Rear Admiral Otto Friemel said. ‘Another drink, my friend?’ He reached for the bottle, then sighed. ‘What a pity. We appear to have finished the last of the Schnapps.’
It was still raining heavily in London at eight-thirty on the following evening when JU 88 pathfinders of Gruppe 1/KG 66, operating out of Chartres and Rennes in France, made their first strike. By nine-fifteen the casualty department of Guy’s Hospital was working at full stretch.
Janet Munro, in the end cubicle, curtain drawn, carefully inserted twenty-seven stitches into the right thigh of a young auxiliary fireman. He seemed dazed and lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling, an unlit cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth.
Janet was being assisted by a male nurse named Callaghan, a white-haired man in his late fifties who had served on the Western Front as a Medical Corps sergeant in the First World War. He strongly approved of the young American doctor in every possible way and made it his business to look out for her welfare, something she seemed quite incapable of doing for herself. Just now he was particularly concerned about the fact that she had been on duty for twelve hours, and it was beginning to show.
‘You going off after this one, miss?’
‘How can I, Joey?’ she said. ‘They’ll be coming in all night.’
Bombs had been falling for some time on the other side of the Thames but now there was an explosion close at hand. The whole building shook and there was a crash of breaking glass. The lights dimmed for a moment and somewhere a child started to wail.
‘My God, Jerry certainly picks his time,’ Callaghan remarked.
‘What do you mean?’ she said, still concentrating on the task in hand.
He seemed surprised. ‘Don’t you know who’s here tonight, miss? Eisenhower himself. Turned up an hour ago just before the bombing started.’
She paused and looked at him blankly. ‘General Eisenhower? Here?’
‘Visiting those Yank paratroopers in ward seventy-three. The lads they brought over from Paris last week. Decorating some of them, that’s what I heard.’
She was unable to take it in, suddenly very tired. She turned back to her patient and inserted the last couple of stitches.
‘I’ll dress it for you,’ Callaghan said. ‘You get yourself a cup of tea.’
As she stripped the rubber gloves from her fingers, the young fireman turned his head and looked at her. ‘You a Yank then, Doctor?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Got any gum, chum?’
She smiled and took a cigarette-lighter from her pocket. ‘No, but I can manage a light.’
She took the cigarette from his mouth, lit it and gave it back to him. ‘You’ll be fine now.’
He grinned. ‘Can you cook as well, Doc?’
‘When I get the time.’
Suddenly, the effort of keeping her smile in place was too much and she turned and went into the corridor quickly. Callaghan was right. She needed that cup of tea very badly indeed. And about fifteen hours’ sleep to follow – but that, of course, was quite impossible.
As she started along the corridor, the curtain of a cubicle was snatched back and a young nurse emerged. She was obviously panic-stricken, blood on her hands. Turning wildly, she saw Janet and called out – soundlessly, because at that moment another heavy bomb fell close enough to shake the walls and bring plaster from the ceiling.
Janet caught her by the shoulders. ‘What is it?’
The girl tried to speak, pointing wildly at the cubicle as another bomb fell, and Janet pushed her to one side and entered. The woman who lay on the padded operating table, covered with a sheet, was obviously very much in labour. The young man who leaned over her was a corporal in the Commandos, his uniform torn and streaked with dust.
‘Who are you?’ The tiredness had left her now, as if it had never been.
‘Her husband, miss. She’s having a baby.’ He plucked at her sleeve. ‘For God’s sake do something.’
Janet pulled back the sheet. ‘When did she start?’
‘Half an hour, maybe longer. We was in the High Street when the siren went, so I took her into the underground. Borough Station. When she started feeling bad I thought I’d better get her to hospital, but it was hell out there. Bombs falling all over the place.’
Another landed very close to the hospital now, followed by a second. For a moment, the lights went out. The woman on the table cried out in fear and pain. Here eyes started from her head as the lights came on again and she tried to sit up.
Janet pushed her down and turned to the young nurse. ‘You know what’s wrong here?’
‘I’m not sure,’ the girl said. ‘I’m only a probationer.’ She looked at her hands. ‘There was a lot of blood.’
The young Commando pulled at Janet’s sleeve. ‘What’s going on? What’s up?’
‘A baby is usually delivered head first,’ Janet said calmly. ‘This is what’s known as a breech. That means it’s presenting its backside.’
‘Can you handle it?’
‘I should imagine so, but we haven’t got much time. I want you to stand over your wife, hold her hand and talk to her. Anything you like, only don’t stop.’
‘Shall I get Sister Johnson?’ the young nurse asked.
‘No time,’ Janet said. ‘I need you here.’
Bombs were falling steadily now and from the sound of it, panic had broken out amongst the crowd that waited in general casualty for treatment. She took a deep breath, tried to ignore that nightmare world outside and concentrated on the task in hand.
The first problem was to deliver the legs. She probed gently inside until she managed to get a finger up against the back of one of the child’s knees. The leg flexed instantly and so did the other when she repeated the performance.
The woman cried out and Janet said to the husband, ‘Tell her to push. Push hard.’
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