Scram in Urdu

A sad-faced British colonel shifted his weight, stoically posed for his photograph. The man taking his picture was that cameraphile, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. With some Indian troops in his command, the colonel had been seized during the confused fighting in the desert. His captors had hauled him in to exhibit him to the victorious Field Marshal of the Afrika Korps.

Rommel and his officers were very polite. They apologized for not having doctors on hand to care for the wounded among the prisoners. Rommel even lent the colonel his field glasses for a casual look around. Then he granted the gloomy Briton permission to make a farewell speech to his troops.

The colonel called his Indians to attention and spoke to them in Urdu. Though Rommel speaks English, he does not know Urdu, which is a variation of India's Hindustani, a chop-suey language which includes Persian, Arabic and even some English words. While Rommel and his staff stood listening, the colonel rapped out his farewell. "Aj sham ko yihan se bhag jao," said he, which means roughly: "Let's get the hell out of here tonight."

Some 70 of his men got away that evening, picked up the colonel, seized several lorries and chugged away in the darkness. Twice the next day, on their dash along the desert road, they overtook German brigades. Each time they blew their horns, waved their arms wildly. The well-disciplined Germans moved briskly aside to let them through. Last week the sad-faced British colonel was behind his own lines again.

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