I look around. The whole company is charging behind us. Squad after squad. The last are the mortar crews. Reuven, the company giant, is carrying the heavy mortar on his back as though it were a tin of sardines. Behind him fat Shalom is running. He is carrying the shells which weigh even more.
Our "heavy weapon," the machine gun, keeps up continuous fire on Nebi Musa. But the snipers are still shooting. We continue the assault. The slope is steep. I am breathing heavily. I have no strength left to run, but I keep up. We reach the left side of the village. There our comrades from the earlier group are lying. They point at a col-lection of houses in the center. "There the Arabs are holed up." I wait until our squad is complete. Yaakov has arrived too and assigns us a group of houses. We run over there. The doors are locked. We ham-mer on them with the butts of our rifles. One door gives way. Joske fires a burst from his Sten into the house. I can’t see a single Arab. They cleared off when they saw us coming.
We are at the last house. I am running with the squad, my rifle in my hand. I feel that I have to shoot. A movement in front of me. A little Arab dog running away. I raise my rifle and shoot. The dog howls.
The howling wakes me up. What have I done? Have I become an animal? Shlomo, running behind me, raises his rifle and shoots. The howling stops.
That incident makes me feel sick. I want to get away. My comrades are lying on the ground drinking water. In front of me is the corner house. A ladder is leaning against it. I climb onto the roof and lie between the two domes. From here I have a better view toward the south and the west. The landscape seems peaceful. I can’t see any movement. But the Arab snipers continue to shoot without inter-ruption.
* * *
We remain in the position we have captured. Joske establishes him-self in one of the rooms. Three of us form the lookout and change round every hour.
I lie on the roof. Suddenly I hear a shout and see a concerned expression on Shatzky’s face. When I look at him, he laughs. Apparently I had fallen asleep, and when I didn’t react to his first call he was afraid that I had been hit.