Sixth installment

The next day woke up and went downstairs there was still a lot of whispering but life must go on and we had to think about keeping everybody else alive, we had to make our hq more safe so we used bricks to fortify the front where almost everyone slept there was a pile opposite so we blocked off the front where there was a lot of glass, who ever left them was going to build a house but the war changed all that, by about eleven forty five I sat down and Eric came back covered in dust and sweat he sat down and we started to talk. At about midday we had finished not perfect but good enough. The house was now a little bit safer, the bunker a little bit better and the ammunition moved to a safer place, it seemed as if everything was going OK. That night we didn't get much sleep as a heavy attack had started so we all stayed downstairs where it was safer, because of the severity of the attack the guard had been increased to three, one could sleep and two to watch. The day before Ernie had left for Zagreb as he had to pick up an American volanteer called James who had gone back to the US for some reason, Ernie had told us to carry on as usual, it was funny that he was never around when the shit hit the fan, we were told that after Vukovar had fallen we were almost completely surrounded, the village commander told us that if anyone wanted to leave now was the time. We heard on the radio that there was about six hundred soldiers heading our way neither I nor Eric believed that, then we heard that Ernie and two hundred soldiers were on their way to us, what was the truth? While on our own Eric, George and I talked about the possibility of getting out but it would be very dangerous to try it on our own, we were constantly heard updates from the radio and from around the village, we were convinced that all the information that we heard was just a way to keep us at our position and a way to stop panic and also a way to give us hope even though the situation looked extremely hopeless. What could we do as we didn't know the terrain outside of the village and knowing our luck we would have gone the wrong way so we couldn't risk it. We knew the situation was difficult as we were not getting supplies as usual and of course if we sustained wounded there was no way to evacuate them. Well the only way to describe the situation then as... Being up shit creek without a paddle... the way things were going Eric and I thought the worst but we had to stay, we had come to help Croatia and just because we were told that we were surrounded we were not going to run away we had to defend Laslovo as well as we could with what we had. Taking everything into account Eric, Alan and I packed all our belongings in our bergans, passports anything of importance just in case we were told to evacuate, we covered them with a blanket to help find them if we took a direct hit, the last thing we packed were the Union Jack, Spanish, Portuguese and lastly the Croatian flags all in a carrier bag. We booby trapped the transporter which had all the ammunition and explosives in it, we were not going to leave anything behind to be used against us and with any luck we could kill some of the enemy, We packed every available pocket we had with magazines and grenades and then made sure that there was nothing left in our bedroom to identify us, we were now ready for anything that may happen or that's what we thought. We went to see if there was anything to eat, sardines and a onion, we ate them, who knew perhaps this was going to be our last meal for a long time. Everyone was there apart from those on guard, they all seemed to know what was coming, it was Eric and I who now had to relieve those on duty in the bunker, as we left the mortars were falling everywhere and I couldn't help but wonder the people in our hq would react if this was the beginning of the last day, would they stay and fight or just run, maybe I would not have long to find out. After arriving here I had grown to admire, respect and consider them brothers in arms, I wondered how many of us would make it out alive, I stopped thinking that way and considered the job at hand, but I had to admit they had courage and determination without proper training and against all odds they stayed to defend their village these virtues were rare in our modern world but here in a village no one had probably heard of they were fighting against communism and for freedom to live the way they wanted too, off we continued to do our little part.