ACV's 1 Operation Black Gold (20 page)

CHAPTER 20

I searched for ways through the bombardment with the binoculars.  A futile gesture gave me time to think.  The looks on their faces had made my guts slide.  I had seen it many times before, every time they’d got up to their eye balls in shit and expected me to find a way out for them.  My mind kept going back to the mortar pit; how long did we have, could we get enough ammo back up, would we be spotted?  And if we managed all that, what was the point in trying to defend this position, was there a better one on the plateau?

Buff watched the binoculars slip gently away from Jim’s face.  His eyes had glazed over and he swayed gently in a trance like state.  A thrill ran through him; hope.  Gigs had spotted it too and they shared a smile, confidence returning.

Ali, who had been trapped in Gig’s trench by the bombardment, tugged at his brother’s trouser leg, a look of bemusement on his face and a sarky remark on his lips.  Buff clamped his hand quickly over his mouth.  ‘Shh!’ He indicated with a finger, so they sat and watched and waited.  A spasm seemed to hit Jim’s body and he turned quickly.

A thought hit me; I turned my back on the pass, running it over and over in my mind.  Scenario after scenario going faster and faster.  I looked at Buff.  ‘How d’ye fancy giving them one almighty kick in the nuts, afore they take us out.’ 

‘Sounds good to me,’ he grinned.

‘Gigs you’ve done a wee bit ‘ó pioneering haven’t yé?’

‘A wee bit.’

‘Fancy a crack at a few booby traps?’

He squinted at me, ‘as opposed to what?’

‘Staying here and dying.’  I offered.

‘I’m your man.’

‘Let’s get the section together.’

We were all soon cramped into the three-man trench.  ‘The way I see it we’ve got three choices.  We can stay here and surrender.  We can stay here fire off our rounds then surrender; or we can take over the government mortar pit below, which is chocker’s with guns and ammo and give them the biggest shock of their lives.  I let them get hold of the idea, the arguments swung back and forth. 

It was Nommy who finally asked the question.  ‘What are our chances of survival?’

I grinned; it had taken a lot of guts to ask that question.  ‘If we surrender straight off pretty good.  If we fire off our rounds first and cost them casualties pretty slim.  If you come with me virtually nil.’ 

He shrugged, ‘what’s the point then?’ 

‘The point is this, if we’re focused and determined to sell our lives as dearly as possible; we could give them one helluva bloody nose.  We might be able to stop them long enough to save the Battalion.  There’s even an outside chance we could even save the rest of the platoon.  It might not sound like much to sell your lives for, but I’ll guarantee these bastards will think twice before taking on a jock Battalion again.’

That seemed to amuse them.  ‘One thing though, we only go if every man here agrees, one vote against and we all stay, agreed.’  They all nodded.  ‘Right, we should put our votes on paper and shove them in a hat.’

‘No need Jim, I’m coming.’

‘No you’re not Ali.  It’s not fair making everybody speak out and it’s not fair asking your mother to bury both her sons on the same day.  You’re staying.’

‘Fuck you Jimmy Murison.  These fuckers are always shooting their prisoners.  Staying here’s no guarantee of survival and you ken that.  If I go, I’m going out fighting.'

‘Aye you’re fucking right Ali!  No bastards putting a pistol in the back of my neck.’  Abie agreed.

Fritz slapped him on the back.  ‘Nice one youngster, I’m in.’ 

‘And me.’  Nommy spoke up. 

‘If he’s going, I’m going.’  Grizz growled.

‘No Grizz nobody goes because their mucker is.  Go because you believe it’s the right thing to do or don’t.’

‘I’m going Jim.’

I shrugged, ‘OK Davie do you want the hat?’

‘No, I’m in.’

‘Gigs?’

‘Just try and do it without me.’

I turned to the man who so far had kept quiet.

‘Dina even think ó asking me Murison or I’ll smack ye right in the mouth.’

I laughed.  ‘OK Buff.’  Call me sentimental but I felt my heart swell with pride.

