Day of Vengeance

by Johnny O'Brien

  Questions crowded into Jack’s head… “What happened to you… after the war? How come you are here?”

  “We were in the resistance you know. But in 1940 we escaped Paris and went south. Mother and Father tried to live a quiet life. British Intelligence ordered it. We ended up in Grenoble and they died there, peacefully, many years ago. I set up a photographic studio… and later we had a shop – climbing, skiing, Parkour. My father had a special name for it, he called it ‘les jeux abnormales’. She smiled and her whole face wrinkled. “We had a good life and good fun… eventually. But…” she shrugged, “I never forgot your grandfather… and I hoped one day we would meet again. I did try and make contact, after the war. But I could find nothing, nothing at all. It was as if he had vanished off the face of the earth. I have my own family now… five grandchildren! But still I have kept looking, kept hoping.

  One day I was doing some research into my photograph. It became quite famous you know – the one of the Spitfire in the Eiffel Tower. It was always a mystery who the pilot was, and I never told anyone. I learned more about the story behind it. About the Northolt Raid and the Battle of Britain. I heard about a Hurricane pilot – a man called Ludwig Jud – who had been involved in the Raid. I followed the trail and then I discovered that his descendants still lived in Scotland. A place called Rachan, near here. And that’s why I decided to come here.”

  “You’ve been to Rachan?” Jack said, increasingly anxious.

  “My family thought I was stupid to travel all this way at my age. But I was insistent. I am staying in Edinburgh and I went and paid the Jud family a little visit yesterday. Do you know that Ludwig Jud’s grandson still farms up there? Of course, he knows the story about his grandfather Ludwig very well. We had a wonderful chat. It’s unbelievable, but he is actually restoring the plane that crashed into the Eiffel Tower. He even had a copy of my photograph. It was a thrilling moment for me. We talked some more. The Juds were very kind and told me all about their friends and life in the Soonhope Valley and then, it was very strange, because they talked about their son. He wasn’t there but he’s called Angus – they’re very proud of him. He’s a good sportsman apparently. They showed me a picture of him with the rugby trophy. They talked about his friends and they mentioned the name of his best friend – a Jack – Jack Christie. That’s you, Jack, isn’t it? They told me that you lived just outside Soonhope. You had the same name as the Jack I knew and I thought, well, there might just be a chance that it’s the same family – or at least the family might be related in some way to the Jack I knew. So I had to come and visit.”

  She looked deep into his eyes. “So Jack, does any of this make any sense? Do you know anything about your family history…? Was your grandfather in the war? Could he have been the pilot of the Spitfire? Could he have been my Jack? Or are there are other Christies that you have heard of? Do you know? Because no trace was ever found of him. If he survived the war and he had children, it has been the world’s best-kept secret.”

  Jack was starting to sweat. He sensed Sophie’s turmoil. She had been searching all her life, for him, for Jack. He desperately wanted to blurt out the truth and tell her everything. He tried to think of a way out.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m afraid our family, is a little dull… Nothing exciting like that has happened to any of us.” He didn’t sound very convincing.

  “Oh, I see.” Sophie gave him a doubtful look. “I thought it might be too much to hope for. He must have died later in the war or something. That’s what I always thought… but there was no trace, you see. Nothing. I’m like a silly girl sometimes. I suppose I am still a bit in love with him even after all these years. So silly.” She paused and looked at him intently, with a twinkle in her eye. “But, Jack, maybe you can help me anyway?”

  “Of course. I’ll try.”

  “I think I will die soon. If I ever found my Jack, well, I wanted to make sure I said ‘goodbye’. Properly I mean. You look just like him and sound just like him and even have the same name, so we could pretend, couldn’t we?”

  “Sorry?”

  “We could pretend that you are him and I can give these to you, my photographs. If you accept them…” she put a wrinkled hand over his and squeezed it gently, “… you will make an old woman very happy.”

  Jack felt a lump in his throat. “Thank you, Sophie. I will look after them. It’s an incredible story and you are an incredible person. I would love to keep them.”

