By Lennie Lurie
During the Nahal advanced training course held during the wintry month of February, 1960, two military exercises were held simultaneously: “Ambushes”; and “(Observation) Lines”/”kavim”). Our company was divided into two groups and each group undertook one of these exercises. The exercises took place along the border of the Gaza Strip which during the 1950s and early 60s was the source of frequent terrorist (fedayeen) attacks into Israel.
The ambushes were undertaken at nights and consisted of five soldiers lying on their stomachs, spaced out in the shape of a star, with only their feet / boots touching those of the adjacent soldiers. Four soldiers faced the general
direction from which the terrorists were anticipated to be coming from. The fifth soldier with the light machine gun was positioned in the opposite direction to ensure that the squad’s observation covered almost 360 degrees.
In the event of a terrorist group being seen, boot kicking by the observer (on the left or right leg of the adjacent soldier) would alert all the soldiers and they would silently swing round so that they would all be facing the correct direction of the approaching terrorists. Once the enemy was within an effective firing range, the commander would give the order to open fire and the soldiers would then spray the terrorists with deadly fire and so eliminate the enemy. When the enemy was seen to have fallen, the soldiers would leap to their feet and charge in the
direction of the fallen terrorists, firing from the hip to ensure that no enemy remains alive.
In practice, this exercise took on a different form. As the exercise was held in winter, the star spaced soldiers lying on the ground were within minutes of taking up their positions, soaking wet and freezing cold. Vision was limited to only a few meters. After about one hour of lying prostrate and motionless, the soldiers would literally turn into frozen popsicles! Under such conditions, the soldiers would be totally indifferent to their environment and only sleep provided an escape from this torturous undertaking. Frantic boot kicking initiated by the commander was
more a matter of waking up snoring soldiers than alerting them to any impending
danger.
The “Lines”; consisted of a single soldier being dropped by an IDF command car just before the first light of dawn, at about 500 meters from a trench that overlooked the Canadian United Nations camp located in the Gaza Strip. The soldier would crawl to the trench, take up a position and with the aid of powerful binoculars, secretly observe and record the times and types of all vehicles entering and departing from the UN camp. Total secrecy was the order of the day. Under no circumstances were the UN soldiers to be aware of the presence of the Israeli observer. Based on the statistical details of the observations, the IDF would know when was the most expedient time to attack the Egyptian forces located in the Gaza Strip and so minimize the efficacy of the UN soldiers.
After sunset, the soldier would crawl back to the meeting point and wait to be collected by the IDF command car. It goes without saying that the inclement weather lasting most of the day would have reduced the wretched and pitiable soldier to a trembling and incoherent zombie!
It was my good fortune to have been selected to undertake the observation exercise. I won’t detail the deplorable boredom and miserable conditions that confronted me each time that I assumed command of my trench. Water at a depth of at least 20 cm filled the base of the trench and I had to find a sitting position for a period of about 11 hours. I couldn’t relax for a moment as it had been emphasized previously that the vehicle recordings taken at different observation trenches would be compared and correlated to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness. Woe betides the soldier who failed to record a vehicle entry into or departure from the UN camp!
On my third morning of observations, I was surprised to see that a white plastic bag was in my trench. At first I thought that the wind had inadvertently blown it into the trench. But on closer inspection I saw that it contained
“something”. For some time I threw stones at the bag, expecting at any moment to be blown to smithereens. However, nothing happened. Finally I found the courage to open the bag and tentatively I inserted my hand into the bag and took out three packs of Lucky Strike cigarettes and three cans of beer. The following hand written message was inserted in the bag:
“You poor bastard! We see you in your position every day. Maybe these cigarettes and beers will make you feel better”;. Signed: “Canadian U.N. Emergency Force Soldiers”;. “P.S. If you can get us a bottle of Israeli wine ..”
I was in a state of total shock. Here I was on a super secret observation mission and not only had the “enemy” known of my whereabouts but they had the audacity to come over and “visit” my location. On the other hand, they were kind enough to give me a present of foreign cigarettes – Lucky Strike at that – as well as three cans of beer! As a smoker, it was a pleasant change from the Israeli made “forget me not” cigarettes. If you forgot to take a puff of the cigarette, it would promptly be extinguished! For reasons which to this day I cannot explain, I
wrote a note, but not in my usual handwriting: “Thanks for the cigarettes and the beer. I will try and get you the wine”
No name. No designation.
That evening I went to the army canteen and bought two bottles of Israeli wine. The following morning I smuggled them into my trench, having noticed that the plastic bag with my note was no longer in the trench. At the conclusion of my observation day, I left the two bottles of Israeli wine (also in a plastic bag) in a dry
spot in the trench.
As fate would have it. I was transferred to “ambush” duties immediately afterwards. Very early, on the third morning after the previous night’s ambush, our company was woken up suddenly and instructed to line up on the parade ground.
Nobody had the vaguest idea what it was about. As our sleep was sacrosanct, it was obvious that some emergency had arisen. One by one, the soldiers were called into a hut. After a few minutes each soldier emerged from the hut but went to stand at another place on the parade ground. No communication was allowed
between the soldiers. Finally my name was called and I entered the hut to be confronted by three high ranking officers.
“Lurie, you are a spy!” the colonel accused me. Simultaneously he presented me with my original note: “Thanks for the cigarettes and the beer. I will try and get you the wine”. “What is the meaning of this code?” the officer demanded to know. Followed with: “You are the only English speaker in the company!” I was petrified with fear and tried to gather my wits while staring in shock at my note. How the hell did it ever get to the IDF?
As I was always writing letters to my family and friends in South Africa, I frequently “bummed” air letters (distributed to us regularly by the South African Zionist Federation) from my S.A. comrades. Anyway, without any hesitation, I took out of my shirt pocket an unfinished letter that I had been writing to my family, and
passed it to the officer with the comment: “This is a letter that I am writing. You will notice that my handwriting in the letter is totally different to that of the note. I have no idea what you are talking about and I am certainly no spy. I am a South African volunteer serving in the IDF”.
The officers went into a huddle, scrutinizing my letter carefully and comparing the handwriting of the letter to that of the note. After what seemed an epoch, I was instructed to leave. How I managed to walk out on legs made from
jelly was beyond me.
I silently thanked my lucky stars that for reasons unknown to me I had changed my handwriting when writing that precarious “thank you” note. Sometimes one does things without thinking and it could either come back to
bless you or to curse you. Never did fate assume such a blessing for me as I took my place on the parade ground with the other “innocent” soldiers.
I have often wondered if the IDF ever caught that nefarious spy …
