Gardella 4

4   We were in the air, & this time it wasn't a training exercise.  We hit the ground hard--but no harder than we had been doing three times a day for nearly two weeks.  We'd landed in what turned out to be a mountain meadow, not a moment too soon either.  In the distance we saw the dinky little transport plane being attacked by a couple of fighters.  It fell apart in front of our eyes, before the pilot had a chance to maneuver.   & someone already knew we were there.  As we were getting our chutes together, a band of about twenty-five Orientals came toward us.  I expected the worst.  But they seemed cautious rather than menacing.  One of them said what sounded like "Quick" & then I heard Lieutenant Damon answer "Sand."  The Oriental seemed satisfied.  So quicksand was a password & countersign.  where the lieutenant had gotten it, I don't know & didn't ask, though I wondered again whether he knew more about this mission that the rest of us.   The Orientals led us quickly over several miles of this rough, hilly country.  Once again I had to be grateful for the training we'd gone through.  They brought us to what turned out to be a cave.  We kept going deeper & deeper, for maybe three hundred yards, with no light but the flicker of torches, until we got to a blazing fire.   Here, finally, I got a good look at our hosts.  They were not in uniform, but all wore pajamalike outfilts of light brown or gray.  Their pants & collarless shirts were like the ones we wore, but they had twine wrapped around their legs from ankle to mid thingh, so that the loose-fitting pants wouldn't catch on brush or rocks.  Some wore black caps & others had cloth bands tied around their straight, silky, jet-black hair.  They wore low-cut shoes, a sort of cross between a sneaker & a sandal, similar to the ones we'd been issued.   The big difference, of course, was in their looks & build.  the biggest of them was no more than five feet six inches tall, & weighed no more than 125 or 130 pounds.  some were a lot smaller, & when I looked more carefully I realized that six were women--none of them much over five feet tall & weighing no more than a hundred pounds!  but every one of them looked strong & lean & fit.    In a moment or so the one who seemed to be their leader spoke in English with a fluency that surprised me.    "My name is Yen.  On behalf of the Nationalists, I welcome you to Manchuria.  Please sit."   Manchuria!  We were all stunned.  the lieutenant had turned pale.  he might have known more than the rest of us, but i could see now that he hadn't known everything.  We were deep behind enemy lines!   Yen told us that we were in the mountains near the town of Hunchun.  Our objective, he said, was the Sungari reservoir north of Hautien, where the Chinese Communists were using several huge caves for experimental work on atomic weapons.  The reservoir, he told us, was about 175 miles away.   "We're going to fly there?" I asked.   Lieutenant Damon answered.  "No," he said.  "We're going to walk."   "Walk?" I was almost shouting.  "& what are we supposed to do when we get there?  & how do we get away again?"   Before anyone could reply, a figure came striding out of the darkness & into the circle of the fire.  Yen said, "It's all right.  he is with us."   We were even more startled when the newcomer spoke.  In his "Good morning, lads," we could hear the burr of a Scotsman, & when he got close to the fire I could see that though he was dressed like the others, he was indeed a Caucasian.  he was perhaps five feet nine or ten & weighed 170 or maybe less.  There was gray in his reddish-brown hair & I could see that he was in his mid forties, but lean, hard & fit like the others.   He told us to call him Scotty, & we were soon to find out that he was the leader of one of the pockets of resistance that were left after the Communists took the mainland from the Nationalists.  He explained that he'd come to China in 1935, had worked for Chiang Kai-shek & gone through the Japanese occupation & then the Civil War.   Now he sat down with us & outlined his plan.   We'd be divided into three main groups, each made up of two Americans & three Nationalists who knew the terrain.  I didn't like the idea of being split from the other marines, but I could see why we had to do it.  These three groups would travel the valleys leading to the reservoir.  Two units of Nationalists would be guarding our flanks on the ridges alongside us.  