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

them. Danny nodded towards the lone figure standing at the edge of the camp. They all looked in the direction of Blair.

‘What do you think, Danny boy?’

‘I can’t think without tea and something to eat. But, if pressed, I’d say we were fairly buggered.’

‘That would be my assessment too,’ agreed Fitz. ‘Buggered with plums on top.’

This stopped Buller mid sup of his tea. He looked at Fitz. The Irishman merely shrugged.

‘What does Gray think?’ asked Danny.

‘Ask him yourself,’ replied Buller. This was a standing joke about the notoriously tight-lipped sergeant. ‘While you’re at it, you should thank him.’

Danny turned and looked questioningly at the Liverpudlian.

‘Blair was all for leaving you to Jerry. Gray somehow got him to make that last attack.’

‘Bloody hell,’ replied Danny.

That was the consensus on their mood. Danny made a brew for himself and the others. They sat drinking it in silence wondering what they were going to do now. As far as Danny could see, their options were limited. With limited fuel, food and water there was only so far they could travel and so long they could live without any fresh supply.

The next few hours were spent draining water and fuel from the engines of the vehicles that had been disabled by bullets and bombs. There was no ammo left. The Germans had seen to that. They had one truck and a two-pound gun and enough fuel for a day’s travel at most. With careful nursing they could make the water and food last a little longer. But there wasn’t much left. Hunger would be as much a companion to them as the man next to them. They needed to return to their base. But where was their base now?

Blair strolled over towards Danny and the others. He called Gray and Evans over, too. Both were taking spare parts from one of the other trucks. Everyone sat down and looked without any great sense of expectation towards Blair. His authority had been on the wane for a couple of weeks now. Sergeant Gray was their leader in all but name. Throughout their time in the harassing the Axis troops, his manner had never changed. He remained coolly professional throughout the close calls they’d experienced. If what Buller said was true, he’d effectively overruled Blair and insisted they return to rescue Danny. For Buller that had almost been the final straw in his view of the lieutenant.

‘We’re in a pretty rum situation, boys. There’s no use in hiding it,’ began Blair. His manner remained despondent, and it was having an effect on the others.

‘Our choices are limited. None of them good. All, in their own way, wrong. For this reason, I think we forget for a moment chain of command and discuss, as men, what we do next. I want you to feel free to express an opinion. Everyone’s opinion is valid. Who’s first?’

Danny nodded and all eyes turned to him.

‘We should drive towards Saunnu. We should have enough fuel to take us there. It’s a risk we’ll run into Jerry and we’ll have to take our chances. If we’re smart and travel by night perhaps we can either find a way of getting through, finding fuel and supplies, or maybe we’ll even run into some of our boys, who knows?’

‘Anyone else?’ asked Blair.

‘I’m with Danny,’ said Buller. Fitz and Evans both nodded in agreement.

All eyes turned to Gray. The sergeant fixed his eyes on Danny. For a moment he was silent, then he spoke in his usual measured way.

‘Heading towards Saunnu is suicide. It will be crawling with Germans, if the last radio contact we had was any guide.’ Danny’s heart sank and his face reddened. He should have stayed silent. The folly of youth. ‘Unfortunately, Shaw is right,’ continued Gray. ‘The Germans are to our south. The desert is to our east and west. There may be a chance of running into our boys if we head north west. We have no other choice, sir.’

Danny tried to hide his delight at being proven right. The words of Gray, not just the words, his manner of speaking made any alternative inconceivable.

‘Saunnu, it is then,’ said Blair. ‘I hope to God we’re right.’

‘One other thing, sir,’ added Gray. ‘We’ve lost a lot of good men and I think when we’ve finished our work here, and before we leave, we should spend a few minutes commemorating them.’

There were nods from the others. They hadn’t spent any time thinking about those who’d fallen. It was the least they could do.

-

‘Anything on the radio,’ asked Blair for what seemed like the twentieth time. Buller turned sharply towards the lieutenant and seemed on the point of telling him to shut up when Fitz nudged him. Buller nodded sullenly.

‘Nothing, sir,’ replied Danny. They’d been driving for three hours and darkness shrouded the road ahead. Blair touched the arm of Sergeant Gray and the truck slowed to a halt.

Blair looked around and then fixed his gaze on a point off the road. He turned to the others in the back of the truck.

‘I think we’ll stop here for the night. Pull off the road and we’ll camp fifty yards over there. Evans, Shaw can you take a recce. No point in falling into any soft sand.’

‘Don’t worry about the mines, Danny-boy,’ chipped in Fitz.

‘Thanks for your concern,’ replied Danny, laughing. This obvious danger had occurred to him as it had the others before Fitz gave it a voice.

Danny and Evans fanned out ten yards apart. In theory, they were unlikely to upset any mines. The intent was to blow up trucks rather than individual soldiers. Each walked slowly forward, testing the ground, lightly, with their feet. Danny found himself holding his breath. He inched forward, eyes staring at the ground in what remained of the light. From the corner of his eye he saw Evans stop suddenly.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Danny urgently.

‘I have a stone in my boot,’ came the reply.

A volley of abuse was hurled in the Welshman’s direction which he dealt