Benjamin, the runner, comes to us. He has a funny story to tell: the battalion commander turns up at the company in an armored car and asks what the people are doing. Aryeh had assured him that no plundering had taken place, that not even the hens had been touched. And just at that moment a soldier enters the room holding up two chickens - his platoon’s present for the company commander.
* * *
In the afternoon our mood darkens. The Arabs are firing at us from all directions. They have occupied all the positions that dominate the village. Our machine guns answer occasionally. We are saving ammunition. The shots from the invisible enemy get on our nerves. More wounded are reported. A medical orderly is hit in the eye. We want to shoot but can’t find a target.
Bad news: Aryeh, the company commander, has been wounded. An armored car is going to take him to the base. We are horrified.
At three o’clock we are called together. We are in a state of high alert and take our positions. Shlomo and I lie behind a pile of stones facing west. Uninterrupted fire is coming from that direction. I press my head against the ground. Directly in front of me is a heap of manure. I ignore it. Occasionally I raise my head and look around. I can’t see any-thing apart from a beautiful, peaceful landscape.
* * *
"Uri!"
Joske calls me. I get up and run to him. He is sitting with Bulli behind a house. He points at the roof where I was lying this morning, and orders me to climb up again.
For a moment I am afraid. The way up and the roof itself are visible from all sides. I overcome my fear and climb up. Once there I position myself between the two domes. That way I have some kind of cover.
"Uri - tell us what kind of armored vehicles are on the road!"
I raise my head. An armored vehicle is approaching. I know the type well - one of ours. But it is behaving strangely, turning, and taking the road in the direction of Latrun. Suddenly a burst of machine gun fire hits the house. What the devil, an Arab tank. Perhaps one of those they captured on the road to Gush Etzion. Devil take them!