Страница 86 из 87
The foreign consulates had finished burning their papers in Alexandria. Emigration from the city slowed, as only a few of its original inhabitants or those who had fled to it from their villages were left. Sometimes it made sense for some to take refuge in fire if it meant a chance to escape death!
The month of Ramadan had come and gone and so had the days of the feast. On the eve of the middle of Shawwal and October 24, with a full moon and a refreshing breeze, everything was portending an imminent explosion. It was inconceivable that the desert could witness such a majestic night at a time full of loathing and madness. At exactly 9:40 p.m., all at once a barrage of shells and missiles was let loose from one thousand guns at the faraway enemy and at the minefields in front of them. At the same time, planes came from Alexandria and the Delta, dropping gigantic bombs on the well-fortified Axis defenses. The Thirtieth and Thirteenth Battalions advanced, followed by two armored brigades from the mighty Tenth Corps. The soldiers marched at a hysterical pace brought about by the sound of bombs and shells exploding in the midst of the minefields, destroying the mines and sending off dazzling flashes of light that danced in the middle of the no man’s land — flashes descending from the sky, and flashes ascending from the earth, flashes coming from the east and flashes coming from the west — a carnival of fire diabolically, unimaginably beautiful. Twenty minutes later, at exactly 10 p.m., was Montgomery’s bedtime. He serenely went to bed, and fell asleep as the whole world staved up waiting for the outcome of the decisive battle. People in Alexandria could hear the guns and see the planes. Cairo shook, and the rest of the country stayed up and watched.
Dressed in their shorts and woolen shirts, infantrymen advanced through the dust and the fire. The cold of the desert night was gone in the midst of the fire. The men carried on their shoulders their rifles with bayonets at the ready and all their possessions: cookies, ca
Montgomery woke up early the following morning. Air Force sorties were still flying. The RAF had flown a thousand sorties during the night in addition to a hundred and fifty sorties flown by the USAF. The Luftwaffe disappeared from the sky, and the Allies had total control of the air. Monty was pleased.
On the third day of the battle, Rommel arrived at the front, cutting short his medical leave. On the fifth day Monty decided to launch his main offensive, which he dubbed ‘Excess Baggage.’ Rommel wrote to his wife, “There’s still a chance today. Perhaps we can still stand fast, but we might not, and that could have dire consequences for the whole war.”
Rommel decided to retreat to Fuka, sixty miles to the west. Monty postponed “Excess Baggage” until the second of November. Hitler issued orders to stay and fight, but it was no use. The Axis army was exhausted, and the whole matter was already out of Rommel’s hands. The Fifth Indian Brigade had launched a lightning attack five miles south of Tall al-Aqaqir, after which the way was open for the armored corps to pursue the Axis in the desert. The jubilant fakir boy soldiers, followers of Ghandi, Nehru, and Muhammad Ali Ji
Rommel wrote his wife, “Our neighbor has simply crushed us. I made an attempt to save part of the army. Will my attempt succeed? At night I lie down, my eyes wide open, racking my brain trying to find a way out of this ordeal for my poor soldiers. we are facing difficult days, the hardest that can happen to anyone. The dead are lucky, it is all over for them.”
Churchill ordered that the church bells in London be rung for the first time since the outbreak of the war, and peals were heard all over London and other English cities, and people took to the streets in jubilation. There was jubilation in Alexandria, too. The streets were lit up for the first time in three years. The lights, which were turned on suddenly before midnight, turned the city into an immeasurable mass of amber. The blue paint covering the tall lamppost fixtures had vanished with the passage of time, and the weather conditions changed, giving the city a new, endless phosphorescent ceiling. Those out on the street shouted in jubilation, and those indoors came out to admire the pearls and diamonds newly studding the night sky. How could it have been possible for Alexandria to remain darkened for so long? Owners of closed stores came out and opened them in the middle of the night. Men went out to coffeehouses that decided to stay open until the morning. Women let loose ululations of joy from the windows of their homes, and children were allowed to play in the streets despite the chill in the air. It seemed everyone had agreed to stay up till morning. Music played on at the Monsignor, the Louvre, and the Windsor nightclubs. Soldiers exchanged kisses with ATS women on the streets. Whiskey and champagne flowed in the posh brothels, now roaring with laughter, and so did rum, brandy, and arak in the poorer brothels, which were suddenly bustling with business again. It was as if everyone, the whores and the pleasure-seekers alike, was just around the corner, waiting for the lights to come back on. Horse-drawn carriages carrying lovers galloped along the corniche, as the sound of the waves became more regular because of the light wind. The destroyers and military ships turned their lights on and started shooting fireworks over the city. Thousands of people went up to the roofs and released balloons into the sky. Ca