The movement of our three groups would be in the form of a spearhead, with Gunny & me on the point, Lieutenant Damon & Sergeant Holden behind us to the left, & White & Craig behind us to the right.  The remainder of the Nationalists would travel behind me & Gunny & between the other units.  Our communications were to be with lights that could only be seen at night only if you wore special glasses.  There was a code.  For example, one flash would mean "Danger, stop"; two mean "Come quickly, we need help"; & the meaning of three flashes was "Get the hell away as fast as you can."   Next the Nationalists had a little argument among themselves, through which I could hear Scotty speaking rapidly & easily in Chinese.  When that was over, Scotty told us the six women would be divided two to a marine group, increasing the size of each group to seven.  I was worried that the women might slow us down.  I'd learn later how wrong I was about that.   We were each issued two greandes, two bandoliers of ammunition & a Soviet machine gun, along with dry food & animal skins full of water.  The gun was not the M43-PPS-43 we had trained with, but one with a clip instead of a circular magazine, & it fired a 7.62 mm round.  But it did the job perfectly well.   Now that we had our weapons, Scotty made a point of warning us to avoid contact or confrontation with the Communists wherever possible.  If we did make contact, we were to break it off as soon as we could, & there was to be no signalling for help except as a last resort.  Which meant that we were pretty much on our own.   Scotty's usual genial face turned grim as he reached into his pocket for a bottle, out of which he gave each of us a little pill in a plastic case.   "This is in case you get captured," he said.  "You just take it quickly & it's over with.  For I tell you, lads, no one can bear up under what they'd put you through if you got caught."   I looked at the thing for a second before finding the pocket in my pants.  This was no training exercise.  & nobody who fired at us would be doing it just to scare us.   "All right," Scotty said, "we're ready to go.  We'll give the groups who are going up to the ridges a start of an hour & a half."   The two groups of three men each got to their feet at once & were off.  While the rest of us waited we began getting to know each other.  Two of the three men who were going with Gunny & me couldn't speak English.  They were brothers, both in their mid thirties, solidly built & missing several front teeth.  They looked so much alike that the only way I could tell them apart was by a long scar that one had running from his left ear down the side of his face & neck.  We called him Sam One & his brother Sam Two.  The English-speaking Chinese in our party was called Charlie.  He was smaller & a bit older than the two Sams--maybe in his late thirties.  Right away I noticed a special warmth in his smile.  Later the thing I'd remember about him most was his great courage.   The two girls with us--& girls is what they both were, teenagers--were called Nancy & Sally.  They were cute & tiny.  Nancy about five feet tall & weighing less than a hundred pounds.  Sally perhaps two inches taller & a little heavier.  I couldn't believe the way they kept the pace under the same gear the rest of us carried.   Of course Sam One & Sam Two, Charlie, Nancy & Sally weren't their real names.  What their real ones were we didn't know & didn't want to know:  as Scotty had pointed out, if you were captured, the less you knew the less you had to reveal.  Though I know their real names now, I still wouldn't want to take any chance of endangering those who are still alive or any of their families.   I tried talking to Nancy & Sally, who had gone to mission schools & could get by with the English they'd learned there, though it wasn't always easy to understand them.  I think they said that for a year they'd been moving around with this group, & had had much more fighting than schooling.     We were making our way through the conversation when Scotty approached us.  "It's your turn, lads.  God bless you.  Success to your mission."   Gunny & I & the five friendlies took off.  Charlie, wh knew the area, led the way.  We were travelling in the dark, at a trot or faster, the whole time.  These people didn't seem to know what walking was, & again I had to think back to the training we'd been given by the two civilians, whoever they were.   After a few miles I said to Gunny, "You're the sergeant here & I'm only the PFC, but don't you think we should separate?  Let me stay here with Charlie on the point, you fall back with the girls & the two Sams, so no one can catch us both together."   