During World War II, German soldiers rampaged through French villages, seizing food, wine, and women. In one village, everyone fled in advance except for a young man and his ninety-two-year-old grandmother, who refused to be driven out by the Germans. When German tanks rolled into the nearly deserted village, the soldiers cornered the young man.

‘Bring us food!’ They placed an order. ‘All I have left is a loaf of bread,’ he admitted meekly. The soldiers said, “War is war,” and forced him to hand over the last crumbs of bread. Then they yelled, ‘bring us wine!’ ‘I have less than half a bottle left,’ the young man said. ‘War is war,’ the soldiers insisted, and forced him to hand over the rest of the bottle of wine.

The soldiers shouted, ‘Bring us a woman!’ ‘But there’s only one woman left in the village,’ the young man complained. ‘War is war,’ the soldiers exclaimed. So the young man went to fetch his grandmother, who was ninety-two years old. The German soldiers looked at her and said, ‘Uh, yeah, perhaps we will let you off this time.’ Grandma said, “No way,” as she hiked up her dress. ‘War is war.’