At the last moment our company was hurriedly ordered onto the hill, to give the retreating company covering fire. We reached the edge of an orange grove about two hundred meters from the hill. That’s where we saw the heavy tanks. Elijahu Keil and YaakovLevkovitz, the PIATcrew, braved the heavy fire to get in a close shot at one of the tanks. But under the double bombardment from our own and the enemy artillery, we were forced to withdraw. In this time the men from the hill managed to reach Beit Daras. They brought their wounded with them.

The news of the loss of the hill was a heavy blow for the whole brigade. For the first time our fighters had come across enemy tanks, and they lost their nerve and retreated. From then on the number "69" troubled us all. It was engraved on the heart of the brigade - we didn ’t want to for-get it. We wanted to free ourselves from this disgrace.

Finally. Finally we were informed that the ceasefire was supposed to begin at ten o’clock in the morning. None of us believed that the Egyptians would respect it.

In the middle of the night we were roused from our sleep. Five volun-teers were needed for a tank ambush on the path from Hill 69 to Beit Daras. I set off with four of my comrades. In the darkness of the night we dug a trench next to the road. We put the Molotov cocktails next to us, camouflaged ourselves with twigs, and waited for sunrise.

No tanks came. But at exactly ten o’clock the Egyptians began shoot-ing wildly. At first we were certain: they had violated the resolutions of the UN again. Then we noticed that no bullets or shells were coming in our direction. It was an oriental "Fantasia." The Egyptians had accepted the ceasefire.

Around midday we were relieved. We spent the day in Beit Daras, before returning to our base camp.

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