tion of the front south of Iraq al-Manshiyya. An Egyptian brigade was surrounded there, and skirmishes were continually flaring up. They would make occasional attempts to break out, and we did our best to prevent this. We also tried to prevent the smuggling in of food during the night. At the same time we admired the Egyptians for the way they held out under these conditions.
I set off with my squad in an anxious state of mind. For the first time I had people under my command at the front. The fact that they were not trained Israelis but foreign volunteers, who didn’t know the condi-tions in our country, weighed on my spirits. I took over a position about a kilometer away from the encircled enemy.
In the evening we took over the position. We distribute the men in small bivouac tents, organize sentries, and get the machine guns set up.
The tents are situated on the back slope, the trenches for the look-outs were dug out on the forward slope. Since the men have to be near the positions, to be ready for an enemy attack at any time, they cannot sleep in the tents. They drag the mattresses and the blankets near the positions.
The first evening at the front. "This is all like ... like ... like a dream," says Jehoshua, a little man from Paris who has picked up a few words of Hebrew. Then he continues in French. I understand only the occasional word: "immigration," "war," "front," "attack."
I lie between the positions. It would set a bad example to sleep in a tent. If words are not persuasive, you have to do it with actions. I find a comfortable place in a connecting trench, lay the mattress there, crawl into the sleeping bag, and spread the blankets on top. It is forbidden to remove your shoes or clothing. So it soon gets really warm.
But still I can’t go to sleep. Now and then I get up and go to the positions. The sentries are alert. In the evening I told them about a position where the guards were killed in their sleep. That did the job!