6 July 20 Wandering through the ancient town of Siwa, Bea, Gwafa, andTakuta, disguised in their Arab robes over their uniforms, sandals, and wrapped Berber-style turbans, climbed the mud brick stairs of Cafe Gil, its languid patrons smoking ornate hookahs and sipping tea since the Germans had bought all the coffee and generously overpaid. On the roof, hidden behind the crumbling wall, Bea put her binoculars up to her eyes and spied an officers Kubelwagen in the distance. Flag standards, Fifteenth Panzer Division. A company or two at least, medium-sized, probably about three hundred fifty troops in total, no, maybe more. Blue wool socks, Fallschirmjdger paratroops? Hmm… probably guarding the northern airstrip. Italians making up the numbers too, 136th Division, fashionable black caps with tassels, cant misidentify those fancy Spaghettis. Over there, beyond the palms, beaucoup de camions lourdes said Gwafa. Bea panned to the west and thought of Bernie, who always teased her that she performed precious little intelligence gathering in between mundane assignments, ferry flights, and romantic misadventures. As my dear old beau would say, Sweet Jesus Malone. Tank transporters. ‘Three Famo heavy halftracks and lesser ones too. Supply lorries, a gaggle or more, and many stolen British ones; that just steams my clams. Theyre up to something big all right, supply lines are insanely long, petrol is wanting. Theyre going to push for the Nile, a Kesselscblact, an encirclement of some kind, but down here theyre on the edge of flaming nowhere. She scanned the dense palm forest that stretched for miles in many directions, the oasis one of the biggest and most beautiful. Fruit, olive, and date trees formed in vast rows. Tanker trucks filled at the springs. Water, food, and salt…and plenty of it. Theyre obviously here to secure it as a permanent supply for their move on Cairo, then on to the Caucasus through Palestine and Assyria, though I supremely doubt theyll make it all the way up there. Rommel has more luck, pluck, and bollocks than materiel. His fuel supplies are wanting, and he has to spare some for the Italians so hes quite