Was it wrong of me to go back to the front knowing that she was carrying our child? But what else could I have done, I was a lieutenant in the Italian army and they needed ambulance personel at the front. But still I wish that things were different, that I was with Catherine in Milan. .
A sudden roar swept across the sky, I couldn`t quite make out what it was. The driver of the vehicle looked over at me with frightend eyes, and then it hit me. The Germans attacked. The noise I`d just heard was a German bomber plane on a mission, I had to rejoin my unit and either counterattack or retreat. But even as the roar of the German bomber blew away with the wind, the one thought that stayed in my mind was my lovely Catherine. I now know that we would be together again.
Finding my unit was not such a trial. My driver and I found them quite easyly. I quickly reported to the commanding officer. .
"Reporting for duty sir.".
"Thank God we got you out here safe lieutenant. We`v just had a note come from the General, we`re to retreat. The Germans have attacked our border posisions.".
"I see sir. Am I to take charge of shipping out some of the wounded from the field hospital?".
"Yes lieutenant. You are in charge of getting our wounded out of this hospital. And Henry.".
"Yes sir?".
"Take care.".
"You too sir, may God be with us all.".
We quickly got the patients ready to go. The doctors and nurses helped us get them into the ambulances. My car was packed and ready to go, so this was the last I`d see of the front. This was a bitter day for the Italian army. We moved along the open landscape, back the way I had just come. All around us we saw units marching. Many of the men looked sad. I asked one of the men frome one of the units we passed why they were all sad.
"You see Tenente, we areretreating. This is for us a great loss, we have lost the battle with the Germans and we can`t counterattack. This is not a good day for the Italian army.