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The children do not hand the German over to the authorities, but keep him prisoner at their fort. The children bribe the German with the offer of a boat if he will repair their machine gun. He agrees and mends it before being taken to the dock where he rows off. The same night the church bells ring
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are drafted in to look for them. The children, on hearing troops speak in a foreign language, open fire on them with the gun, believing they are a German invasion force. The children are soon overpowered, however, and forced to surrender. In the chaos, Clogger shoots and wounds Rudi with his own
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fighter, the children fire their gun at the plane. They miss but the plane is shot down. The pilot is killed but the rear gunner, Rudi
Gerlath, bails out. He discovers the children's hidden fortress and is promptly detained by the children, who take his pistol, even though their machine gun is
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Later a bomb lands on Nicky's house and he is presumed dead but actually survives and hides in the fortress, where he is found by the gang. After this, only his friends know he is alive and
Clogger leaves his home and joins him.
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was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works for the 70th anniversary celebration in 2007, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite.
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signalling a German invasion. The children hurry to the fortress but do not see anything; it was a false alarm. Out at sea, Rudi finds he does not have the strength to row to
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184:(February 1941), it features children who find a crashed German aircraft with a machine gun and ammunition; they build a fortress and capture and imprison a German
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of ammunition. With the help of his friends, Cem, Clogger, Carrot Juice, Audrey and Nicky they set up their own den called "Fortress
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the story follows six children living in the fictional town of
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416:. The CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
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was dramatised as a BBC television serial in 1983, with scripts written by
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and is forced back to
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The next day it is realised that the children are missing, and some
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catalog) —immediately, a US edition with library summary
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197:Westall won the annual
561:Thunder and Lightnings
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273:German-occupied Norway
262:During an attack by a
114:189 pp (first edition)
635:1975 children's books
372:"The machine gunners"
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454:at the Polka Theatre
384:Carnegie Winner 1975
22:The Machine Gunners
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467:The Stage
317:in 2002.
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234:Luftwaffe
201:from the
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75:Macmillan
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332:See also
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338:Portal
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249:rounds
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231:German
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554:1975
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111:Pages
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133:OCLC
120:ISBN
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
