Mayor Orden
The Mayor is in his sixties, and he is a popular leader who believes fervently that his job is to lead the citizens of the town. He refuses to cooperate with the occupying army, and he also refuses to instruct his constituents to do so. He knows that they will not cooperate even if he tells them to and so he protects them by making it appear that their non cooperation is driven by loyalty to him. He refuses to harm his citizens and will not carry out an execution even though he is basically signing his own death warrant with his refusal. The story ends with his being taken to be shot.
George Correll
Once upon a time, Correll was a popular and involved member of the town's community. He keeps the local store, has time to chat with everyone and always has a smile on his face. This changes once the occupying army arrives; Correll is now working as a spy for the invaders. He listens to conversations, reports on friends who seem to be working with the resistance, and is a traitor to his town and his country. It is he who facilitates the invasion.
Captain Loft
Loft is young, ambitious and full of love for his country, a very dangerous combination in a German soldier in the nineteen forties. He lives, sleeps and breathes military, and is blinded by the propaganda machine of his country.
Colonel Lanser
Lanser is a veteran of World War One and has already suffered defeat by the Allied forces once. He is the head of the local battalion of invaders, respected, to a degree, but predominantly ruling by fear. He does not take well the townspeople's refusal to obey him and his men. He is a stereotypical remorseless Nazi soldier without empathy for those whose lives he is decimating.
Captain Bentick
Bentick is an anomaly in the invading force; he seems like a nice, personable man, sentimental even. He loves children. He's a dog lover and he is upset by the war with England because he loves the English. He has the utmost respect for rank and will obey his superior officer even if he believes him to be in the wrong. He is killed protecting Captain Lott from an enraged Alex Morden.
The Leader
The Leader is never given a name but is believed to be "mein Fuhrer" (the leader) and allegorical of Adolf Hitler. The way in which he is spoken about gives him an almost godlike presence and influence over the invaders who are clearly devoted to him and blinded by him.
Alex Morden
Morden is one of the most important characters in the story because his actions tend to be the catalyst for a succession of other events. He is driven almost out of his mind by the presence of the invaders and this manifests itself as rage. In one of these rages he picks up a pick-axe and kills Captain Bentinck with it. He is the first of the townspeople to be executed by the invaders,, although the Mayor refuses to sign off on his execution, believing this will save his life; it does not.
Annie
Annie is the mayor's cook, and is believed to be nothing more than that; this low expectation of her means that she is one of the most active people in the local resistance movement, since she is never suspected, or feared, in any way, and is therefore extremely effective.
Molly Morden
Molly is Alex's wife; she goes through a combination of grief and anger after his execution and kills Lieutenant Tonder after Alex's death.
