World Battlefronts: At the Bridge

At Calais, the thunder of bombardment died and white flags fluttered in a short truce. Beside a demolished bridge eight miles from the town's center the British general commanding the Canadian besiegers waited to confer with the Calais commander, a Colonel Schroeder.

The German colonel, apparently assigned just before the siege to hold Calais as long as possible, soon turned up with his staff. They were smartly uniformed, but one officer had a wooden leg, another only one arm. Colonel Schroeder stiffly saluted his adversary. Said he, referring to the anomaly of a...

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