Upfall

Yatom's combat experience was extensive, but had mostly consisted of well—prepared raids and assaults. He had never fought a defensive battle before, much less one with amateur soldiers on strange terrain. There was little to do but hang on. He radioed Mofaz and Han on his right and left flanks, and ordered them hold fast. Yatom then went down the ridge, dodging German shells, until he found his own mortar crew, and his only reserve formation—a company of about 100 men under the command of Fliegel, waiting in the safety of the reverse slope. Nearby was a makeshift aid station where Ido worked with a half dozen doctors and nurses on several men already wounded by the German artillery. Yatom grabbed Ido and told him to put his medical duties on hold—he needed the medic to assist Rafi in dealing with the German armor. Yatom then walked over to Fliegel, trying to appear as confident as possible, despite the falling mortar bombs. He took the Silesian fighter aside, hopeful that Fliegel had not lost his nerve. Yatom described the grim situation.

"The Germans are likely to break through somewhere" explained Yatom. "When they do, you and your men are going to have to stop them, or we'll be finished."

Chapter 39

The telephone rang in Kumm's command halftrack. Since the enemy had jammed his radio he'd had his signals section run telephone wire to the front lines. It was more cumbersome than radio, and it meant that he could not talk directly to Stadler in his mobile halftrack, but it worked after a fashion. Lieutenant Vogel, commander of infantry Company 2 on the right flank was calling to report that his men had moved into position in the treeline opposite the smaller hill, Hoehe 28. The SS platoons from Company 3, operating between the roads, had routed the enemy engineer detachment in the woods to his left, and were in place opposite the larger ridge, Hoehe 31. That left Stadler, who was still out of communication but presumably moving forward with Company 1, sweeping the far left flank.

The attack had got off to a rough start. Columns of smoke from his stricken armor still smudged the skyline, but Kumm believed that things were looking up. Not only was the infantry advancing, but ahead of him one of the surviving assault guns was pushing to the central ridge, every few seconds pausing to fire a shell into a partisan bunker. Two half-tracks loaded with infantry followed the Stug III, their machineguns blazing. One mortar battery still pounded the big ridge, Hoehe 31, while the second had opened up on Hoehe 28 to the right, softening it up for Vogel's men.

Kumm called back Vogel and ordered him to attack Hoehe 28 immediately. He rang off and called the commander of Company 3, which had routed the partisan engineers. He ordered the company to move out of the woodline and renew its attack on the main ridge to support the armor on their right. Company 3 would have to go straight ahead, right at the enemy bunkers, regardless of the cost. That, after all is what the SS did.

The only missing piece was Stadler. But Kumm trusted his subordinate to carry out the mission plan and assumed Stadler's armored column and infantry were assaulting the forester's settlement.

Stadler was only about two kilometers from Kumm, but invisible to the regimental commander through the dense trees that divided the roadways on which the German attacks proceeded. It bothered Stadler that he was out of communication with his commander, but like Kumm, the SS battalion commander was feeling confident. He was in the van of the attack on the left, following a Stug III assault gun and two more half-tracks loaded with infantry and engineers— mirroring Kumm's attack on the right Behind him the damaged Stug fired into the old forester's settlement, supporting his assault. His mounted troops were shooting like demons from the halftracks at the ridge. They were taking machinegun fire, but nothing heavier, in return. On his far left infantry Company 1 was moving to encircle the partisans. It looked like the enemy was about to be trapped and overrun—like wiping out an anthill—as Kumm had said.

Yatom left Fliegel and returned to the main bunker where he checked up on Roi. The machine-gunner had recovered his wits and was shooting from the bunker into the wood-line against the Germans who had killed Roskovsky. Roi had used up his ammo for the Negev and was shooting an MG 34, helped by two young fighters who serviced the weapon and spotted targets for him. Near Roi one other bunker continued to fire but the others on the forward slope had fallen silent, either victims of shock, mortar attack, or the Stugs cannon. "Hold them Roi" yelled Yatom from the rear bunker entrance. The commando sergeant put his thumb up and got back to work.