‘Let’s get this show on the road.  I’m going to brief Taffy and Frankie.  Davie, you come we me.  The rest ó ye put all your personal effects into a bag.’

‘Fit for Jim?’  Buff asked.

‘At the end of the day the government might want to denounce us, we’ll try and give them that option anyway.  Clear your rifles and pass the magazines on to Davie.  Gigs do the same with the gun, pack them all into a sleeping bag and put them in the trench’s sleeping bay then collapse it on top of them.’ 

‘Why are we no taking our rifles Jim?’ 

‘Fit for Nommy, a magazine of twenty rounds isn’t going to go far and is more needed here.  With the rounds we give them the emergency stuff and the NCOs, they might be able to put up a bit of a fight.  I waited until Davie had collected all the ammo handing mine to him and my rifle to Gigs.  ‘Let’s go Davie I’ve got a special job for you.’

We made it to Frankie’s trench safely.  Taffy was already they’re discussing the situation.  I quickly filled them in on what was happening.  I’d roughly outlined to Davie what I wanted him to do on the way across.  The look on his face had almost broken my heart.

‘I can’t wait to tell the boys,’ Frankie stated.

‘NO!  I don’t want any fanny’s running about screaming - Dinna dee it, Dinna dee it, - we’ll tell them later.  Now I can’t see us being able to keep them off your backs completely.  They might even just skirt round you.  If you do come under direct attack let them get in close, real close, then let them have it.  Now this is important.  Get your top shots to pick off any officers or NCOs; they’re the ones running about waving their arms and blowing whistles.  If you run out of ammo and can’t get any battlefield pickups, throw a red smoke and get to fuck out, the other section will cover you and vice versa.  Davie once both sections have thrown their red smoke, open fire and cover them out.  Throw your own red over the cliff so we know they are pulling out.  Cover them as best you can, then get out yourself or join us.

If we are over run, Davie will throw a green as soon as they start up the path.  That will be your signal to pull out.  Again Davie will cover you.’  I turned to Davie.  ‘If you run out of ammo, leg it, try and catch up with the sections.  You’re the only one who will really know what happened to us.  If you’re hard pressed, get into one of the trenches and collapse a sleeping bay on top of yourself.  Rip the guts out of your rifle and lay it along the floor of the trench as an air tube.  Try and stay free and alive OK.’

‘OK Jim.’  He nodded solemnly, finally beginning to realise the enormity of the responsibility I was placing on him. 

‘At the end of the day gentlemen, you’re on your own, do what you thinks right, any questions?’

Frankie shook his head, ‘No.’

‘Taff?’

‘We’ll manage Jim.’

I gave Taff a slap on the shoulder, ‘OK, we’ve got to go.’

‘See you later Jim.’  Frankie bade us farewell.  It stopped me dead in my tracks, words catching in my throat for once.

‘We’ll see you when we get their Jim.’  Taff’s soft welsh voice was full of understanding.

‘Don’t worry boyo we’ll soon have you home chasing sheep,’ I mimicked.  We shook hands and left.

We left everything with Davie and he insisted on shaking hands with everyone before we could leave.  Smoke from the bombardment screened us on the way down, although it thinned a bit nearer the bottom of the steep path, no one noticed us.  There was even some laughing and joking on the way.  I suppose in the back of our minds we all hoped it would be for nothing, except a few beers in the NAFFI maybe, for the telling of the story of our daring and courage.

Gigs took over when we got to the bottom.  He had raped the bush of a precious branch on the way down and now quickly criss-crossed the position with it held out before him dangling between finger and thumb.  A thought struck but I bit my tongue until he got back.

‘No trip-wires Jim, doesn’t seem to be any mines either, thank fuck.’

I sighed with relief; America wasn’t the only country that still refused to sign the international treaty banning them. 

