Beware of the Dog (short story)

Last updated
"Beware of the Dog"
by Roald Dahl
CountryUnited States
Genre(s) war, adventure
Published in Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying
Publication type Short story collection
Publisher Reynal & Hitchcock
Publication date1946

"Beware of the Dog" is a 1944 World War II story by Roald Dahl which was originally published in Harper's Magazine and later appeared in his Over to You collection. Its basic plot was adapted into the 1965 movie 36 Hours , starring James Garner and Rod Taylor, and the TV movie Breaking Point in 1989. [1]

Story

RAF pilot Peter Williamson sustains a serious injury (the loss of a leg from a cannon shell) while flying a mission over German-controlled Vichy France. He bails out of his plane and later awakes to find himself in a hospital bed in Brighton, on the English coast. As he recovers, strange things keep happening, such as hearing the sound of German warplanes through the window when none would have been nearby. The nurse also mentions that the hospital water is very hard, when Williamson knows the water in Brighton is famous for being soft.

Suspicious and frightened, Williamson drags himself to the window and sees a wooden sign, "GARDE AU CHIEN" (French for “Beware of the Dog”). He now knows that he is actually in Vichy France, and that the English caregivers are Germans in disguise. When they send in a fake RAF commander to convince him to divulge his squadron's location, he stares him straight in the eye and says nothing more than "My name is Peter Williamson. My rank is Squadron Leader and my number is nine, seven, two, four, five, seven."

Related Research Articles

<i>The Dam Busters</i> (film) 1955 film directed by Michael Anderson

The Dam Busters is a 1955 British epic war film starring Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave. It was directed by Michael Anderson. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when in 1943 the RAF's 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams in Nazi Germany with Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Bader</span> British World War II flying ace

Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.

<i>The Club</i> (1980 film) 1980 Australian film

The Club is a satirical film based on the play of the same name by the Australian playwright and dramatist David Williamson. It follows the fortunes of an Australian rules football club over the course of a season, and explores the clashes of individuals from within the club. It was inspired by the backroom dealings and antics of the Victorian Football League's Collingwood Football Club.

<i>Reach for the Sky</i> 1956 British film

Reach for the Sky is a 1956 British biographical film about aviator Douglas Bader, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill. The film stars Kenneth More and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film of 1956. The film's composer John Addison was Bader's brother-in-law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syria–Lebanon campaign</span> British offensive in World War II, 1941

The Syria–Lebanon campaign, also known as Operation Exporter, was the invasion of Syria and Lebanon in June and July 1941 by British Empire forces, during the Second World War.

<i>The Way to the Stars</i> 1945 film by Anthony Asquith

The Way to the Stars is a 1945 Anglo-American black-and-white second world war drama film made by Two Cities Films. The film was produced by Anatole de Grunwald, directed by Anthony Asquith, and stars Michael Redgrave, John Mills, Rosamund John, and Stanley Holloway. In the United States it was shortened by 22 minutes, and the shortened version was distributed by United Artists under the title Johnny in the Clouds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Reader</span> English actor (1903–1982)

William Henry Ralph Reader, known as Ralph Reader, was a British actor, theatrical producer and songwriter, known for staging the original Gang Show, a variety entertainment presented by members of the Scouting movement, and for leading community singing at FA Cup Finals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Horsley</span>

Air Marshal Sir Beresford Peter Torrington Horsley, was a senior Royal Air Force commander.

<i>36 Hours</i> (1965 film) 1965 film by George Seaton

36 Hours is a 1965 German-American war suspense film, based on the 1944 short story "Beware of the Dog" by Roald Dahl. The picture stars James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, and Rod Taylor and was directed by George Seaton. On June 2, 1944, a German army doctor tries to obtain vital information from an American military intelligence officer by convincing him that it is 1950 and World War II is long over.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">František Peřina</span>

Wing Commander General František Peřina was a Czech fighter pilot, an ace during World War II with the French Armée de l'Air, who also served twice with Britain's Royal Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free French Air Forces</span> Military unit

The Free French Air Forces were the air arm of the Free French Forces in the Second World War, created by Charles de Gaulle in 1940. The designation ceased to exist in 1943 when the Free French Forces merged with General Giraud's forces. The name was still in common use however, until the liberation of France in 1944, when they became the French Air Army. Martial Henri Valin commanded them from 1941 to 1944, then stayed on to command the Air Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Vale</span>

William "Cherry" Vale, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War. He was credited with 30 enemy aircraft shot down, shared in the destruction of three others, and claimed 6 damaged and another two shared damaged. His 20 kills achieved while flying the Hawker Hurricane and his 10 with the Gloster Gladiator made him the second highest scoring Hurricane and biplane pilot in the RAF, in both cases after Marmaduke Pattle.

<i>Thunder Birds</i> (1942 film) 1942 film by William A. Wellman

Thunder Birds is a 1942 Technicolor film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Gene Tierney, Preston Foster, and John Sutton. It features aerial photography and location filming at an actual Arizona training base of the United States Army Air Forces named Thunderbird Field No. 1 during World War II.

Air Commodore John Marlow Thompson, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer and a flying ace of the Second World War. He is credited with having destroyed at least eight enemy aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James MacLachlan</span> British flying ace (1919–1943)

James Archibald Findlay MacLachlan was a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War. MacLachlan was credited with 16 German and Italian aircraft shot down in approximately 250 missions—7 were at night of which two were achieved over Malta in 1941 and 5 over France in 1942.

Francis Dawson-Paul was a fighter ace in the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. He was seconded to the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain, serving with No. 64 Squadron RAF. Between 1 and 25 July he shot down seven and a half German aircraft before being shot down himself over the English Channel. Taken prisoner by the crew of a German E-boat he died of his wounds five days later. In those 24 days of combat he became the first naval air ace of the battle and the highest scoring naval ace on the Supermarine Spitfire, a record which still stood by the end of the war.

Flight Lieutenant William Louis Buchanan Walker, AE was, at the time of his death, the oldest surviving pilot from the Battle of Britain. His poem "Our Wall" about the Battle of Britain is inscribed on a special plinth aside the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall of the Battle of Britain Memorial, Capel-le-Ferne, Kent.

Flight Lieutenant Anthony Noel Snell, was a British RAF pilot during the Second World War. He flew in the North African campaign in 1942 and was shot down during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. Initially captured by the Germans he escaped from a firing squad but was recaptured. He again escaped German captivity whilst in Italy and became one of the very few men to be awarded the DSO exclusively for escaping from the enemy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Gambia in World War II</span> Aspect of history

During the Second World War (1939–1945), the Gambia was part of the British Empire as the Gambia Colony and Protectorate. At the outbreak of war between the British Empire and Nazi Germany in September 1939, the Gambia was home to the Gambia Company of the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Bungey</span> Australian flying ace

Robert Wilton Bungey was an Australian fighter pilot of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and later the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during the Second World War. Officially, he was credited with five aerial victories and thus qualified as a flying ace but there is some uncertainty regarding this.

References

  1. Laurie Collier; Laurie Collier Hillstrom; Joyce Nakamura (1992), Major authors and illustrators for children and young adults, p. 619