The Mistery of Belicena Villca being attacked . Of course , they had neither the skill nor the knowledge to rival the Kâulikas and , when they were not eliminated by their scimitars , they fell perforated by the relentless German bullets .
In a few seconds the Lamasery was , then , also victim to the flames . Like unwitting guests of a hellish furnace , as if the Ray of Indra would have effectively fallen on the peaceful Ashram Jafran , the largest part of the hypocritical Holy Lamas found a horrible death in those first minutes of the attack . A death that was accompanied by a shocking concert of howls of pain .
Within two minutes , both platoons met at the rear door of the Monastery , the one that overlooked the White Isle and the Rigden Jyepo Temple . The watches marked eighteen past one , and by the beach approached at a slow pace a third group : it was the group composed of the Gurkha , the Lopa , Oskar Feil , and Me !
Suddenly the door opened and some Lamas tried to go outside . They coughed and cried from the smoke , and their simple Asian faces represented the image of horror : Von Grossen machinegunned them mercilessly and shouted : – To the other doors ! Indeed , the remaining doors were opened as well , but they were very few the survivors we had to suppress : the intense heat , and the collapse of the upper floors , wiped out most of them before they could reach the exits . Like the lookouts , like the garrison , all the Lamas of the Turmeric Bonnet ended up annihilated because of our superiority in the art of war .
Chapter XXVII
21 minutes past one . Karl von Grossen , Heinz , Kloster , Hans , Oskar and I , the group of five Lopas , and the Gurkha , we saved the three hundred meters that separated us from the left tower . We had to fight our way bloodyly among the scarce crowd that still ran chaotically without knowing what to do , but that escape route planned by Von Grossen proved to be , if not the only possible , one of the few that remained . Another evasion course , for example , might have considered the aquatic environment of the lake ; what would not be feasible to do was to return the way we came , that is , along the avenue , since it now resembled a high-temperature tunnel due to the general fire ; effect anticipated by the provident Von Grossen .
In the center of an eerie circle of cadavers , at the foot of the ladder , we found the Kâulika monk . Preceded by this , we went up in column to the tower and quickly descended with the rope to the outside of the wall .
With no obstacles worthy of note , we began the retreat heading North . Five hundred meters further on we find the Kâulika monk with the horses and completed the retreat , speeding away from the destroyed Dushka village . The road climbed the slope of a hill and I could not avoid turning for a moment to contemplate for the last time the consequence of our attack . The image that I perceived , as a corollary of the operation , was daunting : with the dark frame of the closed night , the square inside the wall was clearly distinguished , illuminated by the reddish glows of the fire , which still retained its destructive vitality ; the fire , like a starving beast , had decided to devour everything , and was still feeding on the sinister Monastery ; the building , which was the tallest in the village , burned freely and its flames projected a multicolored variety onto the unchanging mirror of Lake Kyaring ; in that light , I was even able to recognize the damned Temple of Rigden Jyepo , that was built entirely with white stones .
The success of the attack would have been total had we been able to follow the course of a variant planned by Von Grossen , that contemplated the dynamiting of that Satanic Temple . But no material time was available for it ; that is to say , the time was spent covering the doors of the Gompa in order to prevent the Lamas from escaping : the realist Von Grossen found it more practical to kill all the Lamas , living enemies , than to use violence in an " inert " symbol such as the Temple . But I disagreed with such criterion , since I considered that it had more real weight , as an adversary , the Lamasery than the Lamas : for the White Fraternity it was going to be much easier to replace the Lamas than rebuild the millenary Temple ! However , I would reproach nothing to Von Grossen since , thanks to his undoubted professionalism , now galloped by my side Oskar Feil .
Loud exclamations abruptly removed me from such thoughts . It took me a while to understand that everyone did the same as me and turned for a second to take the final vision of the Duskha village . And now , while descending to the other side of the hill , they gave uncontrollable and ecstatic cries of joy . Naturally , I mean the Germans , for the Asians remained as indifferent as always . Von Grossen had to allude to the authority of his military grade to prevent Baldur Von Schirach ' s song " Chant to the Flags of the Hitler Youth " from being sung out loud . I too would have wanted to sing it
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