"I took the men down the trail at a good pace," he said. "I wanted
to get into position and take a long look at the layout in daylight.
There wasn't much movement, a guard or two patrolling the fence and in
the gatehouse, with my glasses, I could make out a couple of soldiers
playing rummy or poker or whatever these people play. We didn't dare
get out behind the plant for a look but I could hear some noises and
occasionally an engine huffed and puffed like they do when they are
shunting. About seventeen hundred hours a loud bell signal went off. I
was frightened it might be an alarm but it must have been chow call or
the end of a shift. Anyway, a few more men came out and walked about
here and there and the guards changed.
"Getting close to eighteen hundred I was wondering if anything had gone
wrong when I saw the guard get up and answer the phone. Maybe this was
it. I alerted the men. About three minutes later I saw a tall man I
thought was Anders coming down the front steps of the factory with a
haversack slung over his shoulder. He moved towards the gate and we
came down off the hill, going fast. By the time we got there the guards
were out, watching us come, and Anders was apparently clueing in their
leader.
"Why, hello, Captain Balakireff," he said as I came up. "I didn't know
you were out in this part of the world. Are you the group searching for
the guerrillas?" I admitted we were and said to the sergeant of the
guard, "Let us in. I have to report to the Commissar."
"He opened the gate and we began to enter as the train whistle blew.
I was stalling for time, exchanging small talk with Anders, when the
explosions came and then the shots.
"It must be the guerrillas! Behind the plant!" I yelled. "Follow
me." I took off on the double with the boys coming right behind. I
skidded around the corner and, by Golly, I ran smack into the Political
Commissar's fat belly. Anders told me later who he was. When I got to
my knees I saw he had four Russian guards with him so I guessed he must
be a honcho. There was no time for argument. If I tried to play along
and he found out, we were finished.
"Get them!" I shouted in Korean, and jumped on the Commissar again as
he got up. Our men were fast with the knives but one guard got off a
few rounds with his tommy-gun as he died. They hit poor Kwong Lin, our
demolitions man ... punched holes in him through his thighs and his
neck where the suit didn't cover. Sammy says he couldn't do a thing for
him. I didn't wait around to see.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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