They wake us at two in the morning. We spring from our mat-tresses and within a few minutes we are dressed and armed. In one corner of the camp we get cocoa, bread, and hardboiled eggs. Such is our joy that we crack open the eggshells on each other’s heads.
Fate, in the form of Bulli, our deputy platoon leader, allocates to my squad a truck full of Tnuva cheese.16 Some of us see this as dis-advantageous: fresh cheese is not a particularly effective protection against bullets. But most are in agreement with Nachman, our blond squad leader, who explains the appetizing aspect of the situation. After our stomachs have just about turned into aquariums from the quantity of sardines we eat all the time, a good helping of cheese would make a nice change.
We quickly move the boxes to the sides of the cargo area and con-struct a nice hiding place in the middle which we like to hope is pro-tected from bullets.
* * *
The fabled silver streak on the horizon announces "Zero Hour." The head of the convoy starts to move. As we climb the hill, a fantastic view opens up - innumerable vehicles, one after another: buses, trucks, armored cars, private cars. In every second or third vehicle we see the faces of Nachshon people and next to them their rifles and grenade launchers.
We reach the limits of the captured area, the front that we formed over the last weeks. Every hill and every shrub brings back memories.
Deir Muheisin! All heads are raised, despite our orders. A sea of memories: the house where we ate the chickens, the house with the two domes where I lay, the house where we spent a whole day under sniper fire.
We feel fine. The exchange of memories wakens our appetite. Nachman opens a pack of cheese. We touch the yellow mass as though it were something sacred. Our stomachs, used only to sar-dines and bully beef,17 rejoice.
Latrun. We examine the great prison with curiosity. Memories of a bygone epoch.18 A group of Arab police stare at the enormous con-voy and its armed escort with wide eyes.
Shaar Hagai.19 Immediately we tense up. To both sides the land rises steeply. If we are attacked from the heights, all we can do is to