He took it the right way.  "You got something there.  Sounds good."  Gunny dropped back, leaving me & Charlie up front.  Without seeming to make any special effort, Charlie speeded up the pace, & we kept it through the night.  Just before sunup, we signaled the ridges that we were stopping & pulled in behind some rocks.  My legs were aching & I was so happy to stop that I didn't even mind the cold dried rice that was all we had to eat.   Soon Gunny, Sams One & Two, & Nanacy & Sally were up with us.  We couldn't move toward our objective during the day--there were supposed to be as many Communists as there were rocks in this area--& so we chatted again, always with one of us out on guard.   Though Sally wouldn't talk about her background, Nancy told us that her parents & two brothers had been killed by the Communists, & she thought of Scotty as her father.  Pointing to Gunny, she asked, "Is he your father?"   I said, "He could be, he has more time in the Corps than I am years old."  We laughed at that.   After a while I had a few minutes alone.  I stretched out & put my head back to look at the beauty of this strange country, the distances all bluish-green in the morning sun.  Before I could think about it, I was asleep, & the next thing I knew, Charlie was waking me for my turn at guard.  As soon as I was relieved I went to sleep again, & when I woke up it was late afternoon.  I checked my weapon & ate some more rice.   When it was dark we started out again.  We had traveled for three hours when we spotted a signal--one flash from the ridge to our left.  Danger.  We stopped, moved off the trail & squeezed in behind some rocks, where we spent several tense minutes before we got an all-clear & could move on again.  All through the night we kept going at the same fast pace.  I found it hard to imagine how the people on the ridges could keep up with us in the terrain they were covering.   When it got light we stopped & rested again through the day, hidden away in those mountains that seemed to go on forever.   After it got dark, we hadn't been travelling long when from the left ridge we got two flashes, the signal to come quickly.  Charlie & I hooked up with Gunny & the rest of our seven, & Charlie led us to the left into a pass, where we were intercepted by someone from the left ridge.  The man explained to Charlie that there was a fight going on at our left rear, which was the spot assigned to Lieuteant Damon & Sergeant Holden.  We climbed rapidly onto a ridge where we could look down into the valley.  Damon & Holden & four friendlies were firing, fighting their way toward us.  We added our firing to theirs while the six of them came toward us, & suddenly everything was quiet.     But now we learned that one of the girls in the lieutenant's group had been caught.   We crept along the ridge until we could see the fires of a camp up ahead.  When we got within four hundred yards, we could see the girl, strung out naked on a barricade.  They were torturing her.  What they had in mind to do, I guessed, was to bring us into the open.  Her screams made my gut crawl, & I started to get to my feet; I saw Craig look at me & begin to get up too.  None of the seasoned people, marines or friendlies, had moved a muscle--but when we started forward, the friendlies grabbed the two of us, knocked us both down, & literally sat on us.  I lay there powerless, listening to that poor girl scream all through the night; I didn't see how I could take it, but at the same time I knew it wouldn't do anyone any good to try to go in & save her.   At daybreak we sent out scouts, who came back with a report that the girl was the only one left in the camp.  Craig & I were the first ones to the barricade.  What I saw was too terrible to describe, even if I'd been able to do it.  Blood was everywhere, & pieces of skin.  The wrost thing was hearing a moan, & knowing she was still alive.   That was more than I could stand.  I turned away & was sick.  Charlie came up alongside me, touched me on the shoulder, & said he would take care of it.  I was walking away as I heard the shot he fired.  I didn't dare look back.  This was certainly no training exercise, & I had stopped being able to imagine what might come next.   We resumed our journey, which by now took us into canyons so deep that it was safe to travel during the day.  After we'd gone for a long time without saying anything, I asked Charlie finally who the torturers had been.   "Probably bandits," he said, "with no loyalty to anybody but themselves.  If they had been Communist soldiers they would not have gone away."   For another night we just kept going, & with the first light of morning we signaled the people on the ridge that we were stopping for a rest.  God knows I needed it by then.  But after a while I got edgy.  I turned to Gunny, who'd caught up when we stopped, & asked, "Why not let Charlie & me go out on recon, to see what's around?"   Gunny thought for a moment, then said okay, but that we'd be taking off in two hours.  "So be back by then.  We've got a lot of traveling to do."   Charlie agreed:  Tomorrow we shall be at the reservoir."   I shouted, "What?  Have we gone that far?"   "We are getting close."   Why it should have given me a lift to be that close to our objective I don't know, but that is the way I felt when I started out with Charlie.   "We'll be back in time," I told Gunny, "but just in case we're delayed, why don't you start forward & let Sam One lead you?  We'll meet up with you one way or the other."   We headed northwest, & after more than an hour Charlie put his hand on my shoulder to stop me.  While we ducked behind some rocks, he whispered that there were troops ahead.  He'd heard the footsteps.  Then I heard them too, & from behind a huge boulder we could see at least six soldiers.  They stopped about two hundred yards from us & sent out two flankers.   "They are setting a camp for a stationary patrol.  We're close to the reservoir, we shall see many of these," Charlie told me.   "How long will they stay?" I asked.   "Possibly for an hour, possibly for a week."   I asked, "Can we get around them?"   He replied, "With some of the men out patrolling in these mountains, it would take too long.  We must go through them."   I realized now that we'd never get back in time & that Gunny & the others would be coming.  "I'm heading back," I told Charlie, "to let the others know about these guys.  You stay put & watch them.  If they move, drop back & we'll meet you."   He agreed & I started back, keeping low.  I'd traveled about two miles when I ran into Gunny & told him the situation:  that it was either wipe out the patrol or make a long detour.   "Christ," he said, "that's lousy.  We can't use guns, we're too close to the reservoir.  The place is probably crawling with Commies."   "If you give me & Charlie two more people, & we can catch them asleep, we can take them without guns," I said.  I may have sounded like a pro, but my palms were wet & my pulse was racing.  I'd never killed anyone.   Gunny thought for a moment & then said, "Okay, you got the two girls."   "What?" I said. Girls?  To kill soldiers?  I thought he was kidding.   "They tell me they can do anything the men can do," Gunny said.  "& Charlie told me the same thing yesterday."   I still didn't care for the idea, but he looked determined, & reluctantly I said okay.   Nancy & Sally came up & the three of us headed back for Charlie.  He didn't bat an eye at the idea of attacking the patrol with a force that was half female, & that reassured me a little.  The four of us sat behind boulders waiting for dark, keeping an eye out for the two sentries, & listening to the noises from the camp--loud voices, laughter, a bottle breaking on the rocks.  We had four hours until dark, & no water.  I cursed myself for not bringing an extra skin of it from Gunny's position.   Waiting, we talked about a plan.  We'd have two teams' Nancy & I would be one, Charlie & Sally the other.  One on each team would be the throat man, the other the leg man.  First we'd go for the two sentries.  The idea was to get close & wait for the guard to change befrore we attacked.  As for the others in the camp, we'd wait to catch them asleep or drunk.   When it got dark Nancy & I moved to within fifty yards of our sentry.  We waited two hours for the change of the guard.  I had plenty of time to think, more of it than I wanted.  This was the real thing:  I was about to kill somebody.  I began to sweat, & soon my clothes were soaked.  My heart was thudding & my stomach was jumping.  I had to make myself calm down.  Nancy must have noticed; anyhow, she came closer to me & put a hand on my shoulder.  Then I really had to calm down; I couldn't let her feel me shaking.  I began to feel a bit better, & actually smiled at her.   Finally we saw the new sentry arrive.  We took advantage of the change to come within twenty yards, edging closer while the new sentry sat on a rock.  The signal we'd agreed on was one, two, then go.  