Spandau.

This is coolbert:

Bond! James Bond!

From that previous blog entry:

"When James Bond describes the rounds of a German Spandau heavy machine gun being fired over his head, this is his recollection of Dieppe? Could be!!"

"The gun was sometimes called 'Spandau' by British troops from the manufacturer's plates noting the district of Berlin where some were produced, much like the Germans' own World War I MG 08 had been nicknamed.

NO! NOT Dieppe! Rather the Ardennes. A English naval 30AU mission undoubtedly circa 1945.

As described in the Ian Fleming novel "Dr. No". All thanks to Mr. Fleming.

"Bond's eyes went to the two men standing in the stern. They were pale-skinned Negroes. They wore neat khaki ducks and shirts, broad belts, and deep visored baseball caps of yellow straw. They were standing side by side, bracing themselves against the slow swell. One of them was holding a long black loud-hailer with a wire attached. The other was manning a machine gun on a tripod. It looked to Bond like a Spandau."

. . . .

"The machine gunner trained his gun into the tops of the mangroves behind the beach. There came the swift rattling roar Bond had last heard coming from the German lines in the Ardennes. The bullets made the same old sound of frightened pigeons whistling overhead. Then there was silence."

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. . . .

"This time the crash of noise was terrific. The bullets howled into the corner of the headland. Fragments of splintered rock whined over the beach like hornets. Ricochets twanged and buzzed off into the hinterland. Behind it all there was the steady road-drill hammer of the gun."

According to my knowledge and recollection the Ardennes during World War Two [WW2] was strictly either French or American sans British. Unless 30AU [40 Commando RN] was active in the area during the latter stages of WW2, forging ahead of the advancing American troops, attempting to capture intact to the greatest degree possible German secret weaponry, scientists, engineers, documents, etc.

30AU of which Commander Bond was a team leader perhaps, at the forefront of the action, where the fray was the thickest as you might expect.

This bears researching!!

coolbert.

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