Evening star., 1944-07-14
BY IRA WOLFERT,

WITH THE UNITED STATES
INFANTRY OUTSIDE ST. 10,
July II Delayed American troops
find the Normandy farmer frugal.
His fields are mostly less. than an
acre and all boxed in by high
hedges as II they were treasures he
wanted to lock up.
He's got them locked up tight, for
the hedges are thick and green and
brambly. You can't see through them
II you stick your face into them.
It's like trying to look through
mask.
Under every hedge is a German
slit trench-one, three or i've OF
them-dug right into the roots Of
the hedges. Men who know .
great deal about war built them.
A battalion this morning was
driving due south on st. Lo and
there were Germans ahead of them
and on both sides Of them, waiting
in hedges in every field with NOR
tars, machine guns. rifles and ma
chine pistols. A lieutenant would
say q four-letter word. He chose
the same one every time, not be-
cause he liked it but because his
mind was too numbed to think up 4
new one.
There Amt nobody gonna shoot
at you," he'd add. and lift himself
out of the slit earth where he had
been hiding and haul himself
through a hedge, putting his arms
in front of his face to keep the
thorns out. His platoon would lift
and haul with him and then they'd
be out in an open field.
Hope Lieutenant Is Right.
1t felt terrible there. Every one
would feel naked in the timothy and
American style clover and grass,
reaching no higher than the leg
gings. The fellows would think,
"Shavetai, you blankblank of q
shavetail. you're gonna be a dead
little boy If you amt right about no
body shooting at U.s.
Platoons In the fields to the right
and left would be coming through
hedges and advancing at the same
time, I'D do6bt thinking the same
thing about their second iooies. It
felt good IN the thick hedges 1t the
edge OF the open field. When you are
in a battle it is hard to think that
anything exists anywhere except the
battle at the time.
About tive hours ago, as wrote, It.
seemed to me there was no better
place to be in the world than those
hedges. It was Miami Beach and the
high Sierras and New Orleans Ut
eating time ali rolled into one. Can
non and mortar SHELLS would pass
over your head. The trajectory WAS
in your favor. You knew that they
couldn't hit you unless you had bad
luck and one fell right on your head.
That was why there were still
Germans in the hedges. Our ar-
tillery couldn't drive them the con-
ventional feet under unless 1t hit
each one separately on the head.
But nobody thought Of that just
then. Everybody would just lie
there and wait for the lieutenant to
say his four-letter word and that
nobody was going to shoot ut you.
Pigs Strayed Fields.
A couple of pigs were grunting
and gobbling as they srubbed in the
fields and the fellow next to me,
finding his brains breathing again,
said, Look, pork chops!" Funny
looking French birds were fiutter-
ing away from every shell whistle.
giving off soft, wet MARBLES like they
were clearing their throats. Only it
sounded beautiful.
The smell of summer was as thick
and sweet as in any field any one
| has ever been in. Summer just
poured out of the earth and washed
across your face.
There wasn't much talking in the
hedges. Most of the fellows fall
silent when they are afraid. Only
one in 10 becomes talkative. Words
come out Of them in a steady; high,
irritating babbei. They try to talk
out the fear in them, but most just
hold fear silently inside and edge
away from the talkative one.
Pretty soon if there Is room
enough, the talkative one finds he
is talking to himself. Then he edges
over looking for an ear to lean on
and the edging away begins again.
Hear Thorns Tear Clothes.
Mostly what you heard in the
hedges was the fiat sound of shall
low breathing. Lungs don't work
very we'll when man is afraid and
breath becomes very short.
The lieutenant said his four letter
word and fellows lifted up and
scraped and tore their awkward way
through hedges. You heard thorns
tear their clothes like paw nails
of little animals.
After that they stood on the soft
grass and there was nothing between
them and the enemy's bullets except
the warm, soft summer air-so thin
that air was-oh, how thin. The
| platoon looked across q hundred feet
of grass, perhaps. to another hedge
just like the one they had left. Only
there were Germans in that hedge.
You felt that you were sticking up
like q sore thumb, waiting to be
banged again by a hammer. The
hedge across the field seemed a life
time away for some of the fellows.
And that's just what it was for some