by Carly Smesh
Shaun showed his surprise at this. "How the hell did you know that?"
Cookie grinned, "He mentioned it at your wedding. He said his parents had a register office wedding, although his mother was Jewish. Have a chat with the Prof, he keeps in contact with him as well as some of the others from Patrol Z."
Later that night after dinner while Sharron and Barbara chattered in the lounge Shaun Cookie and Prof moved out to the stoop for a cigarette. Shaun brought up the subject of Bobby.
"He was in a recon group at D-Day" Prof explained, "he spent most of his time in front of the Allies lines. He was one of the first at Bergan-Belsen. The experience shook him up he said, the horror of what the Nazis did to those people gave him nightmares for months afterwards."
Shaun was silent for a few moments, "Do you think he would help us to get the weapons for the Israelis?"
"Well Boss" Prof replied, "The only way to find out is to ask him."
Shaun stared at Prof, he was right he thought. A letter perhaps, no he rejected that thought, the only way to do this was to see Bobby in person and see how far his convictions regarding the Jews went.
Later that night in bed he told Sharron what Prof had said and that he thought he should go to Paris and see Bobby in person.
"On your return you could call in on Father and see what is happening there, and bring him up to date with developments here."
Chapter 43
It was late summer 1946 when Shaun landed in England.
London still bore the scars of the bombing Shaun noticed. The people went about their business as life slowly returned to normal after what they had endured through the war. Rationing of petrol and food was strictly in place which accounted for the lack of transport on the roads.
Shaun booked into the Russel Square Hotel and after a bath made a long distance telephone call to the number Prof had given him in Paris. He had to wait for ten minutes before he was connected to Bobby's office.
"Major Dole" a tinny voice said at the other end of the line.
"Hello Bobby its Shaun," he said into the receiver.
There was a pause at the other end of the line then, "Shaun you old sod, it's great to hear you again," the voice rushed on excitedly "are you in Paris?"
Shaun smiled at the reception, "No I'm in London, but hope to get over there tomorrow if I can find a hotel."
"Bollocks to a hotel, you'll stay with me. I have a flat with plenty of room, got a pencil I'll give you the address."
Shaun found a pen and paper and wrote down the address Bobby gave him.
"When you know what flight you're on let me know and I'll try to pick you up," Bobby continued.
Later in the day he phoned through the flight details.
* * *
Shaun excited the DC3 along with the other passengers most of which were in uniform at Le Bourget airport and made his way to the terminal shed.
As he stepped out on the other side of the shed he saw Bobby in uniform standing alongside a Humber Staff car. As he walked towards him carrying his case a Corporal came and took the case from him, "I'll see to this for you sir," he said taking charge of the case.
The next thing he found himself in a bear hug by Bobby. Breaking free he looked into the smiling face of his friend. "God Shaun it's so good to see you."
Shaun looked into Bobby's face, the face had aged beyond his years in some ways. His eyes that had always been bright and happy now looked somewhat dull and crow's feet lines emanated from the corners of them. He knew from the talks with Prof that Bobby had been in the thick of it from D-Day until the final surrender.
They climbed into the car as the Corporal slid behind the wheel.
"Back to the flat Simms, then you can take the rest of the day off."
On the drive to the flat Shaun noticed the lack of public transport, most, like London were service vehicles. The people on the street looked drab as they shuffled along.
Bobby noticed Shaun's stare. "Rationing is harder here than in London, it's not too bad out in the country but food and petrol are in short supply. The black market is a cottage industry and some are making a fortune out of it."
The Humber pulled up in a narrow lane between rows of houses that looked to be four stories high. The Corporal led the way with Shaun's case into a lift which seemed to be encased in wrought ironwork.
"I'm on the top floor," Bobby murmured, "I took possession of it from a German Colonel," he said with a grin.
On opening the door Shaun could see that the Colonel had not skimped in making the flat comfortable. Simms dropped the case and departed, Bobby picked it up "You're through here," he said leading the way into a bedroom. "If you want to clean up there should be some hot water available. I'll go and pour out some drinks."
After a quick wash Shaun made his way back to the lounge. Bobby had removed his battledress jacket and now sat in shirt sleeves on a high backed leather armchair, in front of a coffee table on which two drinks in cut-glass beakers were poured.
Shaun took a seat in a twin of the chair Bobby was sat. "Cheers" Bobby said rising his glass. Shaun made the necessary reply tasting what was obviously a malt scotch.
"You certainly live well," Shaun murmured. Bobby chuckled, "To the victors lay the spoils."
"So" continued Shaun "have you heard anything about Tim and Bill?"
Bobby's face fell, "They both went into Arnhem and didn't make it out," he said quietly. I was with XXX Corps trying to get through to them.
Shaun felt the loss of his former friends strike him like a punch to the gut.
"They were bloody good blokes," he murmured taking another drink.
A silence entered the room as each man remembered their former comrades.
"To absent friends," Shaun murmured as he raised his drink.
"Absent friends," Bobby replied.
"So," he continued to break the mood. "How's things in Kenya?"
Shaun brought him up to date with what had been done at the Crater and Sharron and his son, but saying nothing about what he intended to do regarding training the Israelis.
