ACV's 1 Operation Black Gold (25 page)

I suppose if they hadn’t been sniping at us, I wouldn’t have taken the action I did until it was too late and one or more of us had been killed, but I know I would still have done it in the end, the only difference being I would have done it hot blooded not cold.  That’s neither here nor there, for all that happened I had still no intentions of covering anything up.’

Fritz broke into my tirade.  ‘No he never, it was us.’  He was looking pretty guilty; they all were and the anger I’d been feeling evaporated.  I stuck my head into my pint to soothe my parched throat and he went on.  ‘You see Jim was quite prepared to take the can for the whole shooting match, what he did shocked us as well, but what he did he did for us.  I think we all realised that as we ran up that fucking hill, I know it was the longest two minutes of my life.’

‘And the most frightening,’ Ali added.

‘Aye, Ali your right, you have no idea how frightening that was sir.  You see we were just beginning to realise we’d actually survived and then to face that fucking hill.’  His voice faltered and Gigs gave him a friendly pat on the back.

‘Ye aright Fritz?’

‘Aye Gigs I’m fine.  I’m sorry sir.’

‘It’s OK Fritzharris, I never quite realised what you’d been through and there’s no need to apologise.  Please go on if you can.’

‘OK, I will, there’s a point Jim doesn’t seem to have made quite clear to you.  He didn’t just go round and shoot everything in sight.  Many men walked off that battlefield and most of them were unhurt and fully armed.  I’ll give them their due, they didn’t just run, most of them took their wounded.  I’m not talking about a hundred men here maybe two and he certainly never shot any man he could see who was obviously wounded either.  It certainly wasn’t the slaughter you’re both making it out to be.  He made a promise to Abie and he kept it as hard as it was to do.’

‘That’s right sir, I watched everything he did and he couldn’t have done any more.’  Abie stated flatly.

Fritz went on.  ‘There’s also something else Jim’s failed to mention.  As soon as he blew the weapons they must have realised he was going to be the last one.  As soon as he showed face, they opened up on him.  How the fuck they missed, I still don’t know.’

I remembered it vaguely, I didn’t understand how they missed either, my mind was still reeling from the killing.  I remembered standing on the edge of the path facing them burnt cordite from my explosion wisping round me like a white shroud waiting.  Rounds cracked past me thumping into the hillside behind with the odd few ricocheting away.  The old army phrase, ‘targets fall when hit’ flashed through my mind.  I almost started laughing but choked it back, if I had, I wouldn’t have been able to stop, insanity lay in that direction and I slammed the door closed on it.  Eventually the firing petered out; the voices of my friends screaming at me penetrated my senses.  I turned away from the quick solution and made my way back to the top.

I jerked out of my daydream to find them all staring at me.  Fritz had stopped talking and I hadn’t realised it.  I distinctly got the feeling my presence was no longer required and called time out, requesting the need for some fresh air.

CHAPTER 28

They watched as he left the pub.  Fritz put down his pint.  ‘I hate the way he does that.’

‘Does what?’  Asked Ivan.

‘Knows when he’s not wanted.’

‘I hate the way he answers your questions afore ye ask them,’ piped up Ali in a disgruntled voice.  There were a few murmurs of agreement.  ‘The fuck ó it is, nine times out of ten ye don’t realise he’s done it till afterwards and then you’re just nae quite sure.’

The brigadier frowned, ‘what are you trying to say?’

Gigs shrugged.  ‘We dinna ken whit we’re trying to say.  We dinna ken if he’s just perceptive or psychic.’

‘Psychic!’  He smiled.

‘I wouldn’t laugh if I was you, we know him a lot better than you do, and we still can’t figure it out.  You should have seen him that day, nae matter what they did he always seemed to be one-step ahead.  It was like, I don’t know, like he was reading their minds or something.’

‘I’m not laughing, believe me, maybe he just has a good understanding of military tactics.’

‘Where did he get it from?  He had the same military training as the rest of us and we didn’t have a clue what, the fuck was going on.  If it was you who was in there or any other officer.  Maybe aye, I could agree with that, you’re trained in tactics, we aren’t.’

He shrugged, ‘maybe he’s a natural.’

Ali leaned forward grinning.  ‘Do you think so sir?’

‘Yes it’s a possible explanation.’

‘Then explain this one.  Buff d’ye mine that manny at Aberdeen train station.’

Buff’s head came up fast, a hint of panic written in it.  ‘Can you no leave it be.’

Ali shook his head and just smirked at the way his brother was squirming in his seat, it was one his friend’s stranger attributes and discussing it always made him extremely uncomfortable.  The others waited patiently.

‘Och alright then.’  He addressed Mr. D’Ord directly.  ‘We were going home on leave and waiting for the other connection north when Jim spots this bloke across the other side of the platform.  Hey, watch that cunt over there, he says.  Well the bloke took half a dozen steps and fell flat on his kisser.’