I looked round; it was a good position, better than I’d first thought.  The flood plain, if you could call it that, swept down to our left.  At one time, a large rock fall had partially blocked the river that swept round behind us and narrowed it.  The rocks had acted as a natural collecting point for silt and debris in the annual spring floods and as a result had elevated this piece of ground above the surrounding terrain.  It wasn’t a Commanding view by any stretch of the imagination, but it was certainly a tactical advantage.

‘There’s stacks of bombs for the Mortars, but the tubes bound to be spiked.’

‘Start there then Gigs.  Then sweep forward clearing everything as you go.’

‘Right, Grizz come and give us a hand.’

The rest of us spread out right and left, weapons and ammunition boxes lay strewn about.  Most of the rifles seemed to be- AK 20’ modern assault rifles.  I froze in horror as Abie’s hand reached out to one sitting against a crate.  Words stuck in a throat that was suddenly dry.  There was a slap of flesh against flesh.  Nommy had caught the outstretched hand just in time.

‘Dinna touch anything Abie.’  His voice was gentle but his eyes were black.  He pushed Abie’s hand away and gently brushed dirt away from around the rifle butt.  The dark green of a grenade was soon evident.  Nothing more needed saying. 

I moved over to the far side and found Abie had followed.  ‘Jim, I’m sorry, I.’

I shrugged.  ‘Forget it; then again you’ll probably live longer if you don’t.’

He nodded.  ‘Got it.’

I peered over the tops of the sandbagged perimeter but couldn’t see anything for a large cloud of dust and smoke.

‘Why do they always abandon their weapons and booby trap them?’

‘Why, it’s fairly simple Abie, if they try and give themselves up or swap sides with so much as a butter knife on them they are shot out of hand by their opposite number.  Their rifles and weapons are still worth their weight in gold though and they normally come back and collect them later, under supervision from their new masters.  Brownie points really.  They booby-trap them to stop anybody nicking them, friendly or otherwise.  There’s probably men out there who’ve changed sides half a dozen times and still have the same weapon they were first issued with.’

He was shaking his head, ‘so how do they get away with it?’

‘I don’t know, probably change their names.  This part of Europe’s hardly seen peace since the breakup of the Soviet Union in the last century.  The longer this kind of conflict goes on the harder it is to keep records.  Besides thousands of them are orphans.  They don’t know what part of society they originate from or what religion their supposed to be.  They have no loyalties or ties to anyone but themselves and maybe the few friends they have.  Besides it’s mainly a political thing these days.’

‘So why join up in the first place Jim?’

‘Some are forced to; others probably join for three squares a day and a roof over their heads.’  I searched with the binoculars as the smoke started to clear.

He was still shaking his head, ‘I still canna see why they keep swapping sides like that.’

‘They probably have a better chance of survival just swapping sides.  I mean what’s the point of getting shot when you don’t have to.  Your new bosses will take you away, re-in-doctrine you to their way of thinking.  Give you a wee bit of training; maybe keep you out of the front line for a few months.  Its maybe the best some of them can expect.’

‘I still dinna understand it.’

‘They never asked you to-oh shit come on.’  I rushed over to the mortar pit.

Grizz held the tube over his knee while Gigs extracted a live bomb.  ‘Steady, got it, oh shit.’  He looked up at our arrival.  ‘Come here and hold this Jim, the bastards have tied a live grenade to the fins.’  I took the heavy bomb from him.  ‘Pull gently, that’s it.’  He held a hand over the muzzle letting the string slide through his fingers until he caught the end of the grenade.  ‘Got it.’  Nommy was standing by with some masking tape we’d nicked out of Fezz’s pack.  He taped the handle down and Gigs cut the string.  ‘One down.’

‘Well you’d better hurry there already into their forming up point.’ 

‘Right.’  He called the rest over.  ‘Spread out, pick a weapon, check it for booby traps, if ye find any, call me over.  Go.’

Grizz and Nommy stayed fussing over the mortar.  ‘We did a familiarization we this thing a few weeks ago at BHQ when we were waiting for rations.  Can Grizz and me have a crack at it?’