by John Urwin
‘We can’t be more than a few hundred yards from where we need to be,’ Chalky pointed out. ‘Look, you can just see the top of the Citadel over there. We need to turn right somewhere around here. Dynamo, see if you can get down one of these side streets, they should lead us to the square I was on about.’
‘Where’s the Citadel? I can’t see it,’ I asked him, looking about me.
‘Why don’t you ask that old bloke over there?’ Dynamo joked, pointing to some old beggar sitting on the pavement who was obviously blind. Chalky and I cracked up.
‘Geordie, see if that wog’s still on the back, we haven’t heard from him for ages,’ Chalky said, almost helpless with laughter.
‘Hey, less of the wog, you swine!’ came a voice from above us and I looked up to see Spot peering through the opening. ‘That was a bit close back there on the bridge, wasn’t it?’
‘You’ve been quiet, I thought we’d lost you,’ I said.
‘I’ve been standing here trying to look like a workman!’ he replied.
‘You stupid sod, you’re the one supposed to be looking like an Arab soldier, that’s why you’ve got the beret and the tunic!’ Chalky said, gasping for air and holding his stomach.
‘I could have been standing here looking like a bleedin’ Japanese Kamikaze pilot and these daft sods wouldn’t have noticed, old boy.’
‘Come on, we’ve got to be serious here,’ Dynamo said, wiping away tears of laughter. ‘I’ll have to find somewhere to dump this truck soon, the light’s starting to go. We’ve got bags of time so let’s have a good look around.’
He turned right down a narrow side street which, after about fifty yards, opened up into a fairly large square filled with army trucks and civilian vehicles lined up in rows.
‘This is a bit of luck! You were right about the square, Chalky, but this is a bonus. It’ll be like hiding a tree in the woods,’ Dynamo said as he drove into the square.
Most of the brightly lit buildings around the square appeared to be cafés and bars with tables and chairs on the pavements in front, that were crowded with civilians and soldiers. Music was playing loudly and there were groups of people everywhere.
About one hundred yards away, two soldiers armed with sub-machine guns were strolling along a row of parked vehicles, talking to one another with their backs to us. As we drove into the square, they stopped and briefly looked back towards us, then carried on walking and continued their conversation. They didn’t seem to be interested in us at all.
We drove past the first two trucks in the row then Dynamo noticed a gap between them and stopped.
‘We couldn’t ask for a better place to leave it,’ he said. ‘It looks as though these two guys are going to take care of it for us until we get back!’
Spot jumped off the back of truck, as I got out and began to wave Dynamo into the space as he reversed. The lighting was very poor where the trucks were parked and it was so dark he could barely see me. I put my hand up to stop him coming further but he didn’t notice and reversed a few inches more, nudging the truck behind just hard enough to break its tail lights.
Chalky stuck his head around the corner of one of the parked trucks to see if the two soldiers had noticed but they were still standing talking to one another and obviously hadn’t heard a thing, probably due to the loud music.
He came around to the back of our truck. ‘Don’t worry, Geordie, I don’t think we’ll have to pay for them,’ he said, nodding towards the broken lights.
‘It’s lucky for us those two didn’t hear anything!’
‘Lucky for them you mean,’ he replied, smiling. ‘Be a shame to die over a couple of tail lights, anyway we’ve nowhere to dump the bodies!’
The confidence and assurance of my pals was astounding. They treated it as though it was just a pleasant day out! And yet there was no hint of boasting, they were simply the very best at what they did and they knew it!
PART 3
THE OPERATION
Chalky and I grabbed the bags and led the way back towards the narrow street, which had brought us into the square, then about halfway along it, we turned off right up a smaller alleyway.
‘We shouldn’t have far to go to the target,’ Dynamo commented, then suddenly stopped walking. ‘Hell, I’ve left the damn keys in the ignition, I’ll have to go back for them.’
‘That’s handy, I’ll nip back and get them before someone nicks it! Wait here.’ Spot turned around and headed back towards the square. We waited only a few minutes before he returned.
‘Any problems?’ Dynamo asked.
‘No, the two soldiers had gone.’
Just at that moment, a door nearby burst open and a stream of light flooded the alley, blinding us. Several men came out of the doorway, jabbering away to one another, and turned our way. Quickly, we pretended to be standing having a conversation, but luckily they took no notice and just passed by us without a second glance.
We set off again down the dingy, narrow street; we needed to get back to the main road to get our bearings. Every now and then someone would walk past, often glancing at us as they did, but nobody stopped or spoke to us. I supposed that we must really look the part; besides, the street lighting was virtually non-existent so it was pretty dark, which helped. As we walked along we could hear voices from inside the various buildings we passed, most of which appeared to be family homes. Strange varieties of strong, spicy cooking smells mingled with other unfamiliar, foreign smells in the streets.
At the end of the lane, we saw a large building, which looked derelict, possibly as the result of bombing.
‘I know where we are, we need to turn left here to get back to the main road,’ Dynamo pointed out.
