134his position. And he sees the enemy only from one viewpoint –
straight ahead.
A sniper has many enemies. Especially in summer. Apart from
the main one – the enemy – there are others from whom you never
know what to expect. They can be bees, wasps, flies, ants and even
field mice...
I remember once on a fine summer’s day Ivan Dobrik and
I were lying in ambush. We had to lie out in no man’s land, in
thick grass, in a flat, open area – almost right under the enemy’s
noses. We conducted observations of the German front line and
the approaches to it, having correctly calculated that, in thick
grass in a flat field without a single landmark, it would be difficult
for the Nazis to spot us.
We would have lain there calmly till darkness fell but for pure
chance. My partner lying motionless in the baking sun suddenly
became an object of interest to a tiny field mouse. How this curious
daredevil got past his tightly fastened belt into Ivan’s tunic I still
cannot understand.
While the mouse was crawling around somewhere on his back,
Ivan managed to put up with it, being afraid to move. But when
it ventured lower down, onto his stomach and began to nip him,
Dobrik’s patience snapped – he suddenly bellowed across the whole
of no man’s land and began laughing hysterically. I was seriously
afraid. Not knowing what was happening, I thought Ivan had had
a stroke from exhaustion or the scorching sun’s rays. But in the
meantime Ivan had discarded his rifle and was rolling around on
the grass and yelling with a heartrending voice.
‘What’s up, Ivan, are you out of your mind? There are Germans
right next to us. They’ll spray us any minute now,’ I said in
bewilderment
‘It’s a mouse! It’s crawling across my belly!’ was all that Dobrik
could reply.
The whole situation and the expression on Ivan’s face as he
continued to roll around in the grass put me in a foolishly merry
mood. I too began to laugh.