You look out for everything, he thought, and you... You look out for everything, he thought, and you still get hit from behindStanley felt a deep malaiseHe stared about him, listening to some artillery fire in the distance, and the anxiety increased, became almost painful for a momentHe was sweating, close to whimperingThe heat of the day, the glare of the sand, and the nervous fatigue from the action, had combined to drain him of any strengthHe was weak and terrified, and he didn't understandOutside of a few uneventful patrols, he had experienced no combatYet now he was feeling an intense loathing and fear at the thought of having any moreHe wondered how he could lead men in combat when he was so terrified himself, and yet he knew that he had to get another stripe, and then another, that he would force himself to move upThere was something wrong, basically upset in himself at that moment, and he muttered to Brown, "Goddam heat makes a man weak He sat there, sweating damplyA vague oppressive horror bothered him
"You think you know all the angles, but you never do," Brown said"Like before with that garage deal, you were luckyYou think we knew there were Japs? I'll tell ya,
chanel white watches Stanley, it was the same with you thereHow the hell did you know when something was gonna pop? It's the same with my old game, sellingThere's tricks, there's ways to grab the big money, but you're never sure
"Yeah," Stanley saidHe was not really listeningStanley was feeling a diffused rebellion at the things that made him worried and envious, made him always ferret for some advantageHe did not know what caused it in himself, but without putting it into words he was brooding that there would be many nights through all the rest of his life when he would lie sweating and restive, prey to all the latest torments of his mind
11
THE CAMPAIGN had gone sourAfter the week of successful advances that followed the failure of the Japanese attack across the river, Cummings had paused for a few days to strengthen his lines and complete his road netIt had been planned as a temporary halt before breaching the Toyaku Line, but the layoff was fatalWhen Cummings started again, his tactics were as well conceived as they had ever been, his staff performances as thorough, his patrols as carefully planned, but nothing happenedThe front had
chloe paddington bags been given its first chance to solidify, and like a weary animal it had done even more; it had fallen asleep, it had hibernatedA deep and unshakable lethargy settled over the front-line troops
In the two weeks that followed the rest period, after a series of intensive patrols and strong local attacks, his lines had advanced a total of four hundred yards in a few sectors, and had captured a total of three Japanese outpostsCompanies went out on combat patrols, engaged in desultory fire fights, and then retreated back to their bivouacsThe few times an important piece of terrain was taken, the men had relinquished it at the first serious counterattackAs a sure sign of the reluctant temper of the troops, the best line officers were becoming casualties now, and Cummings knew the type of engagement that signifiedAn attack would be made on some strong point, and the men would lag behind, the co-ordination would be poor, and it would end with a few men, a few good officers, and noncoms engaging a superior force while their support evaporated
Cummings made several trips to the front and found the men had bedded downThe bivouacs had
replica fendi spy been improved, there were drainage pits and overhead covers on the foxholes, and in a few companies duckwalks had been laid in the mudThe men would not have done this if they expected to moveIt represented security and permanence, and it introduced a very dangerous change in their attitudesOnce they halted and stayed in one place long enough for it to assume familiar connotations, it was immeasurably harder to get them to fight againThey were dogs in their own kennel now, Cummings decided, and they would bark sullenly at orders
Each day that elapsed without any fundamental change on the front would only increase their apathy, and yet Cummings knew that he was temporarily powerlessAfter intense preparation, he had mounted a large attack with good artillery plotting, some Air Corps bomber support which had been granted only after much pleading, had thrown his tanks into it, his reserve troops, and after a day the attack had ground down to nothing; the troops had halted before the most insignificant resistance, had gained in one small sector perhaps a quarter mileWhen they had done and the losses been counted, the minor
black fendi spy bag alterations in his front line established, he had all of the Toyaku Line still before him, unbreached, unthreatenedIndeed, it was terrifyingThe communications from corps and army were growing progressively impatientSoon, like a traffic jam, that pressure would be backed up all the way to Washington, and Cummings could imagine without difficulty the conversations that must be going on in certain rooms of the Pentagon"Well, what's happening here, what's this, Anopopei, what's holding it up, whose division, Cummings, Cummings, well, get the man out of there, get someone else
He had known it was dangerous to rest the troops for a week, but it was a gamble he had had to take while he finished the road, and it had boomerangedThe shock cut deeply into the General's confidenceThe process at most times was unbelievable to him, and he was suffering the amazement and terror of a driver who finds his machine directing itself, starting and halting when it desiresHe had heard of this, military lore was filled with such horror tales, but he had never imagined it would happen to himFor five weeks the troops had functioned like an extension of his own
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