The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-12-17
UNEVEN BATTLE
LAM IDS.


 around, the men and women were working, at the food, cleaning the rifles, filling belts for the machine guns. the doctor laying out bottles bandages and syringes for the wounded.
 Many had been sick the past few days. Because of the scarcity Of food and blankets and the complete lac. of coal, every second house had had someone in bed. But this morn ing every man of them was up, and Gunnar, seeing the gaunt and feverish faces, felt his anger and resolution riae. and was conscious of the tremendous responsibility he had undertaken.
 A sharp burst of firing started on the north road.
 "Knut,' he cried, starting up. 'Take 50 men north. I'm going up the path to the hotel
 He ran out across the square, called a squad together, and went from one man to another to see if each had his full equipment, am munition in his pockets, hand gre nades in his boot tops. gun ready. Then he said a sharp word of en- courugement and quick reminder Pick up their guns and hel- nets we need all they've got and more and started cau- tiously up the path at the head of his troop. An early morning fog began rolling in from the sea, cold and damp.
 of to the left they could hear sporadic fire from the road. That would be Osterholm and Kjerlof, Ahead, flare went up amid the trees. They stopped, and when 1t wa. dark, went slowly forward again. Somewhere in the distance a machine gun started chattering nervously. Gunnar wiped a hand over his mouth and beckoned those nearest him to spread out so they would not present too compact a target. Then except for the soft crunch of boots in the snow, the whole forest grew ut- tsrly still.
 Gunnar went down the line, saw how they were lingering the bolts on their rifles, watching shlftily from side to side. He passed out the short, whispered orders, and then they moved on again and got to the very order of the trees be- fore the Germans struck. From every aperture in the building. machine gun fire burst out, but now that it had come. the men !unged recklessly forward. pulling she pins of their grenades, and let nflv through the porch windows. There was a crash and tinkllng of glass, and then the explosions rocked out, one after another.
 For a moment the firing halted, Gunnar tried to call his men for ward, but the guns started up again from the sides, catching them in a merciless crossfire. They broke and fled back to the shelter of the trees.
 And the fisherman, trying to rally his broken force, realized ne had made his first and greatest mistake. He had undervalued the captain and lost score Of men in trap any half-trained soldier would have known existed.
 But they had met their first ire, and somehow it brought ne" spirit to them.
 Far to the south they could hear firing from where Trygve anc his small group were holding the battered bridge. and from tht north came the sharp sounds ot skirmish somewhere on the road It gave them heart. They rallied around the path, crying, We car hold them, Gunnar. They'll nevel get through" But the fisherman hearing the guns from both side of the town, knew differently. l was only 2 o'clock, but they wer' already surrounded and standin' outnumbered, their backs to tn' sea.
 He spread his men again in desperate hope that it would Keel the enemy from cutting towart town through the forest. TWic' more in the next hour they triet to force a way across the clearlnl toward the inn, but each time tn Germans drove tn meback.
 It was after o'clock when a. tilIery started firing. The tirs warning was a low thunder bacl in the hills, and from the vlAag the crash of an explosion. Inei hearts sank for the families the had left beIow, ana sonr of tn' men were for turning back.
 we can't help them, Gunna said, and slipped from one to an otl CT under the trees. Hold fast, he cried. And all the time h racked his brain to think wher the gun could be. It was incon ceiyable that endorsements coul' have brought artillery over tn hills in one night. It must hay been there for months without an. of them knowing about it.
 It was about that time whei Syerre Trog came up the path hacking for breath. He had run practically all the way from tht north road. Knut and Kjerlof, he told them, were being pressed steadily back, and unless some decisive stroke were made, an other hour would see the enemy in the square. 0s2nax ustaned tbOughtEVlly and