only at the front can you tell/who is a friend and a brother/only at the front can you see/it does exist- the soldiers’ love...
Comradeship is more intense than any other feeling at the front. It is an elementary necessity. Without it we would have had no chance of survival.
My friend Jochanan Silbermann was a private in the company that defended Beit Daras when it was massively attacked. On that day he was sent to Tel Aviv to take part in a military parade. Together with his comrades he was told to leave the parade and return to his battalion. That’s how it happened that he suddenly appeared next to me. I was already sitting in the jeep, ready to set off for the forward base. We chat-ted a bit until the order to set off arrived.
X- X- X-
That night marked the start of the big attack on Iraq al-Manshiyya. At last we were fighting to open the road to the Negev. Jochanan s company was at the spearhead of the assault. Our jeeps were deployed to bring in the wounded.
The next morning I learned that Jochanan had fallen.
Geladiyeh
Portrait of a hero
You ask: who granted us this state, this free life in safety? You ask: who stood firm in the bombarded positions, in the hail of bullets, against tanks, aircraft, and artillery? You ask: who opened the roads to Jerusalem and into the Negev? Who repelled the attacks of the enemy?
It was not the quality of the weapons, nor was it their number or greater professionalism. It was the simple soldiers. I would like to talk about one of these unknown soldiers, my friend Jochanan. Of all the experienced frontline soldiers, Jochanan was one who managed to survive so long just by chance.
With the second ceasefire he thought it was his turn to take a break, to get some leave, to spend a few days with his beloved. But when the reports came in that the Egyptians were blocking the way to the Negev, and the order came to attack, he did not complain and did not hesitate.