We did as he suggested and immediately saw the main road directly ahead of us as we walked along the side of the derelict building. Chalky was slightly in the lead and turned the corner of the building first before we reached it. Instantly he ducked back to prevent us following him.
‘I think we’ve found it, lads! There’s a place about thirty yards away surrounded by a huge fence with barbed wire on the top. I’m sure this is the building we’re looking for. Have a look, Dynamo, do you think this is it?’ he said quietly.
Dynamo stuck his head around the corner, and then quickly came back to us. ‘Stay here. I’ll go and have a closer look to make sure.’
He went around the corner and we waited for several minutes but there was no sign of him.
‘Where the hell has he gone?’ Chalky said. ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s gone and done the job on his own, it would be just like him!’
He and I peered around the corner, while Spot watched our backs. Dynamo was nowhere to be seen.
Then Spot nudged me and looking round we saw him come dashing around the corner behind us from the rear of the building – he’d obviously walked right around the place we were standing next to.
‘That’s it alright!’ he exclaimed. ‘I didn’t think we were so close, but it’s definitely the right place.’
‘How do you know?’ Spot asked.
‘Well, it’s hard to say but the Russian flag flying, and the staff car with Russian pennants and insignia on it, and Russian troops guarding the place sort of gave me a clue that this was it!’ Dynamo laughed. ‘This dump is directly opposite the main garrison building. I had a good look at it as I walked around and it looks as though it’s been bombed some time ago but most of it’s still intact. The main thing is, it’s only a few yards away from the perimeter fence around the garrison compound. So all we have to do is find a way through it.
‘The compound and building are exactly as we saw in the photographs,’ he continued. ‘Two thirteen-foot fences about fifteen feet apart surrounding a three-storey building and only one way in that I could see. There are four armed guards, two at the entrance to the building, two at the main gate and there’s a dog patrol in between the two fences. So, apart from that it should be a piece of cake!’
‘So, what you mean�
��?’ Chalky began to say slowly.
‘What I mean, Chalky,’ Dynamo went on, ‘is there’s only one way in and that’s going to be over the top. It’s a good job this place here is empty. I can’t understand how they’ve left it standing, it’s a helluva security risk. It looks to be boarded up and I think that part of the roof is missing.’
‘Right then, let’s find a way in,’ Chalky said, indicating the derelict building behind us.
‘We need to get in round the back, the front of the compound is lit up like Blackpool Illuminations. Come round this way, I don’t think it’s overlooked and I think we’ll be able to get in through one of the boarded-up windows,’ Dynamo said, leading the way.
We made our way to the rear of the building, making sure we weren’t being watched and found a window, now roughly nailed up with a few wooden planks, only yards away from the wire compound fence. But just as we were easing the planks off, the dog patrol inside the two perimeter fences came to the corner of the building and began to walk past.
The four of us pressed our backs into the wall as the soldier walked slowly by with the dog on a leash. The dog seemed to sense something and kept looking back over its shoulder towards us but the guy just kept yanking it along.
‘Can you believe it?’ Chalky whispered in disbelief. ‘What an idiot! I mean just what is the point of having a dog if you’re not going to take any notice of it!’
‘It’s just as well he didn’t,’ Spot commented dryly. ‘The dopey beggar!’
We started to pull off the boards, but two of them snapped with a loud crack, which I felt certain the guard must have heard. I held my breath but nothing happened and we continued to pull the planks away until we had a hole large enough for us to climb through. Once inside we split up and began searching around, trying to find a way up to the roof.
Opening a door, I discovered a massive pile of masonry and looking up saw that there was a huge hole right through all of the floors. It looked as though a bomb had come right through the roof into the middle of the building. A few beams of light from the neighbouring compound penetrated the broken windows and cracks in the walls but despite this, and being able to see right through the building to the sky and stars above, it was very dark inside.
Stumbling around, I discovered the rickety remains of a wooden staircase and began to carefully make my way up it. By the sounds coming from above, I realised that the others had already reached the upper floor. Most of the stair treads were missing and getting up was difficult, there was a large gap near the top and the only way across it was to jump. I landed awkwardly and gripped at the tubular metal banister to steady myself, but it instantly came away from the wall and I swung out over into the building over a two-storey drop. Peering through the darkness, it looked as though the banister was hanging on by only one bracket fastened to the crumbling masonry.
I began to pull myself up the banister, hoping that the bracket would hold until I reached the top. Spot’s face suddenly appeared above me.
‘What are hanging around for, Geordie?’ he joked, offering me his hand.
‘How the hell did you manage to get up there without this happening?’
‘We came up by another staircase. I thought you were behind us.’
‘What other stairs? You could have told me! Show me the way to the roof, then, you clever sod!’
In the darkness, I could barely see the faces of my mates, even though the sky was clear and the stars were so bright I felt I could reach up and touch them. The only lighting in the area came from a string of bulbs hanging from a wire over the compound, together with two large floodlights, which lit up the front of the garrison building and the main entrance.
