Crusader (A Novel of WWII Tank Warfare) by Jack Murray (important of reading books .TXT) 📗

The girl looked nervously at him and thenglanced to a large man that appeared out of nowhere.

The man was as malevolent-looking as the girl was innocent. A scarran from the tip his eye along his cheek down towards his earlobe. His armswere as thick as Manfred’s legs. Behind him, Gerhardt heard Manfred erupt intolaughter. He reddened as the man glared at him.

‘How much?’ asked Gerhardt holding, what he later established tobe a guava. The man had no German but seemed to guess the nature of theinquiry. He pointed to a sign. Gerhardt bought two. He handed the money overand picked another from the stall. He threw the fruit in Manfred’s direction, head-bound,at a fairly crispish pace it must be said. Manfred plucked it out of the airone-handed and bit into it.

The two boys walked away from the stall laughing.

‘Now you see why they go to the whores, my friend,’ laughedManfred.

‘So the big question is: was that her father, her brother or herhusband?’

‘There are parts of Germany where he might be all three.’

The two collapsed laughing. Around them, traders looked at them inamusement. They were used to seeing grim-faced soldiers. The two boys seemedaltogether less alien. Finally Gerhardt had recovered enough to speak.

‘I bet he could skin you alive before you’d time to draw yourgun.’

Manfred nodded in agreement. He took another mouthful of thepomegranate then said between mouthfuls, ‘My God, after him the Tommies will bea walkover.’

Gerhardt laughed because he could. He knew he would feeldifferently in the future. But here, now, in the marketplace with his friend,they were safe. The enemy was far away. The enemy was on the run from themighty Afrika Korps. Rommel was their leader.

And they would win.

 2

El Alamein, Egypt, July 1941

 

The three-ton truck trundled bumpily along the road towards the Britishcamp at El Alamein, a small coastal town about one hundred and fifty milesnorthwest of Cairo. Arthur Perry mopped his brow with the sleeve of hisuniform. Glancing down at his sleeve he saw it was heavily soiled. Sweatstreamed down his cheek like a series of rivulets. He looked around him. Noneof the others seemed to be any better off.

‘Why not stick a handkerchief on your head, Arthur,’ suggested ayoung man further up the truck.

‘I know what I’ll stick on you,’ replied Arthur to Danny, who justgrinned back at him.

‘You’d have to catch me first, old man.’

‘Bloody hell, watch out Adolf; Shaw’s here, and he knows where thereverse gear is.’

The rest of the truck laughed, grateful to have something thatwould take their minds off the three things that were most occupying them atthat moment: the heat, the flies and the fact that they were heading towardscombat against the Rommel’s Afrika Korps.

Just the thought of that name made Danny feel nervous. The AfrikaKorps had spent the previous few months inflicting defeat upon defeat on the Allies.Tobruk was under siege, the Germans were now inside Egypt. Both Alexandria andCairo could sense the dark shadow looming.

The truck hit a bump on the road causing a wave of complaints tothe driver. If he heard them then he certainly didn’t care. He seemed a morosekind. In fact, it was Danny’s observation that many of the soldiers he wasmeeting were morose. He stopped himself thinking about why this should be so.Instead, whenever darker thoughts entered his mind, he broke them in a mannerthat was as British as it was effective.

 ‘Are we at the beach yet?’ asked Danny. There was no answer, justsome smiles from the other soldiers on the truck.

‘That’ll be no then.’

More laughter.

‘Hey Arthur, do we need to make a stop yet. Your prostate will begiving you the hump soon.’

Even Arthur laughed as he threw his beret in the direction ofDanny. The young man caught it and made to throw it out of the truck.

‘I’ll join it in a minute,’ laughed Arthur, making a one-handed catchwhen Danny lofted it back. This brought a ripple of mock applause from theother soldiers in the truck. Like Danny, they were all young men. Danny andArthur had gotten to know a few of them in Alexandria where they had beenstationed for the last few weeks.

‘I could have played cricket for Surrey,’ said Arthuracknowledging the applause.

‘Why didn’t you?’ asked one of the men.

‘I was rubbish,’ replied Arthur, guffawing loudly. The questionerreceived a friendly clip on the back of his head from Danny. He’d heard it allbefore. They always fell for it.

‘You just keep setting them up, son,’ added Arthur.

‘Hey, driver,’ shouted Jim Hamilton in his heavy midlands accent,‘I need to siphon the python.’

‘You mean worm, don’t you Jim?’ said Arthur.

‘Cross your legs,’ came the shout from the front of the truck.

‘I mean it,’ said Hamilton. He did too.

The smiles round the truck managed the improbable feat of beingboth sympathetic and highly entertained by their comrade’s problem.

‘Bit of a pre-dick-a-ment, Jim isn’t it?’ said Arthur. Hamiltonlaughed while pointing out it was not funny.

They continued along the road, each bump adding to Hamilton’sdistress and everyone else’s entertainment. Finally, Hamilton could take nomore. He stood up and walked to the rear of the truck. Looking down at two ofthe recruits seated at the end, he said, ‘Grab a hold of my legs.’

The rest of the truck exploded into laughter when the two boystold him what he could do with this idea.

‘It’s up to you but I have to go. Better I’m stable than fallingaround the place. You’ll get caught in the crossfire long before we reach theJerry.

Reluctantly the two men took a hold of Hamilton, who proceeded toirrigate the desert.

‘There’ll be palm trees when we come back here next, ‘ commentedArthur, fascinated by Hamilton’s epic surge.’

In fact, epic barely covered the duration of Hamilton’s relief effort.

‘When did you last go anyway?’ asked Danny.

‘Christmas,’ replied Hamilton.

Arthur, in fact the whole truck, were awestruck by Hamilton’sperformance.

‘You been storing it in a jerrican?’ inquired Arthur.

To the sound of enthusiastic applause, and without any collateraldamage through friendly fire, Hamilton returned to his seat much lighter ofmood as well as bladder.

‘I think I need to go now,’ said Arthur.

The two boys at the back