The Way of War Pt. 19

Chapter 51

The day before the British Mandate expired it was announced that the State of Israel had been formed by David Ben-Gurion, it was May 14th.

America and the USSR were the first countries to recognise it.

That same day a message from Proff arrived, the Egyptians were preparing to move out.

The three who had been at the Egyptian base had joined Proff. They reported that four off the trucks were loaded with jerry cans for fuel and water.

Later Proff reported the column comprised of the six tracked troop carriers in the lead with seven tanks close behind. Behind them were thirty eight trucks some filled with troops then three tanks. Three Spitfires circled the column.

Later in the day Proff reported a second column, made up of an armoured car in the lead with a 30mm quad anti-aircraft cannon mounted on a truck. The large fuel and water bowser trucks came behind and approximately two hundred troops marching with another 30mm truck mounted cannon, the second armoured car brought up the rear.

Shaun let the others know, the Spitfires would be a problem he knew. The radio had been giving out information of attacks from Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, the Jews were fighting on all fronts to stem the tide of the invasions.

He managed to contact Ari Silverman and brought him up to date with the situation with the Egyptians, "Our main problem will be the Egyptian fighters, we may need help from you with them."

"How long will it take them to reach your positions?" Ari asked.

"Our best guess is that it will be eight days." Shaun replied.

"OK, we may be able to help in a few days, leave it with me."

As more reports came in from Proff who was now tailing the column. It appeared the main force was spread out over a mile long. When they stopped for the night, fuel and water was taken from the rear most trucks and distributed amongst the vehicles and men. Later the empty jerry cans would be loaded on to the trucks and they would return to the second column and be refilled from the bowsers, before returning to the main column.

"It makes sense," Shaun told the others, "If the bowsers were destroyed the invasion would pettier out."

Five days later they heard on the radio that Cairo had been bombed by the Israelis. Shaun was surprised he hadn't known that the Jews had bombers.

The following day Proff reported that the column had no air cover.

When Shaun addressed the others about it he told them that it seemed that the Egyptian fighters had been withdrawn to protect Cairo.

With the two columns now separated by over twenty miles, he ordered Proff to return to base that night.

From reports from Ari Silverman it appeared that the Israeli's were fighting on all fronts, the Jordanian Army seemed to be the most dangerous being more professional in their organisation. But the Israeli's were holding their own. Now that weapons and ammunition were reaching them from ships now that the blockade was lifted.

Proff arrived back at the base in the early hours of the morning with the other men. All were exhausted and hungry. Proff reported that the second column no longer had the 30mm quad cannons with them.

Shaun sent them all after a meal, to rest.

Later that night Proff joined them for the daily briefing in the command post. He still had dark rings around his eyes but looked more refreshed.

Shaun brought them up to date with the situation in the rest of the country, before elaborating on their own situation. Proff ventured an opinion.

"I can't swear to it because they had scarfs around their faces due to the dust kicked up, but I'm almost certain that the first four tank commanders are Germans, due to the colour of their uniforms."

Bobby nodded, "it would make sense for Krunz to put them there. They having experienced the war in Europe. Did you see Krunz Proff?"

Proff shook his head, "No, but the sixth tank had a pennant on it but I never saw a commander in it. But at night all the commanders used to congregate in the trailer behind the troop carrier. It had a couple of high radio aerials on it. I'm guessing it's the column's command post."

They all nodded, "I think you are right Proff," Shaun agreed. "I'll have to knock that out to prevent Krunz calling up support."

Bobby looked stunned, "What do you mean, you'll have to knock it out?"

Shaun seemed surprised, "Well I'll be leading the attacking Jeeps."

A growl emanated from Bobby, followed by Cookie, Proff and Ken. "Like hell you will Shaun." Bobby exploded, "You are the commander of this bunch Shaun, so do your job and command."

The other nodded their heads furiously.

"Ann is my patrol and I will be the one in charge of the attacking jeeps, no arguments." Bobby growled.

Looking at the faces of the others Shaun knew he had lost any argument he could put forward.

"Ok then if you are all sure about this. Then this is what we do..."