  Suddenly, Sophie’s demeanour changed. Her eyes narrowed. It was as if she were trying to work something out in her head. “You know some things about the time I spent with my Jack never made sense to me. He seemed to know things. And for some reason his father was there, working for British Intelligence. Jack didn’t want me to find out, but when I did he swore me to secrecy. Seemed strange, on reflection. And it was odd, you know, but of course, Jack had a friend – the other pilot who flew the Spitfire. His name was Angus. Angus Jud. The son of the family I met at Rachan yesterday had exactly the same name. Very strange. Two men, Ludwig and Angus, with the same surname fighting in the same air battle I might think was possible. But two boys living in this valley with exactly the same names, seventy years later, who, well, look identical. It is most odd.”

  Jack looked at her anxiously.

  “And Jack, I could not help but notice, that device on the table. I think it’s called an iPhone, isn’t it? I am not very good with modern things – but you can use it to play music… and I like music. You might be surprised, I like modern music.”

  Jack glanced at his iPhone nervously.

  “And, I’m afraid I was very rude, when we met at the door. I didn’t mention my name and yet, you already seemed to know it. You called me Sophie.”

  “But, I…”

  She smiled, “So tell me, Jack, do you and your friend Angus still listen to Arcade Fire on your iPhone? I’m eighty-five and I love them. In fact I was probably into them before you were.”

  Sophie looked at Jack mischievously. “I must say, I’m getting a little confused, so I’m hoping that perhaps you can help me understand all this. Am I confused? Is it my age? Or have you got something to tell me, Jack?” Her eyes twinkled. “Well – have you?”

  Jack’s lips curved into a smile. “I’m sorry Sophie, I didn’t want to say… it’s kind of against all the rules. But I think we can make an exception for you. I do have something to tell you. And you’re not confused. I’d say you’re as sharp as a tack. You might want to have that cup of tea now. In fact, you might need something a bit stronger. Mum has some French brandy somewhere – I think it’s called Bonaparte’s.”

  The Taurus and its energy source always stay in one place. In order to move through time and space, the traveller needs to have physical contact with a time phone, which is controlled and tracked through a set of codes connected with the Taurus. Time travel is only possible, however, when the Taurus has enough energy and when there is a strong carrier signal. As Jack and Angus have discovered, the signal can be as unpredictable as the weather. The time signals are also highly variable – periods of time open up and then close, like shifting sands, so that no location is constantly accessible. Deep time is a specific constraint, which means that the traveller cannot visit a time period less than thirty years in the past. Anything more recent is a no-go zone. Finally, there is the ‘Armageddon Scenario’, which suggests that, if you revisit the same point of space–time more than once, you dramatically increase the risk of a continuum meltdown. Imagine space–time as a piece of tissue paper – each visit makes a hole in that tissue paper, as if you had pushed through the tissue with your finger. The tissue would hold together for a while, but with too many holes, it would disintegrate. It is dangerous, therefore, to repeat trips to the same point. The precise parameters of this constraint are not known and have not, of course, been tested.

  BACKGROUND INFORMATION

  In Day of Vengeance, Jack and Angus travel back to Britain and France in 1940,
just after the defeat of France and the evacuation from Dunkirk, during the early part of the Second World War. This was a momentous period in world history and one where Hitler’s ‘Third Reich’ was approaching the peak of its powers. The notes below give a little more information on the events and people of the time.

  What was the Second World War?

  The Second World War started in 1939 and ended in 1945 with the defeat of Germany and Japan. It was the biggest and worst military conflict in human history, during which over fifty million people died. It extended to Europe, Northern Africa, the Soviet Union, the United States, the Middle East, the Far East and Japan. The war completely changed the balance of political and economic power in the world. Day of Vengeance focuses on only a short period at the start of the Second World War in 1940 – just after the defeat of France by Germany and just before the Battle of Britain. At this point, the Soviet Union, United States and Japan were not yet involved in the war.

