A salvo
Around midday I received the order to pick four men from my squad, and go with them to relieve the group which had held "Position Hell" since the morning.
This position was situated on a low hill. The trenches were about one hundred meters long and completely in view of the enemy, who was well dug in about three hundred meters away. The position was not continuously manned. But from time to time a small unit would be sent there to observe the enemy.
Luckily we found a free Bren carrier, so we loaded up our weapons and drove out to the hill. I left the men on the rear slope and went up alone. I wanted to check out the trenches and decide where to station the men.
At the top I met my friend Aryeh Langmann, the leader of the squad we had come to replace. We ran from trench to trench, and he explained the layout to me. Here was the command post with the field telephone. It worked. Further. There is the machine gun stand. We run along the pathetic connecting trench. It is just a foot deep. No point crawling. That would take too long. So you have to run and trust to luck.
Rat-tat-tat-tat. I feel something warm on my belly and fall into the connecting trench.
"I have been hit!" I shout.
Aryeh is also lying in the trench. For a moment I think he has also been hit. He crawls to me. He is unhurt.
"Where?" he asks.
I point to my stomach. He undoes my trousers, takes my emer-gency dressing, and puts it on the wound. I see a big bleeding hole on the right side of my belly. Then I notice that my sleeve is also dripping with warm blood. Aryeh takes off my battle dress and bandages the wound on my arm.
He jumps up and runs to the field telephone. Again the machine gun barks. A bullet goes through his coat, but misses him.
The pain is terrible. I cannot move, but my head is clear. I keep thinking the same thought: how are they going to get me out of here?