and call help. It is too late that I notice that it is Czera Czertenko,⁹ my battalion commander.

We receive a hero’s welcome in Be’er Tuvia. They have heard what happened. The tow-truck is ready to go. We jump on and race back to the second truck. There the four are still struggling with the engine that won’t start. They have already begun to unload the truck, but reload it quickly when they see us coming. On the way back I notice a steel helmet with a camouflage net, lying by the roadside. We stop briefly so I can pick it up.

We couple the two vehicles together, and they move off. We don’t accompany the vehicles. Our task is complete. Now we have to dis-appear. Quickly. A miracle that we haven’t been shot at. But our machine guns have distracted the enemy.

On the way back we take a shorter route. We have lost our caution. A result of the little victory. We have done our job.

Back at camp we have a triumphant reception. Jerach shakes Janek’s and my hand. Our comrades whisper that they have it from a "reliable source" that we will be mentioned in dispatches. The main thing that we are happy about is to be back safely. During the opera-tion we had no time to think about the dangers. Now we love life all of a sudden. We don’t feel like heroes, but we do feel particularly good.

While we were sitting in Beit Daras, the battle for Hill 69 began. A fairly low position with three peculiar water towers on the top, about a kilometer away from Beit Daras, the hill had a special importance for the Egyptians. From there one controlled the road between Isdud and Majdal. One could practically cut off the Egyptian forces from their HQ. The Egyptians committed their strongest forces to this battle - tanks, aircraft, and artillery made the earth shake. In this terrible bombardment Issar Barsky, the nineteen-year-old section leader, was wounded. The ambulance couldn’t reach him. His condi-tion worsened. Thanks to the outstanding bravery ofShraga Gafni and Joseph Waadjah he was brought down from the hill and taken to a hos-pital, where he died.

The crisis began when Danni Dalugi, the deputy commander of the company there, fell. The company commander lost his self-control and the willpower of the soldiers collapsed. They pulled back.

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