  What was the Battle for France? (see page 128)

  On 10th May 1940, the Germans launched ‘Blitzkrieg’ (Lightning War) in the west, invading the Netherlands, Belgium and France. The Netherlands surrendered within six days. On 28th May, Belgium surrendered and, on 4th June, the bulk of British forces (allied with France) were successfully evacuated, along with remnants of the French army, from the northern French Channel port of Dunkirk. The German victory had taken less than seven weeks. France, a major European power with one of the largest armies in the world, had been defeated by the might of the German armed forces, known as the Wehrmacht, which included fast-moving tank divisions supported by armoured, mobile infantry and air support from fighters and dive bombers. On 22nd June, the French government signed an armistice with Germany. It was the most humiliating military disaster in French history. The defeat stunned the world and at that moment, Britain stood alone against the Nazis.

  What was the Battle of Britain? (see page 35)

  Following the defeat of France, the Germans intended to invade Britain using a plan called Operation Sea Lion. Some historians now think that Hitler was not seriously planning to invade – he was just hoping to force Britain to sign a peace treaty. In preparation for their invasion, the German air force (the Luftwaffe) launched air attacks on Britain that aimed to defeat the Royal Air Force to allow free passage for the naval invasion force. Britain was alone at this point, and some British politicians had lost hope. They thought that Britain should agree a peace settlement with the Nazis. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was determined that Britain should fight on, alone or not. The Germans launched air attacks from their new bases in France and the Netherlands, but they were unable to break down the RAF. Then, in return for British planes bombing Berlin, Hitler changed tactics and began bombing British cities – this was devastating for many civilians, but it gave the RAF a short respite, which enabled them to rebuild their strength. Eventually, Hitler gave up on his plans to invade Britain and finally, in 1941, he turned his attention to the east – the invasion of the Soviet Union. He also declared war on the United States in December 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

  The Battle of Britain kept Britain in the war, which later allowed the Allies to launch D-Day from Britain in order to reoccupy Western Europe. The ‘Northolt Raid’ (see page 31), described in Day of Vengeance, is fictitious, as is the description of the base and the aircraft located there (Northolt was a Hurricane base at this stage). However, raids did occur on RAF bases later on during the Battle of Britain.

  Why were the RAF able to resist the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain?

  Both sides were well-matched but the RAF had some advantages. They had radar, so they knew when the enemy aircraft were coming. With this information, the British fighter aircraft – Spitfires and Hurricanes – could be up in the air, waiting for the enemy. The RAF also had some great leaders who had insisted on investment before the war. A strong system of communication between the radar and lookout stations, central control and the airfields had been built in advance. The Germans had the disadvantage of fighting over enemy territory, so when their pilots bailed out they could be taken prisoner. The location also meant they had further to travel and the fighter planes had limited fuel. Then there was the German tactical error of switching from the assault on the RAF itself to bombing cities. The men on both sides were extremely brave and many died. However, in purely military terms, Britain’s ability to resist was remarkably ‘efficient’ in terms of loss of life. Around 550 allied pilots died – very few casualties in comparison with some of the other murderous campaigns in the war – yet the pilots prevented German invasion and kept Britain fighting. At this point, ten European states had already fallen to German occupation, with grim results. Success in the Battle of Britain paved the way for eventual victory on the Western Front. On 20th August 1940, in a speech to inspire his country, Winston Churchill said, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Following this speech, the pilots and aircrew from many countries who fought for Britain became known as ‘The Few’. They remain an inspiration to this day.

  What was the Vengeance programme? (see page 36)

  Towards the end of the war, German scientists developed flying bombs called V-1s. ‘V’ stands for Vengeance. The Germans also developed rockets carrying conventional explosive warheads called V-2s, which were launched from sites in Northern France onto London, Paris and the Netherlands. There were a number of other weapons in development, including a ‘V-3’ – a giant cannon. Construction of the V-3 was undertaken at the Pas de Calais, but was put out of use by the RAF before it was ever fired. During the later stages of the war, Germany was losing and Hitler was desperate to find a ‘miracle weapon’ that could redress the balance. However, the efforts drained money, expertise and manpower from the production of more conventional, but better tried and tested weapons. Although the V-1s and V-2s were frightening and could cause a lot of damage, not enough of them were produced to have much of an impact on the course of the war.