From the roof of the building, we could make out the flat rooftop of the garrison building opposite. Below us a number of guards where mainly positioned around the front of the entrance. We knew our target was there as we could see his parked limousine, with its insignia and pennant, a larger version of which was raised on the side of the building alongside the Egyptian flag.
In our briefing, we’d been given full details of the layout of the building – the only thing we weren’t sure about was exactly which office our target would be working from, although we did know it was on the third floor.
We were lucky that the building we were in was now derelict. It was a godsend. Obviously, we’d been informed that the building was there next to the compound, but we hadn’t been aware that it was empty, nor of the state it was in. It was going to make our operation considerably easier, as we could work from the roof undetected. All we had to do now was to get a rope from the roof across two fences, which were about thirty feet below us, and on to the adjacent building, approximately forty-five feet away. It wouldn’t have been an impossible task if this building had been occupied, but obviously it would have been that much more difficult.
Below us, we saw that the perimeter fences had barbed wire running along the top of them and were roughly thirteen feet high and fifteen feet apart. One of these looked as though it might be electrified or alarmed in some way, as we could see small white bobbins on its main struts. We needed to ensure that our ropes didn’t touch these fences and there was no room for error – if anything dropped on to them, it would immediately give our cover away.
A low parapet approximately two feet high ran around the opposite rooftop, a telegraph pole was fastened to this and the side of the building roughly ten feet in from the edge nearest to us, with roughly eight feet of it sticking up above roof level. It had a large bobbin on the top, which appeared to be carrying the main electric supply and below this was a crosspiece carrying dozens of telephone wires, which ran across to a similar pole attached to the building we were on. About four feet beneath the crosspiece we could just make out what appeared to be a further metal bar about fifteen inches long that stuck out at a right angle on the roof side of the pole. We would be able to utilise this, if it proved to be strong enough.
The low parapet was capped with concrete slabs, which we worked out were roughly three feet long by one-and-a-half inches thick. By using the rough sizing of these concrete slabs as a guide, we were able to make an estimate of the distance up to the telegraph pole along the side of the building. This gave us a pretty good idea what length of light line we would need to attach to the arrow we’d use in order to eventually get a rope over from one rooftop to the other.
Spot selected a crossbow and arrow from one of the canvas bags. The arrow had three small fins and one large one, in order to stop it twisting in the air, and carried with it two very strong thin light lines, which were different colours so that we could differentiate between the two. We needed the arrow from the crossbow to drop over the metal bar and stop before it hit the roof: this we called a single-shot pick-up, and it would enable us to get the light line over the metal bar. Then when we attached the heavy rope to this, it would also take it over the metal bar and bring it back to us, thus forming a loop.
Spot took a three-inch, side-casting reel and attached this to his waist. He would normally leave the line on the reel so that when he fired the crossbow it wouldn’t become entangled. But, in this instance, because he didn’t want the arrow to hit the roof when it went over the metal bar so that we could retrieve it, he had to work out the distance between himself and the telegraph pole. He tied up the remaining line so that it wouldn’t travel any further than the distance he’d measured. If he were accurate, this would enable the arrow to stop just before it hit the roof, which would allow the pick-up on the end of the arrow to be manipulated in order to recover the light line and bring it back to us.
I held my breath as Spot took aim at the crosspiece of the telegraph pole. It was festooned with wires and I knew that the success of his shot was absolutely critical. It was much darker now, making it difficult to even see the small target; if the arrow fell short it would dangle over the street, possibly making a noise by clattering against something and alert the guards below. If it passed too far over t
he target and hit the roof it could also make a noise or become snagged.
He took aim, and steadied himself but just as he was about to fire, Chalky tapped him on the shoulder and pointed below. The soldier with the guard dog had suddenly appeared around the corner of the building and was passing beneath us.
Spot quietly waited until the pair of them had walked by, before rapidly taking aim once again and firing. As usual, he lived up to his name and scored a direct hit first time. The flying arrow was silently checked by its securing lines and dropped just over the crosspiece. With the arrow now dangling down from one line, Spot pulled the lower line, which allowed the pick-up to collect the upper line, bringing the arrow and upper line back to him and, by making the light line go around the metal bar and return to him, it formed a loop.
Securing our heavier rope on to the light line, we pulled this over the bar and back towards us again, so that it now took the place of the light line. By attaching a dog-clip to the end of the rope we were able to form a slipknot around the metal bar. Then we attached the rope to the telegraph pole near to where we stood on the roof, and tightened it by means of small pulley wheels in order to stop it stretching or sagging beneath our weight as we crossed.
Removing our sashes, we took our rope-sitting harnesses from the holdalls and put them on around our legs and waists. Now we could attach a pulley wheel on to the rope for extra safety and start to cross the gap between the two buildings without being seen or heard. The whole operation took about ten to fifteen minutes.
Spot, being the lightest, went over first. He unhooked the line from the metal bar and wrapped it around the telegraph pole in order to make it more secure, then checked behind the building to make sure that no patrols were passing before signalling that it was clear for the rest of us to cross. Dynamo followed him over and I went after him.