48 pages 1 hour read

The Winged Watchman

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1962

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Chapters 15-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, graphic violence, and religious discrimination.

Chapter 15 Summary: “The Shooting”

The next morning, Mrs. van Manen arranges for Dirk Jan to ride home on a cargo truck. At the meeting place, a crowd of women waits. He worries that he will not get a seat, but when the truck arrives, the driver, Mr. Gerrits, beckons him to sit in the front seat with him. A young girl joins them. While airplanes circle overhead and women sing, Dirk Jan feels pride for his country.


Suddenly, a nearby German lorry is hit with bullets from planes and lurches into a ditch, and the prisoners that it is carrying escape. The guards who chase after them are gunned down, and the remaining Germans hide beneath the lorry. However, the planes blast the vehicle itself into flames. One prisoner runs for the truck, and Mr. Gerrits waves him inside. Germans try to stop their vehicle, but Mr. Gerrit races away. Finally safe, the prisoner, Hildebrand, breathes a sigh of relief. He was once a student at the University of Utrecht, but he now has nowhere to go, so Dirk Jan invites him to stay with his family.

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