that everybody is talking at the same time. I can’t understand a word. At least five languages are competing with one another. Hebrew is not among them.
I blow my whistle. It is like magic. The sound means authority, and its language is international. It is immediately quiet. I say a few words in Hebrew. They listen to me. But don’t seem to understand a word.
"Anyone here understand Hebrew?" I ask. A man with a mustache on his intelligent face springs to attention before me. His Hebrew is terribly limited, but he understands more or less what is required and translates it into French. Another translates it on into Spanish. Another French speaker translates it into Italian. So we have a train-ing method -1 say a sentence in Hebrew which is passed on in several languages. This gives me enough time to think about what I am going to say next.
* * *
They came to this country to fight. But they didn’t imagine the war like this. They expected some kind of movie war: dramatic con-frontations with the enemy, heroic deeds... compared with that the reality is rather gray. Boring positions, endless sentry duty, digging trenches. Jumping up and staging assaults are just the highlights, lit-tie red dots in a sea of gray.
Here’s an example of an extremely prosaic and not at all amusing activity: crawling through a field of thistles. Why don’t we crawl comfortably through grass? No use explaining that you can’t choose the most pleasant field at the front.
Explaining is absolutely pointless. The sense is quickly lost in our cumbersome translation procedures. Everything has to be demon-strated, to be seen. We march back to camp, and I give them a ten-minute break. Those who want to can put on some long trousers. Ten minutes later we march back to the thistle field. Most are wear-ing long trousers -1 have short ones.
"So! Pay attention! On the command "drop!" you fall to the ground. Like this. Watch out for the details. My heels are flat on the ground ..." They watch and understand.
"Now you fall at the same time as me. Drop! Quicker!" This time they fall into the thistles. I have won. A small, important victory.
* * *
I have learned what I have to do to command a squad in an assault. I