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No.4361

£1.45

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HE SUMMER OF 1940 WAS EUROPE’S DARKEST HOUR. FOR, AFTER CONSOLIDATING ITS GAINS T IN THE EAST, THE GERMAN WAR MACHINE SMASHED INTO FRANCE AND THE LOW COUNTRIES, WHICH WERE SWIFTLY CONQUERED IN WHAT APPEARED TO BE AN UNSTOPPABLE WAVE.

BOCHE PIGS, IF ONLY WE COULD FIGHT BACK.

STORY FERG HANDLEY ART REZZONICO OUI, BUT THERE’S NO CHANCE OF THAT NOW.

COVER IAN KENNEDY

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A DECADE EARLIER, THOUGH, FEW COULD HAVE PREDICTED THE RESURGENCE OF GERMANY. TIMES WERE HARD BUT BRITAIN WAS AT PEACE – AND ON 24TH DECEMBER 1931, A GROUP OF LONDON SCHOOLKIDS WERE COUNTING DOWN THE HOURS TO CHRISTMAS DAY.

I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW, MIKE. MUM’S GOT A GOOSE IN, AND IT’S GOING TO BE WIZARD!

SEE, THAT’S WHERE I’M LUCKY. WE’LL BE HAVING OUR DINNER TONIGHT!

MIKE, A TWELVE-YEAR OLD, HAD BEEN BORN IN FRANCE, BUT HIS PARENTS – DANIEL AND ALICE PERRIN – EMIGRATED TO LONDON A YEAR LATER. THE FAMILY STILL CELEBRATED THE ODD FRENCH FESTIVAL, THOUGH, SUCH AS REVEILLON ON CHRISTMAS EVE. COR, THAT’S AN ODD ONE. BUT DO YOU STILL GET PRESENTS?

YES, OF COURSE. BUT WE PUT OUT SHOES INSTEAD OF STOCKINGS, THAT’S ALL.

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5 THAT EVENING, MIKE AND HIS PARENTS SAT DOWN TO THEIR FESTIVE DINNER. THEY RARELY SPOKE FRENCH, EVEN WHEN ALONE – BUT ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS LIKE THIS, THEY MADE AN EXCEPTION.

JOYEUX NOEL, MA FAMILLE.

ET TOI, PAPA.

OUI, SALUT.

AFTER DINNER THEY SETTLED DOWN BY THE FIRESIDE. AS THEY CHATTED, MIKE ASKED HIS PARENTS – WHO NEVER REALLY SPOKE ABOUT THEIR HOMELAND – WHY THEY’D COME TO LIVE IN ENGLAND.

WELL, AS YOU KNOW, I WAS A SOLDIER IN THE GREAT WAR. BUT WHILE I WAS AWAY FIGHTING, THE BOCHE OCCUPIED OUR TOWN. OUR HOUSE GOT BADLY DAMAGED.

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6 AFTER THE WAR THE FRENCH AUTHORITIES REFUSED TO PAY FOR THE REPAIRS, WHICH INFURIATED DANIEL. TYPICAL! I RISK MY LIFE FOR MY COUNTRY AND WHAT DO I GET IN RETURN? NOTHING!

SO, SHORTLY AFTER MIKE WAS BORN, DANIEL DECIDED THAT HE’D HAD ENOUGH AND TOOK HIS FAMILY TO LIVE IN ENGLAND.

MIKE FELT CONSIDERED HIMSELF ENGLISH AND, AS HE GREW OLDER, HE FELT A REAL BOND WITH HIS ADOPTED COUNTRY – ESPECIALLY WHEN IT CAME TO FOOTBALL. COME ON, ENGLAND! WE CAN BEAT THESE EYETIES!

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Although he had been born in

France, Mike Perrin grew up in Great Britain and considered himself to be English.

Furthermore, he blamed the French and their early surrender to Germany for the deaths of his parents.

When Mike passed out as a fighter pilot his Gallic heritage saw him posted — mistakenly, he believed — to a Free French squadron. He didn’t want to be there and made no bones about it. This bad attitude was going to get him into a lot of trouble…

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