front of you, you pull the cap over your glimmering face. You can’t see the sentry any more, and you hope that he can’t see you either. On leave, on the city streets, the sock hat signals at a distance: here goes a soldier - a magnet for female eyes ...
* * *
The start of the war presented everyone with a decision. And the youth divided into two groups - those who joined up and those who did not join up.
For thousands the decision was simple. They never even consid-ered doing otherwise. They signed on immediately to the fighting units. They were not always the cleverest. Most of them were simple lads. But they formed the backbone of the generation, they had character.
But there were also those who weakened at this moment. They stayed at home and waited for the right "opportunity." The true Hebrew youth despised them deeply. We felt the deep chasm between them and us. And the longer the war lasted and the fiercer the battles raged, the deeper this division became.
28 February 1948
Training camp
Leave
He had worked everything out exactly. Just a few paces from the barracks to the barbed wire, crawl under that to the little slope, and down that on all fours. A simple plan - all you need is strong nerves.
He left the mess. "Where are you off to?" asked a friend. "A short walk - I’ll be right back." On the way he threw a glance into the offi-cer’s mess. The NCOs still used to eat together at that time. The sen-try is standing in the corner chatting. It is the right moment.
Everything goes to plan. It really is child’s play. The hole in the barbed wire is large enough. Now he crawls on his belly to the slope, just the way he learned. His instructor would be proud of him. He smiles to himself.
The sentry post is unmanned. From here on the way is open. On the streets of the city a Sabbath-evening atmosphere. Not many people around. They look at him as though he were a strange