awaits us. We are returning on foot. Six kilometers’ distance, with full equipment and weapons - defending ourselves along the way.
At long last we are off: squad number one of the first platoon secures the flanks. Benjamin and I form the first group. We head off over the hill and observe the area, while the platoon marches along below. Joseph, the scout, orders and drives us on. Not a spark of energy left in my body. I am surprised myself that I don’t simply col-lapse in a heap. I keep slipping on the stony ground. My equipment keeps getting in the way.
Behind us the orchestra starts up again. It seems that Deir Muheisin is being drowned in fire. But our thoughts are already ahead of us, at the base.
As we get nearer, our morale rises. In spite of our fatigue, we start to sing. "Believe me, the day will come/it will be good, that I promise you/I will take you in my arms/and tell you about - everything ..."
* * *
I am too tired to sleep. After a cold shower I feel much better. A radio operator from the battalion tells me, confidentially, that the British have given us an ultimatum. They would use artillery to drive us out of the village if we didn’t leave it by the evening, without blowing it up. If we fulfill their demands, they would ensure the safety of our convoys in the area. From the village come reports of heavy attacks, with several dead and many wounded.
* * *
Toward evening we learn exactly what was agreed with the British. We will leave the village under the condition that they will take over control and guarantee the security of the road. We feel we have achieved a great victory - we have ensured the safety of the road to Jerusalem through this area, we have shown that we can capture and hold a village, and we have dealt the Arabs in this region a decisive blow. Arab Hulda, which dominates the whole area, has been occupied by us, after the whole Arab population fled - and remains in our hand.
Around midnight I go to the mess. Sitting there is the whole com-pany that was in Deir Muheisin this morning. The atmosphere is lousy and depressive. The troops were under continuous attack. The Arabs had heavy weapons and were under the command of German or Polish officers. They got to within twenty yards of the village and