Later they went downstairs to have a meal at a local bistro. Sat outside drinking their Cognac and smoking a cigarette Shaun asked how come Bobby had not been demobbed.
"The Brass," he chuckled, "In their superior wisdom decided to extend my service by six months to enable me to finish the job I started."
Shaun frowned "What job?"
"Basically to round up all the weapons that are laying around Europe and dispose of them."
"You mean the German weapons," Shaun queried.
"German, American, English and Italian, and there is a hell of a lot of them."
"So what happens to them when you find them?" Shaun asked.
Bobby laughed, "They get melted down to turn into plough blades, or so the story goes."
Shaun changed the subject. "Prof told me you were present at Belsen when they liberated the camp."
Bobby's face changed he nodded "Yes, it's something I wish I hadn't done. The sights and smell will haunt me for the rest of my life."
"He also told me your mother is Jewish. Did that have an effect upon you?"
Bobby stared at Shaun for a moment his tongue licked his lips before answering. "Not there and then, there were others apart from the Jews, Russians, and Poles. In fact any that didn't fit in with Hitler's master race plan. But later in my billet I realised she could have been one of them. I became angry, bloody angry. Any SS we found after Belsen we shot out of hand."
Shaun nodded in sympathy "My last mission was to exterminate an SS invasion force on a Greek Island. I felt no qualms at doing it, they were the scum of the earth."
Bobby smiled, "I know, Proff told me about it."
After they had returned to the flat and sat down again in the lounge. Bobby sat forward in his chair and looked hard at Shaun, "Whilst I appreciate you have come to lookup an old friend and talk about the old days," he paused, "There's something else that brings you here, what is it S
haun?"
Shaun took a deep breath, "Bobby what do you know about Palestine and what can happen there?"
Bobby's eyes narrowed, "Palestine, you mean what will happen to the Jews there?"
Shaun nodded.
Bobby thought for a second "The Jews will have a fight on their hands if they get the UN go ahead."
"At the moment they have nothing to fight with."
Bobby stared at Shaun understanding creeping into his eyes. "You want to help them procure arms."
"Bobby I want to do more than that, I want to train some of them on the principals of the LRDG. I already have some of the vehicles Jeeps and Dodge 1½ tonners. Proff and Cookie have joined me to help train them along with Ken. Their principal job will be to secure the Sini from Egypt's tanks. What we need now is the weapons to do that."
Bobby hesitated, "Shaun I'd have no problem gathering weapons for them. The main problem is getting them, to them. The ports and airports are checked for weapons, you couldn't get a popgun passed them, in Palestine."
"Proff came up with a way to do it that might work. If we get a ship, an old tramp steamer and fill it with weapons we could let it pass through the Suez Canal. At some point they could unload it and transport the weapons overland to Palestine."
Bobby's eyes gleamed "That would take a hell of a lot of organizing."
"That would be my problem Bobby. What weapons could you get together?"
Bobby thought for a moment, "The main problem would be ammunition, it would be better to standardize it so the majority of weapons fired it. I would go with the British .303 that way you could have the SMLE rifle, the Bren and Vickers machine guns. Sub machine guns fire 9mm both the Sten and German MP40 and MP42 use it, but the German are better weapons as you know. Then there's mortars and Bazookas which are available. But what would you want for the trucks?"
"M2 .50HB same as we used matched with the Vickers K, but I don't really know about a tank stopper apart from the Piet which was always hit or miss."
"Tank stoppers used by just a couple of men would have to be Bazookas. They didn't have that much effect on Tiger or Panthers when fired head on, but fired from behind the tank they had some success. Just before war's end the Yanks brought out a Super Bazooka, the M20 which to all accounts was quite effective. But also used with effect were Molotov cocktails and sticky bombs. We had course to use them in reconnaissance when we ran up against road blocks."
"It sounds like we could use your expertize at the training camp." Shaun said.
Bobby chuckled "Well I'm in no rush to get back home. But you will have to get your skates on, my enlistment is over in just over four months."
Shaun nodded. slowly thinking. I know they use ships to bring in the European displaced people. If I can get one where would you need it to load up?"
Bobby's eyes narrowed deep in thought, then he slowly smiled. "Toulon, we have shipped from there to Italy for their steel works. Security is poor and normally loading is rushed to get the ship out to sea in order to get another in."
"All right Bobby, you start getting a load together, they will have to be in creates with either farm machinery or something like that marked upon them. I'll arrange a flight to Tel Aviv and tie up with the committee about a ship and I'll contact you with the information regarding it."
Bobby nodded "I'll start rounding up the weapons and ammunition, it'll take about a month to get all the stuff you want. If I come across any vehicles that you could use I'll include them too."
Shaun reached for the telephone to make arrangements for a flight. After replacing the receiver he looked at Bobby, "You know you could get into an awful lot of trouble over this, are you really sure you want to go through this?"
Bobby smiled sadly "Shaun even if my mother was not Jewish I'd still like to help those people. They have had a raw deal from just about everyone on the planet. It's time they had a brake."
They sat discussing details for a further hour before Bobby ran him to the airport.
