A Bridge Too Far Page #6

The Germans have moved in

S. S. panzer troops.

You'd think they didn't want us

to get across or something.

They've sealed off the whole area.

Here. You can see on this map.

Every street leading to the bridge

is blocked.

Every house around it is occupied.

The Dutch Underground people say

it's just impossible to break through.

They could be right.

- Where's the captain?

- Dead.

I didn't ask you how he was.

I asked you where he was.

Orderly, we're all out

of bandages over here.

- Sir.

- Not now.

- I'd like you to look at my captain.

- I'm sorry. Put him down.

What in the name of hell

do you...

- You told me to put him down.

- I'm in no mood for crapping around.

If you don't look at him right now,

he's going to die.

He's dead now.

It'd mean a lot to me

if you'd check him out.

Come on, Sergeant.

For Christ's sake, get him out of here.

Would you look at him,

please, sir...

right now...

or I'll blow

your f***in' head off.

Right now.

I can give him a quick examination,

if you like.

Thank you very much, sir.

Son of a b*tch.

Orderly!

Well, I got the bullet

out of his skull.

-He's gonna live though, right?

-He's gonna have one hell of a headache.

Guess you can turn me in now, sir.

That was a court-martial offense.

You understand that?

- Yes, sir.

- Hope to hell it was worth it.

Guess only time

will tell on that, sir.

My response is strictly limited,

regardless of my personal preference.

- You understand that too?

- I do.

Like somebody cheating in school.

Once word gets out that you can behave

any way you goddamn please...

discipline's gone,

forget about getting it back.

So you're gonna have to be arrested,

over and out. Lieutenant Rafferty.

Yes, sir, Colonel.

Lieutenant Rafferty,

this is Sergeant... What's your name?

Eddie Dohun.

Sergeant Dohun pulled a gun on me

and threatened to kill me...

unless I did precisely

what he ordered.

- I want you to put him under arrest.

- Yes, sir.

I want you to keep him there

for at least ten seconds.

- I'm not all that sure I understand.

- Count to ten, Lieutenant, fast.

One, two, three, four, five, six,

seven, eight, nine, ten. Like that?

Thank you, Lieutenant.

This is yours, I think.

It sure looks like mine.

You scared the sh*t out of me,

you stupid bastard.

You did a fine job yourself,

if it makes you feel any better.

Goddamn right it does.

- Eddie?

- Sir.

You wouldn't really

have killed me, would you?

Thank you, sir.

Right!

Let's haul a little ass! Go!

Hold! Hold!

Move it. Come on, soldier,

you're not building a sand castle.

Come on, boys.

Use your muscle.

Heave.

Come on, heave!

Unload quickly.

- It's all right, sir.

- Come on, move yourself.

We haven't got all day.

Come on, push!

Altogether, lift!

Come on, soldier, pound it.

We've got a schedule to meet.

Steady.

Hold it.

- How much longer now?

- About another four hours, sir.

Sh*t.

Come on, boys.

We're not doing this for fun.

- Hey, soldier, get over here.

- Yes, sir.

- Pull on this rope.

- Yes, sir.

Didn't you ever build

a Bailey bridge before?

Neither did I.

Clear the way! Clear!

We haven't got all day.

Roll it, fellas!

Right. Come on. All aboard.

Let's get moving again.

- Thanks, fellas.

- Be seeing you.

- What's wrong, sir?

- They're 36 hours behind schedule.

Lieutenant.

Sir.

We'll be turning you over

to the 82nd now.

They're good soldiers, the 82nd.

Just be sure you keep your hand

on your wallet at all times.

Yes, sir.

They're here.

It's 30 Corps.

They're here, chaps.

You're late, you lazy bastard,

but we'll forgive you!

That was gracious of me.

Take cover!

Bring up the Piat.

Make sure it's within range.

Come on! You'll miss him.

Right, lads! Go, go!

Corporal!

I need a jeep.

Well done, laddie.

- We thought you were dead.

- I can assure you it was an error.

That was the bleeding general.

- Good morning, gentlemen.

- Good morning, sir.

Carry on, thank you.

Good morning, Baker.

Good morning, James.

Harry. Apologies for

my enforced absence. Dennis.

- Sir.

- Lathbury's been put out of action.

I'd like you to go into town,

take over the brigade.

- How soon can you leave?

- Right away.

Pull them together and keep

pushing forward to the bridge.

Did the rest of the division

arrive safely?

Yes, but we've run into

all kinds of trouble.

It would seem that we've landed

on top of two S. S. panzer divisions.

Good God.

As you can imagine,

it's hard to stop tanks...

- with rifles and machine guns.

- Show me.

You can see what we're up against.

Johnny Frost and some of his chaps have

managed to get as far as the bridge.

But the Germans are driving

down here towards the river...

and may even now

have cut them off completely.

Now the entire division is here, we

should be able to break through to him.

It certainly gives us

more of a chance.

Sosabowski's Polish brigade

is due in at 12:
00.

If it arrives.

Yesterday's airlift was three hours late

due to fog in England.

The gliders bringing the Poles'

equipment didn't arrive at all.

- Now give me the good news.

- I'm afraid there isn't any, sir.

As you can see,

we're more or less surrounded.

So far we're holding our own, but we're

desperately short of food, medicine...

and above all, ammunition.

- Are we getting our daily supply drop?

- Oh, yes.

The Royal Air Force

are flying in on schedule.

The trouble is, the Germans

have overrun the dropping zones.

- Don't our pilots know that?

- I'm afraid not, sir.

In heaven's name, why?

It's the radios, sir.

We still haven't been able to make

contact with anyone outside Arnhem.

Fools!

Bloody fools, this way!

We're over here!

We're here!

- It's wide.

- Drop 'em over here.

What the hell are they doing?

They must be able to see us.

They can see us all right, laddie...

but they're under orders

to ignore signals from the ground.

For all they know,

we could be Germans.

They're giving it all

to the bloody Germans.

Charles.

Poor bastard.

Oh, well, maybe tomorrow.

Here.

He'll never make it.

Those bleeding snipers will get him.

Come back!

Come on, Ginger mate.

- He'll never lift it.

- Come on, mate!

Bring it back, mate.

Come on.

Come on!

Run, laddie, run!

Oh, Jesus Christ!

Taxi!

- Do you get all that?

- She wants somebody to call her a taxi.

Taxi.

- Doctor.

- Good evening, Kate.

May I introduce Mrs. ter Horst,

Colonel Weaver.

Is your husband

not returned yet?

He should have been here by now.

He must be having difficulties

coming through the German lines.

Well, in that case...

we will have to ask you

for a decision.

Colonel Weaver

has a request to make.

What we've done is

we've set up...

a defensive pocket,

more or less thumb shaped...

with the river as the base.

Mrs. ter Horst speaks

surprisingly good English, Colonel.

Then you understand that we're

in quite a strong position...

for holding out

until 30 Corps reaches us.

But we have to make

certain arrangements.

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