Upfall

Kumm nodded, but said nothing "Should we displace Battery 2 as well — or the headquarters?" Holzer asked nervously.

"No" said Kumm, seemingly undisturbed by the prospect of his headquarters being hit by a few 81mm bombs. "I am going forward to see the situation at Hoehe 28. If Vogel is dead, you may have to take command of that company" he told Holzer. Kumm ran back to his command track and kicked the driver The halftrack lurched forward, toward the hillock.

In his half-track, near the forester's village, Stadler cursed when he lost communication with Kumm before completing his report. Worse, the regimental commander had said next to nothing, leaving Stadler in the dark as to what was happening elsewhere on the battlefield With no guidance Stadler had no choice but to continue his own attack on the enemy's right flank. His 1st Company, 120 men strong, was the only intact unit left in the battalion and now he threw it at the partisan‘s line. One platoon continued their attack into the blasted forester‘s settlement while the rest of the company, with nearly ninety men, assaulted a low ridgeline, Hoehe 19 on the map, which ran perpendicular to the main enemy position. If Stadler‘s men could get over that ridge they would fall on the enemy rear and the battle would be over. Stadler had a difficult time believing a battle against Jewish partisans could be so hard, but he‘d been surprised by the tenacity of the Russians too. 1st Company would succeed or die trying.

It took Yatom several seconds to realize that beyond the ceaseless hammering of small arms, and the plop of his own mortar, the main ridgeline position had gone rather quiet—at least the German artillery had stopped blasting it. Yatom was crouched outside the mortar pits while Poldolsky and his crews continued to work the American-made weapons. He looked at them and smiled. "Seems you must have hit something!" cried Yatom with rare enthusiasm. "The German mortars have stopped." Poldolsky wiped the sweat from his brow and told one of his men to fetch another crate of mortar bombs. In the distance, it appeared the bombardment of the hillock was also over. Ten minutes earlier Ilan had described a desperate situation on the hill. But he sent a signal that the hillock remained in Jewish hands—although Feldhandler had been injured, and Bolander nearly got himself killed.

Roi's position on the ridge was secure, although the machinegunner had also been lightly injured, and only a couple other bunkers remained in action on the forward slope. But the Germans didn't seem interested in launching a direct assault on the main ridge. Rather, Yatom knew, they were moving to envelope his position from the north, around the forester‘s settlement and the low ridge that ran at a right angle behind it. Fliegel‘s men were moving onto that ridge now, but Yatom worried that it they wouldn‘t be enough. Yatom radioed Jezek in Biali, telling him to strip the town's last defenses and drive every available fighter to the front. Jezek remained resignedly calm, and told Yatom he'd put Biali‘s last forty men on two trucks send them on, along with Perchansky and Sobel. Yatom hoped he wouldn‘t need the extra men, but if his position fell, they would do no good in Biali.

Yatom left the mortar position and walked back a few dozen meters to the makeshift aid station. There doctors and nurses continued to work under crowded and difficult conditions on an ever mounting number of wounded. A sad line of uncovered corpses was growing too—blankets could not be spared to cover the dead. Yatom was surprised to see that Ido had rejoined them. Having beaten back the armored attack on the ridge's left flank, he come back on his own, trusting that a pair of nearby Jewish bunkers could hold any stranded German infantry.

Yatom was about to upbraid the medic for leaving his position without orders when he saw Mofaz and Nir stumbling toward the aid station, the wounded Rafi draped across their shoulders. Yatom stalked over to the three men, meeting Mofaz‘s eyes—the Major returned his gaze, knowing exactly what was coming. "Mofaz!" growled Yatom "I did not give you permission to leave your position."

Mofaz ignored the sayeret leader, and continued to drag Rafi to the aid station, setting him down gently against a tree. "Where is Ido?" asked Mofaz, as if he had not heard Yatom's reproof.