Suddenly it is light as day. And at the same moment the air around us starts to whistle, to roar, to howl. Tracer rounds and green shells whistle past our heads.
No time for considering. We can’t turn round. Kotzer races directly into the village with us close behind.
A kind of square opens up in front of us, surrounded by houses. We are under fire but can’t tell where the bullets are coming from. It feels as if they are coming from all directions. I can’t understand what’s going on. What happened? Did no one tell our friends that we were coming? Do they think we are Egyptians?
Kotzer’s clear voice echoes through the village: "Samson - Delilah." They continue shooting. Have they forgotten the pass-word? Now we all shout together in chorus: "S-a־m - s-o־n - D-e-1-i-l-a-h!" The firing gets heavier. We are totally confused. Something unexpected, incomprehensible has happened. Have our comrades gone mad?
(Later we find out that the connection between the infantry who captured the village and HQ was broken. They did not know that we were coming and had abandoned the village before we arrived.)
Suddenly I see Kotzer walking around in the hail of bullets. "On the ground," he commands us. He climbs onto one of the houses. Now a flashlight is shining from his hand. Is he mad too? All the fir-ing is concentrated on him. But he has already hit the ground. And then I understand what he is doing. One of our jeeps has got stuck in a ditch outside. The diversionary tactic is successful. The jeep races into the village and joins up with us.
A heavy machine gun begins to rattle. Our infantry people have no such weapons. Without a doubt our friends have left the village. We are in the middle of a village which is occupied by the enemy.
My heart is beating like a drum. My brain has ceased to function. For the first time in many months I am overcome by fear. Simple, blind, primitive fear. What can we do? If we wait till sunrise, we will be wiped out. There is no doubt that the enemy will have his weapons aimed at the road along which we arrived in this accursed village. Where are they shooting from? What does the situation look like? None of us knows. What should we do? No one knows that either. We have all lost control of ourselves.