  The holy grail of the Vengeance programme was to couple Germany’s expertise in missile technology with a nuclear, chemical or biological weapon. However, their nuclear research did not advance quickly enough and was too fragmented to achieve this. In contrast, the Americans took a somewhat different approach during the war. They invested vast amounts of money and expertise in the Manhattan Project, which developed the nuclear weapons dropped on Japan in 1945 at Hiroshima and Nagasaki – but these were delivered ‘conventionally’ from a bomber aircraft, rather than by a missile.

  In Day of Vengeance, the implication that in 1940 Germany had a working V-2 equipped with a nuclear ‘dirty bomb’ payload is fictitious. The first V-1 was launched against London on 13th June 1944. A total of 9,251 V-1s were fired at the United Kingdom, killing over 6,000 civilians and injuring nearly 18,000 people. The first V-2 was launched against London from the Hague, in the Netherlands, on 8th September 1944. A total of 1,115 V-2s were fired at the United Kingdom killing nearly 3,000 civilians in London and injuring a further 6,500.

  Did German scientists really work on the Apollo space programme? (see page 36)

  Yes. After the war, many of the best German scientists were recruited by other countries to assist in weapons development programmes. When it was discovered that Nazi scientists were working on the American Apollo space programme it caused a scandal. This was known as the ‘Paperclip Conspiracy’, because clips were used to mark the files of German recruits.

  What was the French Resistance?

  The French Resistance is the name given to resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the Vichy regime – the collaborationist French government put in place by the Nazi regime. The Resistance conducted guerrilla warfare, published underground newspapers, provided intelligence to the Allies and helped Allied soldiers and airmen, trapped behind enemy lines, to escape. The French Resistance played a significant role in helping the Allies’
advance through France, following the invasion of Normandy on 6th June 1944.

  The Croix de Lorraine (see page 138) was chosen by General Charles de Gaulle as the symbol of the Resistance. Charles de Gaulle became leader of the French government in exile and later on after the war, Prime Minister and then President of France. In Day of Vengeance, the implication that there was an organised French resistance as early as June 1940, that they planned to assassinate Hitler on his visit to Paris and that the Croix de Lorraine was its known symbol by that time, is fictitious.

  Did the French really break the lifts on the Eiffel Tower? (see page 103)

  Yes. They claimed that they did not have the right parts to fix it; but mysteriously, following the German surrender, the lifts were working again within hours.

  In Day of Vengeance, the crash of the Spitfire into the Eiffel Tower is fictitious, additionally, getting two boys into the cockpit of a Spitfire is possible – but a very tight squeeze! There is an account of two adults piloting a Spitfire, strictly against regulations, on their way to a party in 1940. They never came back.

  What is Parkour? (see page 104)

  Parkour is a non-competitive ‘sport’, that began in France, in which people run along a route, negotiating obstacles using only their own bodies. This typically involves jumping, climbing and rolling and is often practised in urban areas. A practitioner of Parkour is called a traceur (male) or traceuse (female). Parkour is thought to originate from a system of physical education, developed by a French naval officer called Georges Hébert, which became part of the French system of military training during the world wars. Hébert was one of the proponents of parcours, which literally means ‘route’ (shortened from parcours de combattant – ‘obstacle course’). There is debate as to whether Parkour is the same as l’art du déplacement or freerunning. In l’art du déplacement the practitioner seeks to move quickly and creatively past obstacles, whereas freerunning can be a competition sport, which includes the use of ‘tricks’, like rotations and spins. Parkour is about getting from one place to another as quickly and efficiently as possible. The depiction of Parkour in Day of Vengeance is fictional.