World Battlefronts: Hike

Somewhere in Italy Privates Albert Campbell and William McGovern were in a position that had been infiltrated by German tank formations. Their platoon was cut off. Mortar fire was falling near by and Nazi machine guns opened up. They waded the Sele River, hid out for a night and a day, then started cautiously in the direction of U.S. artillery fire. After that they:

— Almost walked into a machine-gun nest. The five sleeping Germans manning it slept on.

— Followed a telephone wire right into a German command post. Nobody heard them.

— Watched a German light a cigaret four feet away.

— After almost reaching the U.S. position walked plump into a Nazi machine gunner, wide awake and ready for business.

McGovern, abandoning hope, admitted: “We are Americans.” The German gazed in glum silence. Said Campbell, nervously: “Let’s be friendly,” and handed the German a package of Camels. “Italienisch?” asked the Nazi, his curiosity mildly aroused. “No, American,” McGovern replied, and the two Yanks turned as one man and walked, did not run, across the open field. The machine gunner scratched his head, did nothing. A few hundred yards away Campbell and McGovern met an American sentry who passed them on to safety.