The Sand Panthers by Leo Kessler Page B

crews.’
    ‘Don’t worry, sir,’ Meier said promptly. ‘We’ll cope all right, though speaking for myself, I’d prefer to be coming with you towards the sound of the guns.’
    ‘ Sound of my arse! ’ Schulze snorted in disgust.
    ‘Shut up, you oaf,’ von Dodenburg snapped ‘You’ll get plenty of action before this business is over, Meier. Never fear. Now I want you to keep radio silence from now onwards. For all I know the Tommies might have a radio detection station at the Oasis and I don’t want to give our presence away prematurely. At the same time, I want you to keep a strict radio watch throughout the night. Once we have sorted out the Oasis, I shall signal you. You will come straightaway.’
    ‘ Natürlich! ’ the officers agreed in one voice.
    ‘Good, then that’s that,’ von Dodenburg concluded, rising to his feet.
    ‘And what about me?’ Schulze asked.
    ‘You?’ von Dodenburg beamed at him maliciously. ‘You, you big rogue, are coming with me.’
    ‘Balls of fire!’ Schulze cursed. ‘Here we go again…’

    *  *  *

    They crouched at the edge of the Oasis, shivering in the night cold and nibbling the small dates they had plucked from the trees, watching the flickering fires go out one by one. Next to von Dodenburg, Schulze and Doerr were guzzling the cold spring water as if it was Wotan’s favourite Holsten Bier from Hamburg.
    Von Dodenburg neither ate nor drank. His whole attention was concentrated on the little camp in the centre of Ain Dalla Oasis. He guessed the white bell tents arranged in two rigidly straight lines beneath the palms housed the Tommies. Unlike the average German soldier, the Tommy was highly disciplined and stuck strictly to Army regulations. On the other hand, the shabby, dirty-white pup tents slung haphazardly to the trees, or in patches of camel-grass would belong to the soldiers of the Egyptian Army. Indeed he had seen a fat soldier in khaki with the red fez of an officer on his head go into one of the pup tents before the camp settled down for the night.
    Now he plotted the Egyptian sentries’ positions, which was not difficult; the Egyptians were very careless, lighting cigarettes and calling to each other in alarm whenever they were startled by the mysterious night noises Of the desert. In all there were six of them: two in the centre of the Oasis and four others patrolling the extremities. It would not be difficult to nobble them, he told himself, before they could raise the alarm.
    He rolled over on his stomach and faced Schulze. ‘Listen, you and I are going down there.’
    Schulze clenched his ham of a fist. ‘Gonna get us a couple of those nig-nogs are we, sir?’ he asked in happy anticipation.
    ‘No, we are not, Schulze. We’re just going to nobble one of their sentries before he can call out. But I don’t want him injured. I want him in good shape so that he can tell us who’s in charge down there and how he’s going to deal with the Tommies. Clear?’
    ‘Clear, sir.’
    Von Dodenburg turned to Doerr. ‘Sergeant, stand by with your panzer grenadiers. If we run into trouble, I’ll fire a red and green flare. Then you come running.’
    ‘Yes sir,’ Doerr rapped smartly, and nudged Schulze. ‘Keep a tight asshole, Schulzi!’
    Swiftly they slipped into the trees, heading towards the sentry on the nearside of the oasis. In an instant they had vanished into the pre-dawn gloom.
    From their position in the dusty rocks near the bubbling spring the two SS men could see every detail of the sleeping sentry’s face, as he dozed at his post, his back against one of the palms. He had a thin, stupid face and von Dodenburg knew that if he spotted them his first reaction would be one of fear; he would cry out.
    He clapped his hands over Schulze’s ear. ‘Work round the back of him. No noise. I don’t want him yelling his head off. I’ll come in from the front.’
    Schulze nodded his understanding. At once he wormed his way into the lush