************

Cookie's and Proff's Sue group's tactics had changed since it was now known the column would be all inside the gorge. Cookie would take the bazooka teams in his truck and with the jeeps giving support enter the gorge. The bazooka teams would alight when they came up to the tanks and take them out. The ground troops would be squeezed into the jeeps and offer close support as the situation warranted. Sol's snipers at the entrance to the gorge would neutralise the two Vickers posts. The snipers at the exit 0f the gorge would concentrate their fire on MG42 gunners in the halftracks and the tank commanders.

Shaun and the others knew that the column would be arriving at the gorge within the next twenty-four hours. A supply truck had arrived that day and was going to take letters back with it. Shaun had written a letter to Sharron. He had tried to keep it light but at the same time tell her how much he loved her and David and their child who was yet to be born. He knew Ari would get it through to her.

As the sun set that night, the men gathered close around the truck on which Shaun, Bobby, Cookie, Ken, Proff, Stanley and Sol stood.

Shaun looked down on their faces, most were in their early twenty's.

"Hitler's grand design," Shaun began, "Was to cleanse Europe of all Jews, he nearly succeeded. The Grand Mufti in Jerusalem has decided to complete Hitler's design here in North Africa.

He has called upon all Arab countries to send in their army's to not only annihilate your people, but also destroy your country...Israel. We are going to stop one of those army's tomorrow, and destroy it.

The people in the Nazi death camps had a prayer... Next year in Jerusalem... I say... THIS YEAR.IN JERUESALEM."

A low growl emanated from their throats.

Shaun smiled down at them, "Good luck and God be with you."

Shaun could see the tight smiles of determination on all their faces has they drifted away to join their assigned groups.

He turned to face the others on the truck.

These were the men he had trained and fought with in numerus battles, they needed no pep talk

"Well gentlemen I have a bottle of thirty year old whiskey, which I will open after tomorrow. Make sure you are all here to enjoy it."

No other words were spoken as he shook each hand, as they climbed down from the truck to join their groups

Chapter 52

Shaun was standing alongside Ken, who had his headphones on listening to the radio traffic on the radio set into the side of the truck.

"All the positions have reported in Shaun," Ken said softly.

Shaun smiled and nodded, he glanced up beyond the side of the truck seeing the sun come up over the crags. The truck was facing down towards the valley floor covered in camouflage netting. Young Saul stood behind the twin 50cals gazing at the exit of the gorge some seven hundred yards away.

Off to the side of the truck a 3" mortar position had been prepared and the three man team were stacking shells ready for use.

Shaun climbed up into the cab, picking up his Zeiss binoculars.

"Here Shaun get this inside you," the voice of Izzy said offering up a mug of coffee.

Izzy was one of the older members of the group. He had fought all through the North African Campaign as a Tank Sargent, before being invalided out with a shattered leg.

Izzy would be firing the twin 50s and Saul loading for him.

Shaun thanked him placing the coffee on the dashboard. He began sweeping the valley floor with the binoculars, keeping his hands over the lenses to deflect any sunlight upon them.

After twenty minutes he put them down, he had been unable to spot Stanley's bazooka's positions. He knew Stanley was down there in a foxhole with his loader and could only imagine the discomfort they would be undergoing.

He sat back in the passenger's seat sipping his coffee.

"It's always the waiting that is the worse," Ken murmured beside him.

"Tell me about it," Shaun replied.

He closed his eyes thinking about the Crater, seeing the rich pasture and the animals grazing upon it. Then he saw Sharron in his mind's eye, a lump came into his throat. He could see each curve of her body and her beautiful face with the dark eyes and raven hair. What the hell, am I doing here, he thought? But the thought vanished as soon as it appeared, he knew why, he had told Sharron months ago.

He was on his fifth cigarette when Ken murmured, "The column is in sight."

He climbed up onto the truck bed beside Izzy, focusing his binoculars on the exit of the gorge and waited.

Half an hour later Ken called up from the radio. "There in the same formation, troop carriers in front with the tanks behind. The trucks behind them. Say again Cookie," Ken demanded.

He looked up to Shaun, "The three tanks are last, the petrol and water trucks are nowhere to be seen Cookie says."

They must be either returning to resupply or taking the empty jerry cans to refill, Shaun thought.

An hour went passed before Shaun saw the troops at the machine gun posts at the exit leave their positions to stand by the road weaving and cheering.

