El Alamein, Jack Murray [best autobiographies to read .txt] 📗

There was darkness for a few seconds. Danny heard the sound of footsteps. The Germans were using the cover of darkness to encircle him. He was down to his last few bullets. Somewhere in the distance he heard a motor engine. They were bringing up the armoured car with its machine gun.

Twenty yards to his right he caught sight of a shadow. It was rushing towards him. He fired at the shadow. It dropped. Having revealed his position a volley of bullets threw up sand in front of him, which forced him to duck. A grenade or mortar would follow soon, he knew.

A sense of resignation swept over him. It was over.

An explosion, then another and then an even larger one rocked the earth around him. Danny looked up. He was alive. How could they have missed? A Very light went up revealing close to a dozen Germans standing less than fifteen yards in front of him. Gunfire erupted from somewhere and the Germans began dropping.

Danny turned around just in time to see Fitz and Buller with the big gun unleashing another shot at the Germans. He ducked his head and heard its crump. The explosion rent the earth apart just as the Very light faded. In the darkness Danny could make out the more advanced German soldiers retreating. The gunfire ceased and Danny risked standing up.

He made a beeline for where he’d seen Fitz and Buller.

‘Don’t shoot. It’s me,’ he shouted, fearful of surviving one firefight only to get killed by mistake

‘Get a move on, ya eejit,’ said Fitz. ‘Help us get this thing back onto the truck.’

‘Took your bloody time about it,’ said Danny.

‘Bloody lucky we came at all,’ said Buller but did not expand further on the point. They hauled the gun down the hill towards the truck. Blair was manning the wheel.

‘Hurry,’ ordered Blair, somewhat unnecessarily. In less than thirty seconds the gun trailer was attached and they tore off into the night. Gray turned around to Danny.

‘What happened?’

8

Between Antelat and Msus, Libya: 24th January 1942

Danny and the remaining member of the party drove through the rest of the night and arrived back at the camp just before first light. There were no guards on picket duty. All was silent. Something was most definitely wrong. Danny glanced at the others. Everyone seemed on edge.

‘What on earth’s going on here?’ asked Lieutenant Blair. There was just a hint of hysteria in his voice. He was close to cracking.

They drew to a halt. Sergeant Gray leapt out of the front and began checking the camp for signs of life. The trucks in the camp were empty. The others slowly climbed out of the back, joining Gray in the search for the soldiers who’d stayed behind. Danny, meanwhile, tried to reach them via the wireless set. There was no response. Gray reported back to Blair after a few minutes.

‘No one, sir. They’ve all gone. A number of vehicles are still here but one of the trucks and one of the guns is missing.’

‘What do you think has happened?’ asked Blair, trying to keep the edge of fear out of his voice.

‘Hard to say, sir. We avoided radio contact for fear that the Germans would intercept. Perhaps they came under attack again from the air and had to take evasive…’

‘Look over here,’ said Buller, thirty yards away.

The others went over to join him. Buller was standing near a number of mounds. Guns were stuck in the ground and helmets draped over the top of them. There were around a dozen mounds in total. One of the mounds had a beret draped over it. Blair went over and lifted the black beret up.

‘Jepson,’ said Blair. He turned to Gray. ‘There can’t have been more than half a dozen others. They’ve been taken prisoner.’

Gray nodded on agreement. It made sense. Why else would they have buried the bodies? There was just a hint of light now and they could see better the signs of explosions pitting the landscape either side of the camp. There was no question they’d come under attack from either guns or tanks. Any survivors would have been taken as prisoners of war.

Blair sat down and stared at the ground. It seemed like a good idea in the circumstances. The others joined him.

‘I think it unlikely Jerry will come back,’ said Blair after a few minutes.  We’ll rest here for today.’ He fell into a sombre silence.

Gray took charge. He looked at the group and said ‘See if there’s any petrol we can siphon from the two trucks. We’ll need everything we can lay our hands on. And check if there’s any ammo or food, water left. Anything.’ There was no hiding the resignation in his voice. Or was it tiredness? They’d all gone without sleep. He looked at Blair and added, ‘But first we should get an hour or two sleep,’ suggested Gray. ‘Then when we’re rested, we can find everything we need.’

Blair nodded mutely. Danny glanced at Blair and saw a man who was utterly crushed. Without hope. Whether this was in memory of his fallen comrades or something else, he didn’t know. Danny felt sad for the men that had fallen but he felt something else, too. Elation. He’d survived a situation in which he was convinced he would die. The euphoria had lasted as long as the journey back to the camp. When he finally bedded down for the night, however, he fell immediately into a dreamless sleep.

-

Danny woke up with a start. An engine was coughing to life nearby. Bright light blinded him although he was lying in shadow. His eyes focused on his watch. It was just after two in the afternoon. He’d been asleep for eight hours. He rolled away from the truck and staggered to his feet.

‘Tea?’ shouted Fitz.

‘Yes, thanks,’ said Danny.

‘Go and bloody make one then,’ added Buller. The old one-two. Danny groaned as Buller and Fitz laughed at him. He went over and sat near