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Vraisemblablement Karl Quigley de l'American Field Service :
www.ourstory.info 
Extrait de : War Without Music
"..PARIS by now was almost completely emptied of human beings. No automobiles rolled up and down the great boulevards where once the traffic was so thick that driving was difficult. No taxis, no green autobuses, only now and then a rare touring car hurrying on its way with belated refugees. The municipal police had received orders to stay, and stood at their posts or walked their beats in silence.
De Belle and I lost no time crossing the town, deposited our wounded at the Foch Hospital, and continued on to Houdan. I had figured that we were being sent there to carry the blessés of the army that was defending the Seine, but when we arrived we found Quigley waiting with the gasoline truck, and he informed us that the Germans had already crossed the river on pontoon bridges. He had been left to tell us that the Section had gone on to Rambouillet., where we were to join it. All of the cars that had been with me at Bouffemont were accounted for now that de Belle had come in, but four drivers from the half of the Section that had been with the 13th Division were missing.
I sent de Belle on to join the Section, giving him two magnums of champagne for the boys, with my compliments. Quigley would wait for me at Houdan, unless he received definite word that the Germans were coming. I also left a magnum of champagne with him to keep him company, and returned to Paris, hoping that I might locate one or more of the lost drivers. At least I could leave word at several places where they might pass not to return to Houdan because of the danger, but to go straight to Rambouillet. I did not want Quigley to be captured. Not only was he an excellent man and a good driver, but also he had the gasoline supply, most necessary to keep the Section on a working basis. So I let the car out, covering the seventy-five miles to Paris and back, including two stops to leave instructions, in an hour and a half. This was over crowded roads, for the pedestrian refugees, carrying their possessions in their hands and on their backs, had not travelled far from the capital.
None of the four drivers had been seen either by the guardian at our office in the Champs-Élysées or by courageous little Albertson, who was sticking it out with his family in United States House at the Cité Universitaire where we had lived before going to the front. After leaving messages at both places I headed full tilt for Houdan. As I passed through the Bois de Boulogne I noticed clouds of smoke beginning to rise in the northwest not far distant. Soon the smoke would black out the sun and spread over Paris. I made a hurried stop to ask a policeman what it was, and he told me that soldiers had set fire to the gasoline depots in Neuilly. This is a suburb, really a part of the capital, so I knew they must be expecting the Germans at any moment. They marched into the city at break of day next morning.
At least a hundred times on my return to Houdan soldiers and civilians tried to stop me for a ride, but I did not slow down my pace. Quigley's safety and that of my Section depended on my arriving in Houdan before the Germans, and this was the all-important question from my point of view. Each officer should hold himself responsible for the safety of his men, and that should come first. If we lost the precious gasoline the Section risked being stuck and captured. From now on gasoline became a major problem in our lives. It was as important to us as our very lifeblood.
Quigley was still there, his broad face calm and unconcerned, although he had been bombed once during my absence. However, there was not much left in the champagne bottle I had left with him. Two British tank corps men had joined him. Their tank had broken down as the Germans approached, and they had kept to the fields, watching the enemy roll along the roads. In the night they had stolen a boat and traversed the Seine under a crossfire from the Germans and the French. Now they were in Houdan and did not know what to do next. They spoke no French and had no funds, so Karl Quigley took them under his care..." Laurent Laloup le samedi 22 septembre 2007 - Demander un contact Recherche sur cette contribution | |
