The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume] (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1939-1992, 1942-05-15

foolhardy risks or hazards. Geda-
liza had learned this. He called
over section leader and said:
"Can you manage to take your
section over to that opposite
path so that the Italians will think
we're trying to. rush them from
that direction ?"
They were conversing in He
brew in low voices. A tone
louder and the words would have
carried in these echoing heights.
Not that the Italians would have
learned much from the language.
The corporal examined tn e
scheme and nodded. Within a
few minutes he and his nine men
were off moving inconspicuously
but not too sheltered, so as to let
the Italians guess the purpose for
which they were deploying. &C.
dalia himself crept forward again
and felt in his knapsack for gren-
AIDES. He had four, and those
four had to do the work upon
which he had decided.
Above, the machine gun barked
again as the Italians spotted the
moving patrol down the hillside,
crossing transversely to the oppo-
site flank of the escarpment. &C.
dalia smiled grimly. Unnoticed,
he came within three hundred
yards, then two hunded yards,
and he inched his way cautiously
forward for, it seemed, an inter-
minable age. Ahead Of him was
a great crop of rock jutting out
and through it an aperture suffi-
cient to allow a man to pass. It
offered an excellent observation
post.
It was deathly still in the valley
below. Even the birds had fled
from this grim mountain struggle
between strange men. The slopes
and the escarpment were barren
in their desolation-much like
many parts of Palestine-and their
treeless rides against the quaint
background seemed like Dante's
Purgatory itself.
He was near enough now to see
the men crouching behind the ma
chine gun. They had not OWNED
his presence yet. There were
twenty of them gathered around
the heavy machine gun. Six were
sweating in front-and behind,
the rest, with a young officer,
were acting as supporting rifle
men.
1t was worth trying, Gedalia
thought, and pulling the pin from
the granada he lobbed it accur-
ately forward, STOPPING low to
avoid the flying fragments. It
exploded with a deafening roar,
sending the echoes crashing round
the valley. He looked up and saw
the men panic-stricken and amaz-
ed. He let fly with another gren-
ade, and ducked swiftly. Again
roar. The tripods collapsed and
the machine gun went rolling
down the mountainside. The re-
mainder of the Italians left the
writing bodies of their comrades
on the cave floor and fled.
Gedalia put the palm of his hand
to his mouth in the cry of the
Palestinian jackal. He had clean
ed out the nest-and his battalion,
with the brigade behind, could
now advance unimpeded. He
jumped out and went forward
quickly, his rifle at the ready.
But a wounded Italian, Infatuated
at the ruse, sighted Gedalia with
his rifle and fired a final shot be-
fore callapsing. Gedalia stagger-
and rolled down, and his body,
bouncing, came to rest upon a
ledge a short distance below,
where his comrades found him
later.
1t was only a mountain Skin
mish, one of the innumerable
minor incidents that led to the
capture of Keren. The official ci-
tation gave well-merited praise to
the work of the Palestinian fight