Zakariyya, helped our comrades to establish themselves in Qubeiba, and carried out long patrols in the area around Agur and Zakariyya. But our comrades were involved in heavy fighting. David Shani’s explanations that the battalion was in great need of trained superiors did not help. A "secret" committee, with representatives from all battalions, had decided to press decisively for our return to our units and to the front.
The first lists of dead and wounded had meanwhile reached us. The losses were heavy. In the battle for Huleiqat our "Bulli," Chaim Bulman, fell together with many of his people. Yaakov Burstein, "Meshi," "Musa" Wassermann, Yaakov Velichkovski, all members of our former company, were wounded. Shlomo Apfelbaum, my jeep com-mander in the Jassir days, was mortally hit.
When we got this news, we declared unambiguously: with or without permission, we are going to "desert" and return to our units. We packed the essentials in little bags and agreed to leave that night.
At the last moment the brigade gave in. They did refuse to terminate the course and send us back to our old units. But the participants in the course would be sent to the front as a separate fighting company.
* * *
We were to replace the ravaged company that had captured Huleiqat. The whole front was awaiting an Egyptian counter-attack. We knew that a whole Egyptian brigade was trapped between Isdud and Majdal. They would not surrender before making a desperate attempt to break out. We set up the Vickers1that the enemy had left behind and waited.
The unburied bodies of dead Egyptians were scattered all over the field around us. It was a sight that would have engendered pacifistic thoughts in the most hard-hearted.
Conversation with the dead
A cloud of smoke rises from the Gaza to Majdal road. The men keep their heads down in their trenches. The shell whistles in and explodes ten meters away. The heads are raised again. No casualties. The trenches, constructed by the Egyptians with great care and expertise, have proven their high quality.