain however quickly gathers himself together and crawls forward through the trench.
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He spots another German StuG (pronounced STOOG) and fires, destroying the tank's treads.
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The tank fires back, missing the Major but throwing up great clouds of smoke and dust,
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which helps obscure the Major as he moves to a different position.
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The Major fires a second round, but the round fails to penetrate the thick armor, and the
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German tank fires back, throwing more debris into the air.
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A Panzer now joins the fight, and the Major pops up to fire off another PIAT round at
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this new threat- only to be met by the ominous sound of a dull 'click'.
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His weapon has misfired, and a split second later the timed explosive round blows up in
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his face.
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Major Cain is hurled backwards, completely blinded and with ruptured eardrums, and yet
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he is screaming- not in pain, but for his men to engage this new threat.
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Behind him, several soldiers manhandle a heavy 75mm American howitzer to face in the direction
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of the German tank, drop the barrel, and use the artillery piece as an anti-tank cannon,
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decimating the Panzer.
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The Major is severely wounded and dragged back to a casualty collection point.
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Luckily for him, the explosive round has mostly exploded outwards, and the blindness is temporary.
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His eardrums are shattered though, and his vision hazy.
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Plus he's been wounded at least a half dozen times already, and has lost a fair amount
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of blood.
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Nonetheless, the Major shoves the medics aside and thirty minutes later is back on the front
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line.
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By now though the company has run out of PIAT ammunition, so the Major improvises.
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German flamethrower tanks are approaching, and threatening to roast the British defenders
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to death, so the Major grabs a two inch mortar and levels it off at the approaching tanks,
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destroying the lead tank.
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He fires off several more shots from the improvised anti-tank weapon, and incredibly the Germans
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begin to pull back.
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The British defenders, no doubt emboldened by the absolute insanity of Major Cain's exploits,
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have managed to hold their ground.
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As night falls, boats manage to cross the river and reach the stranded British paratroops.
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The Major refuses to leave the battlefield until every single survivor is aboard a boat,
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and before boarding himself he finds a razor and a piece of mirror, taking the time to
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shave five days of stubble so that he could present himself to his superiors on the other
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side of the river, “as a proper British officer.”.
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Credited with destroying or disabling six enemy tanks and an unknown number of self-propelled
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guns, the Major would go on to win the Victoria Cross, and was the only recipient to survive
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the most disastrous operation in the entire war.
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