When finally we were close enough, I put up one finger, then two, & we made our move.   While Nancy tackled his legs, I put my left hand over his mouth, & with the knife in my right I did what I had to do, slashing the blade from left to right, straight through his throat.  He didn't make a sound.   We began moving toward the main camp, counting on Charlie & Sally to have gooten their sentry too.  The soldiers had a small fire going; some of them were asleep, & the others were sitting on the rocks.  One was drinking, & occasionally he would say something to the man next to him.  Hoping no one would suddenly go out to trade places with a sentry now, we moved closer & closer until we were just outside the ring of firelight.  We watched as the last two men lay down, not sure whether they were drunk or asleep.  We didn't dare wait too long.   Wondering again about Charlie & Sally, I signaled to Nancy & we started forward, into the light of the fire, & as soon as we did that I saw movement on the far side of the camp.  It was Charlie & Sally, there waiting for us.    I pointed to the nearest man.  We went for him, & I'd cut his throat almost before Nancy could get his legs.  He never moved.  I was shocked by the amount of blood that poured from his neck, but I knew I couldn't stop to be sick.  We went for the second soldier, then the third.  Charlie & Sally had gooten to the fourth before we could.  It was over.  Four bodies lay there, besides the two sentries--each one with his throat cut.   Standing at the fire, I realized that I had blood all over me.  I think if Charlie hadn't come over & started talking I would have thrown up right there.   "You did very well," he said.  "Was this the first time?"   "Yeah.  & I didn't think I'd make it past the first one.  Is it always this hard?"   "Not this hard.  Not easy either."   "We'd better get away from here," I said, "because when the find the bodies..."   "We fix that," Charlie said.  "We make it look like bandits."  He & the girls went to work stripping the bodies & collecting weapons.  I was glad they didn't ask me to help.   I went back to tell Gunny it was all clear, & we started moving again, faster than before, to make up for the time we'd lost.  I was grateful when Charlie finally held up his hand to signal a rest.  I was gasping as I fell back to tell Gunny so he could signal to the ridges.  The ten-minute break had never seemed more welcome--or shorter.  Before I knew it we were moving again, at the same agonizing pace.   We'd gone another couple of miles when Charlie signaled a stop.  "I can smell water," he said.   I was amazed at how sharp his senses were, & delighted to be so close.  This meant we'd bne at the reservoir before sunup--which was crucial, now that we'd gotten back into territory where daytime travel was dangerous.  We'd covered another four or five miles when Charlie motioned for me to stop, & pointed to two figures on a ridge, outlined against the sky.  We crawled toward them, saw that they were soldiers & decided to take them ourselves.  Later I thought this was probably stupid, because if there had been more we would have been in trouble.  As it happened, we were lucky.  This time my knife must have gone straight into an artery, judging from the blood that spurted onto my shoulder & ran down my arm.  I stood there frozen until Charlie gave me a slap to get me moving again.  An instant later we saw that the two men had been guarding an approach road to the reservoir.   "One mile to go," Charlie told me.  "We must hurry."   He didn't have to say why.  There was already a touch of light in the east.  We broke into a dead run & from the last ridge we saw open land below us, sloping down to the reservoir.   Soon Gunny came up & signalled to the groups on the ridges.  Damon's group came in first, followed by White's.  Then, to my amazement, Scotty appeared.   "What the hell?" I said.  "I thought you'd stayed behind at the caves."   "I was just a few miles behind you all the way, lads," he answered.  "I wasn't going to miss this.  It's too big a job.  & we have to do it quickly, while we can still surprise them."   "I see a road & a reservoir," Damon said.  "I don't see any caves."   "The road leads to a tunnel & the tunnel leads to the caves.  They are under the reservoir," Scotty said.  "The laboratories were built for the Japanese by Chinese prisoners, about ten years ago."   "Is there any other way in?" the lieutenant asked.   "No," Scotty said, "just that one."   I couldn't help wondering if there would be any way out for us.