"Beware of the Dog" is a 1944

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

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 James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy ...

and Rod Taylor, and the TV movie '' Breaking Point'' in 1989.

Story

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

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 Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...

. 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."

References

{{Roald Dahl 1944 short stories Prisoners of war in popular culture Short stories adapted into films Short stories by Roald Dahl Works originally published in Harper's Magazine World War II short stories