Slowly a tracked troop carrier emerged from the gorge, its troops waving back to those by the road. A second then a third, followed by more carriers emerging.

Shaun bent over the side of the truck, "Order Bobby's jeeps to attack Ken."

He saw Ken muttering into the microphone, before looking back over to the gorge. Five troop carriers were now spread along the road, with the last one that towed the command post just emerging.

He focused the glasses on the dip in the road about a mile away, he knew the jeeps would be lined up below that in line astern formation.

He saw them slowly appear over the dip, the lead driver of the troop carriers would he knew have a problem making out what it was approaching him through the heat haze thrown up by the road and the dust.

Too late he realised his danger as the Jeeps leapt forward, the first opened fire with its 50 calibre machine gun. The armour piercing bullets tearing through the thin metal sides of the carrier like tissue paper, as each Jeep swept down the line of them.

Shaun readjusted the glasses to focus on the MG42 gunners on the carriers, three were slumped over their gun. He saw another was sliding down dragging his gun with him has it fired into the sky in a sustained burst. Sol's snipers are doing their work he thought.

The machine gun crew by the entrance suddenly woke up and started to run to their position, but the lead Jeeps Vickers K bowled them over, one of the bodies crashed into the Vickers machine gun knocking it over.

The Jeeps each blasted the command trailer as they passed before whirling away, leaving four of the carriers on fire. Their troops either dead or burrowing into the sand on the other side of them.

Suddenly the gun barrel of a Sherman barged out of the gorge. The tank accelerated and swung round trying to locate the Jeeps in the dust they had thrown up, creating its own dust cloud in the process. It was soon joined by others, all firing blindly into the dust cloud.

The last tank to emerge had a longer barrel with a muzzle brake at the end, Shaun noticed. It's a British Sherman Firefly with a 17lb gun he realised.

The tank flew a commander's pennant and a black uniformed figure sat in the commander's position in the top of the turret. He must have been issuing orders because the tanks moved into position alongside his. Thereby creating a wall of steel between the Jeeps and the gorge.

The Jeeps were still weaving and turning firing as they moved, the commanders of the tanks were dropping down inside the turrets to avoid the bullets. The line of tanks began to move forward, some of the ground troops came up behind them sticking close, for their protection.

It was getting difficult to see through all the dust, he could hear the guns of the tanks and their machine guns and the distinctive sound of the 50cals. Then suddenly there was a red flash of flame and an explosion. One of the Jeeps had been destroyed, their crew now dead. Shaun gripped the binoculars tightly to overcome the sense of loss.

The Jeeps began to fall back, still firing has they went. The tanks sensing victory started to speed up leaving the ground troop trailing behind them and breaking their formation in their haste to kill the Jeeps.

Shaun was silently willing the Jeeps to reach the dip in the road, when yet another Jeep was blown up. He looked down towards the Firefly tank noticing that the black uniform figure was still standing in the turret, all the others had ducked down inside, and then he noticed he wasn't standing he was slumped over in the hatch. A smile torched Shaun's lips, "Well done Sol, bloody well done," he whispered.

The tanks except the Firefly were now racing to catch the Jeeps. The crew in the Firefly were struggling to pull the body of the commander inside and had stopped. Suddenly first one then two Sherman's burst into flames, the explosion's coming a split second later, followed by two more.

"Bloody Ronson's" Izzy growled.

Shaun knew British Tankie's called Sherman's that due to their habit of busting into flames when hit. The Germans used a more sinister name for them...Tommy cookers.

Three of the burning tanks exploded the turret of one flying thirty feet into the air as the ammunition exploded inside.

Izzy was laying fire down on the entrance keeping those inside bottled up, and the mortars were supporting him. The men with the Vickers K's had stripped of the camouflage to their foxholes and were scything down the Egyptian troops who had followed behind the tanks.

A fifth tank brewed up, and then the crews in the Firefly and remaining Sherman were scrambling to vacate them, the black uniformed body was unceremoniously thrown over the side. Once on the ground their hands shot up into the air in surrender.

Shaun glanced towards the gorge suddenly noticing a black pall of smoke lifting from further along the gorge. Sue's group had attacked he knew. He turned back as he heard the jeeps returning, only three now and one of those was smoking badly. They headed for the gorge exit.

