Monday, Sep. 04, 1989
Remembrance ". . . It Was Awful"
By ROBERT MERLE
Merle, 81, was a French army interpreter for the British forces when captured at Dunkirk. He is the author of the novel Weekend at Dunkirk.
The British sent all kinds of boats. Big ones, little ones, paddle steamers, yachts, everything. It was gorgeous weather, hot and beautiful. Guys were lying on the dunes, shirts off, watching the combat between the British and German fighters. When they'd see a German fighter go down, they'd applaud.
The most extraordinary thing was that the Germans did not machine-gun the thousands of men on the beach. The Stukas did attack the boats, and I remember one in particular, a paddleboat that had been bombed and caught fire. There were maybe 100 to 200 men grouped in the back of the boat because the front < was in flames. But the wind kept whipping the fire back on them, and the men were crying. It was a kind of moan, but a collective moan, an inhuman moan. I tried to drag a man out of the water and up onto the beach, but there was an obstacle. It was half a human body. The head and shoulders were gone, the torso cut right away . . . Ah, it was awful.