Mila 18 - Leon Uris [246]
THE FIFTH DAY
We took inventory. Ammunition is very, very low. Schlosberg has manufactured four more smaller versions of the kasha bowl. We have planted them at key intersections, hoping for the best.
Simon called in all commanders and called for less concentrated fire on the enemy and more “individual improvisation.” Translated, this means more acts of individual heroism.
Our Fighters responded today with incredible acts of courage. A tank blew up on one of the planted mines on Nowolipki, but another tank and armored car were stopped literally barehanded. A Fighter from Rodel's command leaped on the tank, threw open the hatch, and hurled a bottle inside! The armored car was stopped by Fighters leaping on it from a second-story window with grenades in their hands.
The Germans sense we are running short of ammunition. They are pressing us harder. Thank God they have not been able to replace the floodlights we destroyed. Tonight the ghetto was dark. Our fighters need sleep desperately.
THE SIXTH DAY
Incredible acts of heroism continue to save the day. Wolf’s command reports the following:
Two Fighters without guns leaped on a German squad with knives; killed two, three fled. They took the weapons.
Rachael Bronski was caught by a squad of Germans as she tended a wounded Fighter. She reached inside her skirt and flung a hidden grenade at them.
In the central area, Andrei tells me that his people are making the Germans fight house by house, room by room. We start at the ground floor and make the Germans pursue us up, step by step, to the roof. We hurl bombs and grenades on them and we continue to fight clear up to the roof. The Germans quit. They will not come on the roofs.
From Rodel’s command: Saul Sugarman, an old-time Bundist, was badly wounded. He refused to die until he crawled back to his bunker and gave his rifle to his brother.
Simon has called for hit and run only when we are behind the Germans; not to meet them head on. We don’t have the ammunition. We should adjust our positions so that we can retreat and lead them into dead ends to use our bottle bombs with the most effect.
The Germans have managed to unearth a few bunkers of civilians. They have been marched out of the ghetto. I hear that Boris Presser and his family were taken to the Umschlagplatz today. Well? What can one say? Has there ever been a doubt of Jewish courage? I suppose we all have wrestled with that. Andrei confided to me that it crossed his mind on the first day when he saw the six tanks come up Zamenhof Street. I hope these past six days answer that question forever. Sacrifice is commonplace. Not a single Fighter has surrendered.
THE SIXTH NIGHT
Still no replacement for the destroyed floodlights. The Germans press in on night patrols to keep us from sleeping. We butchered them.
Our Fighters shout in the darkness and the Germans fire blindly at our voices, revealing their positions and their fear.
A report from the Aryan side tells us that Funk asked for SS Volunteers for night patrols and no one volunteered!
The report also says that the Polish people are awed by our fight. To hell with awe! Less awe and more help is what we need.
As I write this I realize that tomorrow begins the seventh day of the rebellion. The four days’ work Alfred Funk promised the Death’s-Head Brigade has proved false. This week we have prayed for will come to pass. God! Will we get help!
THE SEVENTH DAY
Simon Eden spoke to his commanders before dawn. We are to drop back to even more desperate tactics. We are to stay in hiding until the German is so close we can smell his breath, count the hairs on his head. Attack by knife, leap on him barehanded, and choke him to death. Fire only at point-blank range. We cannot afford the luxury of missing a single round. We cannot make a bad throw of a single grenade. We must constantly shift our positions at night to alternate bunkers. Finally, a further cut in rations. Water: one glass per day per Fighter.
Today the Germans finally cleaned out the uniform factory. Rodel’s people