Ken shouted up to him, "Cease fire Shaun, they want to surrender." He gave the order to Izzy and the mortar crew, before jumping down alongside Ken.

"What about Sue's group Ken?"

"Cookie and Proff went into the gorge in the truck with the bazooka teams, the ground troops trotting beside it. Apparently they could hear the explosions from the head of the gorge caused by lads dropping mortar shells down on the column, seems the tank commander was more interested in what was ahead rather than what lay behind. He lost interest when Cookie put a bazooka shell into his rear end. The tank literally blew up. It knocked Cookie and his loader for a six. Proff says they both have broken ribs. Anyhow the other tank commanders threw in the towel when they saw the troops fleeing in panic back down the pass.

Shaun thought for a moment, "Is Proff still with Sue's jeeps at the entrance?"

"Yes why?" Ken replied.

"Get him for me Ken." Shaun asked

Ken adjusted the frequency and after a moment handed the microphone to Shaun He spoke in to it for several minutes before signing off.

He was just leaving to go down into the valley when Ken spoke again.

"The guys down by the entrance say that the Egyptians are dropping their weapons and running back along the gorge Shaun."

Shaun thought for a moment, "Tell them to let them pass but remove any weapons from them. Then put me through to Ari Silverman."

A few minutes later he was holding the microphone again. Ari Silverman's came through the speaker sounding worried.

"Shaun what's the position with you all there?"

"It's all over, the Egyptians are in full retreat, but we urgently need medical assistance."

There was a long silence before Ari's voice was heard again sounding incredulous.

"You say you won and the enemy is retreating?"

"Yes, yes Ari, but we need medical help fast, can you organise it?"

"Sorry Shaun," Ari said getting a grip on himself, "I can have medical help from the Kibitzes, there in two three hours, more help with ambulances will be there in seven or eight hours. The medical teams on site can radio in for any specialised help."

Shaun spoke to him for a few more minutes before sighing off.

Gathering Izzy, Saul and the mortar team they set off down to the valley to help out.

On reaching the valley floor he saw Sol by the Firefly tank looking down at the body that was obviously Krunz. He walked over to him noticing his rifle slung on his shoulder.

He looked up and gave a small smile, "You know Shaun the British Army never gave me a medal for what I did in the war, so I think I'll have this one."

Shaun saw he was holding an Iron Cross in his hand, he nodded and smiled tapping his shoulder lightly and moved on.

He found Bobby his face streaked like a zebra where he had poured water over his head to rid himself of the dust that had settled on him during his ride in the jeep. He along with his others from Ann were moving the wounded on makeshift stretchers. Shaun's group joined in helping.

...

Meanwhile the Proff had set off with his five jeeps in search of the second column. Five miles down the road they ran into three trucks returning with fuel and water. They surrendered without a problem. Leaving the fuel trucks by the side of the road, the water truck was turned round and set off in the lead, back to the column.

The Captain in charge of the column was surprised to see what appeared to be the trucks returning. The truck pulled up close to the front of the Daimler Armoured Car. The Captain climbed out of the turret, when he turned round he was facing the barrel of a machine gun.

The Captain was a brave man, but he wasn't stupid. The machine gun didn't frighten him, but the almost full petrol bowser ten yards behind him did. If it exploded the horror it would cause on the almost two hundred men now sat down in the road in front of the last Daimler would be catastrophic.

The man in the passenger side of the jeep in front of him stood up, pushing up his goggles and removing his Shemagh scarf from his face.

"Are you English?" he asked in a cultured voice.

"Yes Captain, Captain Workington formally of the Long Range Desert Group. Do I have your surrender Sir?" Proff asked.

The Captain sighed, "What are your terms sir."

"All your men will be free to return to Suez once they have stacked their weapons by the side of the road. They may take their personal possessions, bedroll and water canteen. We will leave this water truck for your use. There will be several more hundreds of your countrymen coming down this road shortly. You and your men in the vehicles may retain their side arms in order to maintain discipline. Is this satisfactory for you sir?"

"They are most generous sir. The ground troops behind me will need no encouragement to return to Suez. Six months ago they were tending their fields by the banks of the Nile. They have no stomach for this war only the fanatics want it like that despot the Grand Mufti."