‘It was a fucking beauty,’ Ali interrupted excitedly, ‘Splat, he must have been out for a good two minutes, it was the funniest thing I’d seen for ages.  It wasn’t until Buff spoke to me later that I realised there was something funny about it.’

‘Hey I remember that, Grizz you were there in á, d’ye mine it?’

‘Now you come to mention it Nommy, aye, I do.’

‘So what are you trying to tell me?’  D’Ord was shaking his head.

It was Fritz who elected himself spokesman again.  ‘We don’t really know.  What we’re asking you to do is, please before you judge Jim for his actions that day consider what we’ve just told you.  There’s a lot goes beyond our Ken.’

‘OK, I’ll try, but going back, what did you mean when you said it, you who covered it up.’

‘It was us, you never saw his face that day as he reached to the top of the path,’ Fritz faltered, but the rest of them picked up the story.

‘Do you remember his eyes?’

‘Aye they were horrendous.’

‘Tears streaked down his face.’

‘He wiz fucked.’

‘Called them a useless bunch of cunts didn’t he.’

Mr. D’Ord’s hand shot out.  ‘Who was useless?’

‘The Albanians for missing him,’ Fritz picked up the story again.  ‘You see sir, Jim walked back up that path, he didn’t run and halfway up he stopped and faced the guns.’

‘Was he out of his mind?’

‘No he was trying to get himself killed.’  Fritz stated quite simply.

‘And don’t think he was looking for an easy way out either,’ Buff growled.

Fritz nodded his agreement, ‘Buff’s right, you see Jim lives by his own set of moral codes and laws.  In his own eyes, he’d just committed a cardinal sin and murdered helpless men.  So he tried himself, found himself guilty and sentenced himself to death by firing squad.  When they failed to carry out the sentence he was quite prepared to give up his freedom.’

‘But you wouldn’t let him?’

Fritz barked a laugh, ‘after what he’d just done for us, no fucking way and it wasn’t easy either.’

‘He argued with you.’

‘Getting him to argue was the hard part; he’d already made up his mind.  He just told us to keep out of it.  He didn’t think we’d have any problems once you’d realised our part.’

‘Me!’

‘Aye, he told us there was nothing you could do for him but you’d fight until you dropped for us, then get up and fight some more.’

‘So, how did you persuade him otherwise?’

Fritz rook a deep breath, ‘I told him a court martial wouldn’t discriminate between him and us.  I thanked him for saving our lives so we could spend the rest of it in prison.’  Fritz’s face flushed a little.  ‘He told me I should have been a lawyer not a soldier.’

‘Nah, it was that sergeant’s attitude that clinched it.’  Buff butted in.

The atmosphere around the table lightened greatly over what was obviously an old argument.  Everyone wanted to claim a part of what they seemed to regard as a great achievement.  The two older men watched the argument swung round the table in astonishment.

‘Did that General you met from Bertrovich mention any of this sir?’

‘No, Ivan, not a murmur, of course by then the Government forces were claiming full responsibility for a great victory.  He merely requested permission to visit the regiment after the war was over to study our training methods, this goes far deeper that I ever imagined.’

‘I’ve never heard of anything like this since I read my great grandfather’s journals from the Second World War.  They often had to use the same tactics, especially against the Japanese.’

‘You approve then?’

‘I don’t like it.  Neither did my grandfather, but he still had to do it.  He described it as a necessary evil.  A horrible experience he would take with him to the grave.  Add to the fact there was never any outcry from the rebels about any atrocities and you know what they were like about anything like that.’

‘Yes, their propaganda machine should have jumped right on it.’

‘Exactly, I think Murison probably showed them a lot more mercy than they were used to.  Approve, yes I do.’  Ivan listened to an interesting conversation for a minute then added as an afterthought.  ‘I wonder where he found the insight and the courage.’

Mr. D’Ord sat back and took a deep drought of beer, thinking over what had been said.  It had been a learning experience.  At first he’d felt pride and admiration at their achievement and in the way they’d handled themselves, but as the full story emerged, his feeling had changed.  He’d felt horror and disgust, now his feelings had turned again, but to what.  What was it Murison had said, he didn’t have any fancy training, he couldn’t see any other way.  Would he be able to see another way with his fancy training?  He realised he needed that tactical debrief more than ever.  A roar of laughter snapped him back to the present.

‘You had a run in with that sergeant too didn’t you sir?’

‘I’m sorry Ivan, I missed all that.’

Gigs took up the story again.’  When you finally broke through the pass, you sent an officer and a sergeant from B.H.Q. as replacements with the recce party.  Well Jim knew the sergeant and they’d had words in the past so when he approached him, the sergeant sent him packing with a flea in his ear.  Five minutes later, up pops the sergeant and says to Jim, a catty like, that as he thought he was a man of authority he could grab a couple of bodies and start rebuilding the Command post.