Chapter 44
It had taken three days to eventually reach the King David Hotel where he now sat waiting on the terrace for Ari Silverman, Sharron's father.
When he arrived they hugged and Shaun told him how his daughter and grandson were doing. After getting that away he began to explain about Bobby and what he was prepared to do. Silverman's eyes gleamed at what Shaun said.
"You will have to speak to the council about this Shaun, we do have two ships that are registered as Greek ownership but in actual fact are owned by us. Both are old tramp steamers that potter about the Med but we use them to bring in refugees from Europe"
He made arrangements with Shaun were to meet the committee and at what time.
The meeting took place in the cellar of a house belonging to an old woman who ran a coffee house. The room was lit with a single electric light bulb that shed its light over a table around which six men sat.
Shaun was sat at the end of the table, some of the men he recognised from his previous meeting. Ari made the introductions and outlined what Shaun had arranged regarding weapons.
"But how can we land that amount of weapons without the British discovering the landing place?" One of the men asked knowing of the naval patrols along the coastline.
"If I am right, my plan is to land the weapons somewhere along the Suez Canal, they would then need to be transported overland to you. Now I realise that will take a convoy of trucks to do so. But I have a comrade who is versed in desert navigation who would plan the route to avoid detection. A route that would take over two hundred miles and almost a week to achieve." Shaun paused to look at the men, "The main problem would be the trucks you have at your disposal and the fuel to get them there and back. That will mean creating catches of water and fuel along the route to the canal. It may well be that dependant on how many trucks are available that more than one journey is required."
The table became a buzz as others joined in the debate.
Finally Ari brought the meeting to order. "Shaun, what you propose to do could be the difference between life and death for the new state of Israel. The ship is no problem, all we need to know is the port for embarkation and the dates. We will start to locate the trucks that will be used and gather the fuel supplies needed. But will your comrade be available to guide the trucks?"
Shaun smiled, "He will be there along with the drivers who we will train, and the main thing from your point of view is that the trucks will be up to mark regarding the journey. I will need to know how many trucks you have at your disposal."
They discussed other points before the meeting broke up.
Outside the café Ari said "Shaun I'll give you an address to send your mail too. Unfortunately some of the hot heads within our ranks are creating waves with the British here and their security has been beefed up, so be careful."
Shaun shook hands with his father-in-law, then left to return home.
* * *
Back at the Crater he found that the vehicles had arrived and were already at the training area along with ten trainees from Palestine Sharron informed him. Proff and Cookie along with Ken had begun their training. He brought her up to date with his news regarding Bobby and her father.
"I need to set up a meeting with the three of them as soon as possible here at home, can you send a Ghurkha to the camp to inform them, I need to get some shut eye it's been a hectic nine days," he murmured tiredly.
Sharron noticed the dark rings around his eyes, realising he had been very busy whilst he had been away. "You rest darling I'll see to getting them back here."
Prof, Cookie and Ken arrived in a Jeep the following day.
Whilst Sharron mix drinks for them all, Shaun brought them up to date with what had been happening.
"So Proff could you pick out a route from the Canal to get it undetected back to Palestine?"
Prof pursed his lips, "I could easily plan out a route but without going over it to see the road conditions I can't guarantee it."
Shaun no
dded "So we need to get you into Palestine. But what about a cover story?"
Prof laughed "Well I still have my Doctorate in Archaeology, I could claim I'm searching for evidence of Moses's route from Egypt."
The others chuckled, "Well you will be helping another exodus." Ken joked.
"Start looking for routes Prof, I'll contact Silverman to let him know you are coming and to get transport ready," Shaun replied.
"Have you thought about radios Shaun?" Ken asked.
"No, but you are right Ken we need to get some anyone have any ideas?"
"I saw in the equipment list from Simons Town that they had radios, but I'm not too ofay on radios." Ken murmured.
"We switched to Wireless Set 68's for the Jeeps and 12's for the truck," Cookie broke in.
"I'll check when I get back home, how many would you need Shaun?"
"Enough for the vehicles, also we will need some for the Kibbutz's. In fact thinking of it get all you can, communication will be vital. We can fit out the vehicles with them and the rest left over can be shipped to Ari Silverman. But don't forget the spares for them."
Shaun changed the subject. "So how are the trainees getting on?" He asked.
"There as keen as mustard," Cookie commented.
"I brought Ted, he's my top mechanic. Ex-REME, he's been showing them how to maintain and fix breakdowns on the vehicles," Ken interjected.
Shaun nodded, "Good, we will be using them to get the arms into Palestine at the appropriate time. Well if there is nothing else I'll let you all get back to work, thanks chaps."
After they had all gone Shaun sat quietly reviewing what had transpired in his head. Sharron came in and sat upon his knees. She was wearing the shorts she had worn in Egypt with a man's shirt tied under her breasts. She stroked his head with her fingers.
"Poor darling it's taking a lot of organizing isn't it?"
"More than I thought I must admit," he murmured.
She bent her head and kissed him softly at first then harder, her tongue pressing against his lips until he opened his mouth to receive it. She could feel his response growing, as his hand slipped into the open neck of her shirt.