Something dark looms up in front of us. The machine gunners tense up. No. It is just an isolated, deserted house. Ahijah, who is driving the first jeep, leaves the road. Without waiting for orders, the other jeeps fan out. It is a routine exercise - "long volley at close range."
I am sitting on my own in the back. Shaul is driving. Next to him sits Chaim, the NCO. It is the first time he’s seen action in a jeep. We stop about two hundred meters before the village. Quiet all around us. The only noise that rises above the chirping of the cicadas is the murmur of the radio operator. Suddenly even that stops. What’s up? As usual, the radio’s not working. We have no connection to HQ.
Then the whole area begins to shake. Machine guns, automatic weapons, the village is lit up by flares. Damn, the infantry is attacking without waiting for us. The detour we had to make has delayed us.
Schwuk, who sits in Ahijah’s jeep, starts firing, and everyone else joins in the orchestra. The weapon trembles in my hands and I press it with all my strength against my shoulder. That is the only way to avoid mechanical troubles. One, two cartridge belts. Ahijah’s team stop shooting and the jeep drives on. We follow them about two hun-dred meters. Seconds later shells explode exactly where we were a moment before. The muzzle flash from our weapons is clearly visible in the dark. While we are moving I refill the cartridge belt. That is the main problem with the jeeps. You can’t reload as fast as you can shoot.
"Fire!" shouts Ahijah. The weapons bark again. But this time the enemy is expecting it. After the first salvos, greenly glowing two-pound shells crash down around us. This game repeats itself a few times: we stop, shoot, move on. Stop, shoot, move on. The enemy is confused, fires here and there, without knowing where our shots are going to come from next.
"Cease firing!" Maybe our own infantry is already in the village? Without the radio we cannot know. We could be shooting at our own comrades. What now? Back to HQ for new orders. The jeeps turn and race back to the abandoned house, back onto the sand road, and off to Sawafir.
* * *
After a minute Ahijah comes back. With him is a stooping man with slightly oriental features. We recognize Aryeh Kotzer.