Hope at Dunkirk

1.

One week before the Evacuation

The waves were a grey colour, as they crashed on to the shores of Dunkirk. Soldiers stood in lines leading to the water, waiting for any sign of ships on the horizon. Dressed in dark green bulky uniforms, the soldiers stood closely together on the sand with dark green tin hats on their heads to protect them from bombs from above them. Their black boots were covered in foam from the sea and sand on the beach, but they stood tall. And they waited.

Stretchers laid on the ground behind them, with un-moving soldiers laying on them, wounded. Some groaned from agony, some stayed quiet. Some were possibly already dead. Medical soldiers came in pairs and carried the stretchers towards the jetty, that was occupied with more soldiers waiting for a salvation ship. At the end, stood the Generals of the troops with a ship docked at the side. Soldiers parted for the stretchers and the medicals, letting them walk along the unsteady plank that lead to the ship from the dock.

"Let them through! Let them through!", cried a Officer who was standing at the front of the jetty.

Allied planes were circulating the beach before going out to sea to prevent any German planes from flying in and bombing the troops. One was able to slip past the British Air force, and the horrid noise  of an impending enemy plane filled the air, making the soldiers all turn their tinned hatted heads. Without a sound, they crouched to the floor and covered their ears, praying a bomb didn't land directly on them or near them. The sound of explosions filled Dunkirk, blowing several Men out of their shoes. A British plane flew overhead and followed after the retreating enemy plane, chasing it back out to sea.

And with that, the soldiers stood to their feet and didn't hesitate to continue what they were previously doing. They had experienced it before, so they were used to attacks and just hoped no bomb would hit them. The Air Force were seen as Gods to the soldiers, as they protected them from enemy planes and bombs. Soldiers were hopeless on land if something was coming from above, same with the Navy. They had their riffles and grenades, but they were useless to the German Air Force.

On the ship docked at the jetty, the wounded were being laid down under the deck and being attended to by volunteer Nurses. They wore white medical hats with the Red Cross on them, with their usually short hair wavy to their shoulders. Dressed in blue medical dresses with white collars, an apron-like uniform was present with the same Red Cross along their chests. They comforted the aching soldiers, with a few of the stable soldiers on-board to take back to England.

Harry sat in the corner of the ship's under deck, praying that they'll make it across the sea and back to his home. His dark brown hair was slicked back on top of his, from the rain that had previously fallen on the beach. His skin was slick with sweat, dirt, sand and maybe even a bit of blood. A grey life jacket hung on his broad shoulders, his eyes slowly sweeping over the crowded room with Nurses, soldiers and the wounded occupying the under deck. He didn't socialise, as he found it too depressing to speak after what he'd seen.

His fellow soldiers had been shot or blown to bits by Germans, to which he hated for what they have done. He mostly hated their leader, Adolf Hitler. What a cruel man. Harry hated him and his troops, and had no mercy to them if they were at their weak point. He wanted this war over, and he wanted to go home to his English family.

Harry's ears caught the sound of groaning, followed by a sweet, calm voice. He turned his head to see a soldier laying down  on a stretcher with a sling wrapped around a bloodied and dirty arm. Standing beside him, was a Nurse with short, curly brown hair and red lips. Her skin was porcelain with big blue eyes, a caring charm to her as she soothed the aching boy.

Harry watched with slight admiration as she dabbed the injured man's head with a wet towel, wiping away the sweat and dirt from his forehead. Harry found himself almost wishing he was injured in someway, in order to get attention from the gentle yet beautiful looking Nurse. He soon realised how stupid he sounded, seeing as how these soldiers were so dazed and close to unconsciousness that they don't know what their Nurse's even looked like.

The Nurse's eyes flickered up for a second, meeting with Harry's emerald ones that were still settled on her pale face. A small smile cracked on to her face towards Harry, before turning back to another soldier behind her that was close to passing out from his bleeding head wound. Harry sniffed his blocked nose and looked back down at his feet, hearing from the General outside that the ship should be ready to leave in a minute.

At the last minute, Harry watched two more soldiers run on to the plank carrying a stretcher. They didn't have medical straps around their left arm, making Harry confused at why they were carrying the wounded. He watched as they set down the stretcher, and look around at all the people in the small room.

"Off you go!", a officer said to the two boys, as they reluctantly walked out the room and across the plank back to the jetty

And then, the unmistakable sound of a German plane impending filled the air, planting fear in not only Harry's heart but everyone else's on the beach, on the jetty and on the ship.