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Ten
pip-emma
,
on
the
dot
.
Sergeant
Malloy
put
his
whistle
to
his
lips
and
blew
a
shrill
blast
up
and
down
the
company
lines
;
the
captain
shouted
his
forward
command
.
On
a
two-mile
front
the
Ninth
stepped
off
into
the
minefields
and
the
guns
began
again
behind
them
,
bellowing
.
They
could
see
where
they
were
going
as
if
it
had
been
day
,
the
howitzers
trained
on
shortest
range
bursting
shells
not
yards
in
front
of
them
.
Every
three
minutes
the
range
lifted
another
hundred
yards
;
advance
those
hundred
yards
praying
it
was
only
through
antitank
mines
,
or
that
the
S-mines
,
the
man
mines
,
had
been
shelled
out
of
existence
by
Montgomery
's
guns
.
There
were
still
Germans
and
Italians
in
the
field
,
outposts
of
machine
guns
,
50-mm
small
artillery
,
mortars
.
Sometimes
a
man
would
step
on
an
unexploded
S-mine
,
have
time
to
see
it
leap
upward
out
of
the
sand
before
it
blew
him
in
half
.
No
time
to
think
,
no
time
to
do
anything
save
crab-scuttle
in
time
to
the
guns
,
a
hundred
yards
forward
every
three
minutes
,
praying
.
Noise
,
light
,
dust
,
smoke
,
gut-watering
terror
.
Minefields
which
had
no
end
,
two
or
three
miles
of
them
to
the
other
side
,
and
no
going
back
.
Sometimes
in
the
tiny
pauses
between
barrages
came
the
distant
,
eerie
skirl
of
a
bagpipe
on
the
roasting
gritty
air
;
on
the
left
of
the
Ninth
Australian
,
the
Fifty-first
Highlanders
were
trekking
through
the
minefields
with
a
piper
to
lead
every
company
commander
.
To
a
Scot
the
sound
of
his
piper
drawing
him
into
battle
was
the
sweetest
lure
in
the
world
,
and
to
an
Australian
very
friendly
,
comforting
.
But
to
a
German
or
an
Italian
it
was
hackle-raising
.
The
battle
went
on
for
twelve
days
,
and
twelve
days
is
a
very
long
battle
.
The
Ninth
was
lucky
at
first
;
its
casualties
were
relatively
light
through
the
minefields
and
through
those
first
days
of
continued
advance
into
Rommel
's
territory
.
"
You
know
,
I
'd
rather
be
me
and
get
shot
at
than
be
a
sapper
,
"
said
Col
Stuart
,
leaning
on
his
shovel
.
"
I
dunno
,
mate
;
I
think
they
've
got
the
best
of
it
,
"
growled
his
sergeant
.
"
Waiting
behind
the
fuckin
'
lines
until
we
've
done
all
the
work
,
then
out
they
toddle
with
their
bloody
minesweepers
to
clear
nice
little
paths
for
the
fuckin
'
tanks
.
"
"
It
is
n't
the
tanks
at
fault
,
Bob
;
it
's
the
brass
who
deploy
them
,
"
Jims
said
,
patting
the
earth
down
around
the
top
of
his
section
of
their
new
trench
with
the
flat
of
his
spade
.
"
Christ
,
though
,
I
wish
they
'd
decide
to
keep
us
in
one
place
for
a
while
!
I
've
dug
more
dirt
in
the
last
five
days
than
a
bloody
anteater
.
"
"
Keep
digging
,
mate
,
"
said
Bob
unsympathetically
.
"
Hey
,
look
!
"
cried
Col
,
pointing
skyward
.
Eighteen
RAF
light
bombers
came
down
the
valley
in
perfect
flying-school
formation
,
dropping
their
sticks
of
bombs
among
the
Germans
and
Italians
with
deadly
accuracy
.
