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THE BULGE

They wake me up at 1 A.M to tell me

I've got to transport to Antwerp some outfit that's pulling out of Verviers.

Strict blackout rules.

I haven't felt this uneasy

since I landed in Normandy in the middle of the night

five months ago.

I'll miss tonight's shindig here in GIlly-Haies.

T.S., Lieutenant.

Tell it to the chaplain.

It's around 100 kilometers from GIlly-Haies to Verviers--

twenty trucks driven by twenty wary soldiers,

a hesitant procession in total darkness led by me in a jeep,

nervous, for I always follow convoys, not lead,

and always in broad daylight.

Now I can barely see the road ahead, and guess at every intersection,

not knowing if the Germans are in front or in back of us, to our left or right,

or all around us.

We get to Liege;

so far I've guessed right, though I don't expect the buzz bombs,

I thought I left them behind me in England--

yet here they are droning overhead and falling all over the place.

The exploding flashes in the darkness reveal a confusion

of military vehicles grid locked at the crossroads

and a frantic MP trying to direct traffic.

He throws his arms up in panic--or is it exasperation?

I don't know which--

and he takes off.

The evacuation route from Verviers goes through Liege again

so I'm happy because we're out of the buzz bomb range

and it's daytime.

But now the V-2 rocket bombs come--

unseen, and unheard until they explode--

and the rumor is the Germans will capture Antwerp before dawn.

I try to rest overnight in Antwerp but can't sleep.

I hear the rockets exploding all over town.

I think about the possibility of being captured by the Germans.