Upfall

As the mortar duel was underway, Mofaz and Nir, on the far right of the Israeli line, were trying with dwindling success to stave off Stadler's attack. The two commandos fought from a fortified shack, one of half a dozen in the old settlement, each manned by a section of Jewish fighters. Both commandos carried 40mm launchers under their Tavors, which Mofaz had already proved could damage a halftrack. The Stug III assaulting their position was a different matter. They‘d each fired a round into the Stug without effect Between them they only had four grenades left. Just as disturbing was the realization that that these Germans were very well led. The surviving halftracks stayed far away, shooting their machineguns but otherwise not offering themselves up for another easy shot. Meanwhile the attacking Stug and another further off down the forester's lane, continued to pound the settlement with their cannons, while infantry maneuvered on the flanks, infiltrating the position. The shelling was taking its toll, both on the two commandos, and especially the thirty other Jews who defended the place. Already, several positions were in ruins or under attack by the encroaching German infantry. The Mofaz and Nir had risked life and limb moving from position to position trying to encourage the shaken defenders, and plug local breaches. Now, exhausted like Yatom, and unwilling to expose themselves to the point-blank fire of the assault guns and the nearby German infantry, they hunkered down in their shack hard by the ridge-line. They could not hold on much longer.

Mofaz and Nir shared the shack with a Bren gun team of two men and a woman. The Bren gunners were near the end of their tether, huddling behind a wooden wall reinforced with piled rocks, as a distant halftrack poured machinegun fire at them. "Let's try to take that one out" said Mofaz, pointing at the German vehicle, 200 meters away. It was a tough shot because the grenade had to be lobbed, not fired directly. Nir, the more expert with the weapon launched a round. It exploded to the right of the halftrack. That simply induced the track commander to move back several more meters, and resume firing. Nir tried again, but his round appeared to fall short. The Israelis could not tell if the halftrack had been damaged, but it withdrew again and stopped firing.

The respite didn't last. "Look" said Nir, pointing beyond the withdrawing half-track toward the woods behind. As the halftrack moved away the Israelis saw dozens of German infantrymen moving to the north, threatening to envelope not only the forester‘s settlement, but the entire ridgeline position.

Mofaz radioed Yatom with the bad news, and asked his commander to deploy Fliegel's reserve company. Yatom called to Fliegel from the mortar pit, and ordered the Silesian and his men to occupy a small wooded hill just to the east of the forester‘s camp. From there he hoped Fliegel's company could hold the German flanking attack.

Mofaz was not done. "Yatom, you must send us Rafi. We are getting killed by this German tank!"

"He's on the way" Yatom shouted back into his radio, over the bark of the mortars. Just then Rafi ran into the fortified shack, German bullets clipping at his heels.

Mofaz pointed to the nearer of the two assault guns, barely 100 meters away. "I could hit that with my eyes closed" said Rafi, lifting the B-300.

"Just do it" snapped Mofaz.

Rafi ducked out of the bunker—the backblast from the weapon would kill or injure everybody in the bunker if he fired from that enclosed space. He crawled to the side of the building, exposing himself but easily sighting the Stug.

At that same moment the Stug gunner saw Rafi pointing the strange weapon at him. Though anti-tank rocket launchers were still unknown to German crews in 1942, the gunner knew a target when he saw one and fired just as Rafi sent his last round on the way. The rocket penetrated the Stug and destroyed the vehicle in an instant, killing the gunner and the rest of the crew. But the Stug’s gunner got off his 75mm round just before he died. It struck the side of the fortified shack. protective vest and helmet saved his life, but the concussion from the round knocked him out and damaged his internal organs, while shrapnel lanced his arms and legs. Mofaz and Nir realized immediately that Rafi had taken the worst of the explosion. They ducked out of the postion and pulled the gravely wounded commando back into the bunker.