front of me, and reaches out his hand, and I help Shlomo who is behind me.
The line stops. By the road stands a small Arab house. Presumably this is the Arab village of Na’ana which we were told about. We lie on the ground for about ten minutes. We are so tired we do not move. We are all afraid of the moment when we have to get up again. But somehow we manage it. The long line passes the house just a few paces away, without being noticed - the result of intensive training.
Again the line stops. This time the company runner appears and whispers something to Joske. He gets up and beckons to me. Our squad goes ahead, next to the long line, right up to the front. Aryeh, the company commander, is waiting for us.
"To the left - fan out!" whispers Joske to me, and I pass the com-mand. We fan out to the left, six feet apart, forming a sharp angle with the head of the long row. Joske is in the middle of the squad, I am at the right-hand end.
"Who is that?" I recognize Aryeh’s voice
"Uri." He approaches me.
"Make sure you don’t lose sight of him!"
He points to a man wearing pale khaki trousers. They stand out brightly in the dark. He is carrying an automatic weapon - so he must be a commander. Probably the commander of the section at the head of the column. Our squad is defending their left flank, another squad has the same task on the right.
We walk, or rather stumble, forwards. Our rifles no longer hang from our shoulders. Within the first few steps the row is jum-bled up. It is not possible to maintain a regularly spaced formation in a freshly plowed field when you are dog tired. Shlomo, who should be to the left of me, is suddenly behind me. I do my best to keep the man with the bright trousers in view. I don’t know how long it goes on like this. Five minutes perhaps. Maybe half an hour. My feeling for time is long gone. I am walking mindlessly, like an automaton.
I have no idea how I fell. My body just hit the ground instinctively. On the way down I see a burst of fire. Ten yards away at the most. Bullets whistle past my ears.
Rat-tat-tat-tat rat-tat-tat-tat-tat
I lie motionless on the ground. Something is missing. My spade,