I went over the crest with my orderly, asking the stretcher-bearers to follow at intervals so as not to attract fire. |
The refugee column was attacked by German planes, and the stretcher-bearers ran off, leaving Mitterrand lying on the road looking up at the German planes in the sky above him. |
On numerous occasions he withdrew from the front line under heavy fire to summon medical assistance for the wounded and returned acting as a guide to stretcher-bearers. |
When the stretcher-bearers put him down, the covering was pulled back. |
The stretcher-bearers felt a deep sense of personal loss if their patient died, such was the bond formed over the mountains. |
His command consisted of five riflemen, a telephonist, a linesman, and two stretcher-bearers. |