An explosives expert entered the room and placed a bottle on the table. He introduced us to this weapon which we were supposed to destroy the enemy with - the Molotov cocktail. After the lecture we were ordered to get ready for immediate action. We prepared ourselves for a week of fighting: blanket, washing things, changes of clothing.
We didn’t sleep that night. We were too excited and too worried. We lay in bed and talked till after midnight. We discussed the chances of stopping the enemy’s advance in time. And like all soldiers’ talk we began with strategy and ended with women.
* * *
At eight o’clock in the morning of 30 May came the alarm - in the vehicles within ten minutes. No time for breakfast. Just a cup of black coffee.
In Gedera we got out. You could feel that the front was approaching. Groups of refugees stood around in the streets, evacuees from Be’er Tuvia andKfar Warburg. Youngwomen went from house to house and made lists of women and children. The news spread from mouth to mouth that the commander of the Givati Brigade had issued a harsh order for the population: no man was to leave the area.
We walked through the streets. This was no ceremonial march - we walked in fighting order, steel helmets on our heads, in one long column. The inhabitants and the evacuated women looked at us. They didn’t cheer, but their eyes followed us. They also knew that the thin rows of khaki shirts were the last defense for their house, for Tel Aviv, for the state of Israel.
Our morale was high all the same. We were gripped by the feeling of battle approaching. Some girls were standing along the street. I waved and blew kisses to them. They smiled.
* * *
About a kilometer south of Gedera, where the road to Kibbutz Yavne joins the main road, we stopped. Our orders were to dig in and expect an attack with tanks, artillery, and aircraft. We knew that there was no way back. Now and then an Egyptian reconnaissance plane appeared, and we hid ourselves in the trenches. Our morale was back down at zero.
In the course of the day we were relieved from the trenches at Gedera. We spent a few hours in our base camp. There we were informed of the offensive that would begin this evening, the biggest attack that we had ever taken part in. This was our signal to go to bed and pull the covers