the last ones facing the enemy - slightly more than a dozen soldiers and officers from a variety of units. If we don’t manage an orderly withdrawal...
We hear calls from the other side of the road. We cross over in an easterly direction. The heavy machine gun joins us. We take position on the road and have a rest. The wounded man is still clearheaded. I give him some water from my canteen. At last we see one of our vehi-cles in the distance. We call to them. They come nearer, so that we can put the wounded man in. He is saved.
Now begins our return march: about eight kilometers through the mountains back to our base. We are exhausted, not having eaten or drunk in the last twenty-four hours and slept only two or three hours in the last thirty. The sun is merciless. The ammunition is heavy. But it is a matter of life and death. We are the last of the rearguard before the enemy. We make an orderly withdrawal.
* * *
In the distance we can see a convoy of armored vehicles forming up, but can’t tell whether they are Arab or British. We take up a position, even though we know that our weapons are useless against their guns. We advance while giving each other cover. Some of us take the position, while the others withdraw further - alternately. At last the armored convoy comes nearer. It belongs to the British. We don’t know what their intentions are. But they drive past without opening fire. Probably they are as afraid of us as we are of them. Later we hear that one of our mortars hit a British tank in the morning, mistaking it for an Arab one. When the mistake became apparent, one of our officers took care of the wounded. Since then the British have not been very active in this area.
The last two hundred meters are the worst. We got to know that stretch during our withdrawal from Deir Muheisin about a month ago. The path is as steep as a wall. The village looks as though you could reach out your hand and touch it, but getting there is torture. I feel that I have reached my absolute limit. I clench my teeth and reach the goal.
Opinions are divided about this action. No one knows for sure whether it was a victory or a defeat. For almost twenty-four hours we interrupted the enemy’s lines of supply at a decisive point and prevented the movement of reinforcements for the battle in Bab