‘Where?’  Asks Jim.

‘Where it is now will do fine.’  Says the sergeant.

‘Fuck off.’  Jim tells him and sits back down again.  Gigs burst out laughing prematurely.  ‘Well I’ve never seen anything like what happened next before in my life.  Now I was actually watching and I’ll swear I never actually saw Jim move, but one second the sergeant’s kicking him, the next he’s in the air.’

Abie burst into a fit of antics trying to dramatize the event.

‘We’ve seen that bit afore,’ Grizz gruffed at the interruption.  Abie sat down amidst a roar of laughter.

Gigs was still laughing, ‘anyway the cunt came crashing down into the shell hole only to find Jim’s flash eliminator rammed halfway up his beak.  ‘Listen,’ says Jim, ‘and listen good.  The position of that CP must be recorded on every mortar and artillery plot from here to the Urals.  If you want to rebuild it there get some of the dickheads from HQ to do it.  Risk the life of one man from this platoon and I’ll blow your fucking head off, capisce,’ it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, you ought to have seen him run.’

‘We did actually, I thought for a moment the rebels were attacking.’  Mr D’Ord mused.

‘How come he never pressed charges?’  Asked Buff who’d always been curious.

He shrugged, ‘I don’t really know.’

‘Excuse me sir, but that’s a lot of bollocks.’

‘Now, now colonel, you might find yourself an RSM again.’

‘Oh no, you’re not going to wriggle out of this one,’ he turned back to an expectant audience.

‘We had just arrived when he came screaming up his face pouring blood.  He took a lot of calming down but we got the story from him.  The CO, as he was then, took him by the throat and shook him, ‘No wonder the bloody jock hit you and if you don’t know why, you’ve no business being here,’ then he kicked his arse back to the transport.  Didn’t you demote the man as well sir.'

‘I’m sure I have no recollection of the incident, Private Muckle.’

Both men laughed as loud as the rest.  ‘So you reckon he’s pretty fast off the mark do you?’  Ivan asked the company in general.

There was a few hums and hays, but it was Buff who finally put his finger on it.  ‘You’re generally a’ right if ye come at him head on, it’s when y’e gié him a fright you’ve got to look oot.’

‘Aye you’re not fucking joking; he’s lethal if ye ask me.’  Abie grumbled.  ‘Whit?’ 

‘We are asking Abie.’  Buff grinned.

‘Aw fuck, oh aright then, I’d been looking for him one day and just came out of his room when I spotted him walking up the path outside on his way back in, ye ken that dopey look he has ó going about when he’s thinking of something.’

‘Aye.’  They chorused.

‘Well, I decided to hide behind the door and fleg him oot ó it.’

Buff burst out laughing.  ‘Ye didna, did ye?’

‘Aye á did.’

‘Did fit,’ asked Gigs getting impatient.

‘This,’ Abie gave a fairly good impression of jumping out and surprising someone, considering he was sitting down.  ‘The next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor we ma balls in my throat.’  Abie joined in the laughter.  ‘Ye ought to have seen the state he was in.  He was actually jumping up and down with rage.  And nae cause I flegged him bit because he hurt me.’

‘Aye, that’s Jim,’ Buff said when he could draw breath.

Mr. D’Ord could only shake his head in wonder.  ‘I wonder where he is now; I hope he hasn’t left the country.’  With that, the door opened and Jim walked back in.

‘I fucking hate it when he does that,’ mumbled Abie into his pint.

I walked until the black mood left, and then headed back.  The atmosphere round the table seemed to have lightened somewhat since I’d left.  I hoped so; the manny D’Ord seemed a little startled.  ‘What’s the matter think I was going to leave the country or something?’

The table erupted in laughter.  I sat down, took a sip of beer and as quickly stood up again.  ‘This is warm does anybody want another.  It’ll be your last until these cunts start paying me.’  I didn’t bother waiting for an answer.

‘I fucking hate it when he does that,’ I caught Mr. D’Ord saying.

‘Welcome to the club,’ replied Abie midst a fresh outbreak of laughter.

Buff arrived to help with the drinks.

‘What’s all that about?’

‘Oh nothing, I think every things pretty cool now.’

‘He’s not calling in the MP’s then?’

‘Nah, dinna think so.’

‘Aye well it’s not over we yet, he’s still guan to have me pour over á they maps and stuff.  And that’s fits frightening me.’

‘Relax min.  We’ve been over this a hundred times.  If there had been another way of doing it you would have found it by now.’

‘I hope so Buff.’

After giving him a complete tactical overview of our position, I spent the next two hours playing enemy Commander.  I tried to call a halt after killing off his men for the umpteenth time.  This time by dropping half a mountain on them.