An honest and stark account of life on the battlefield during the Six-Day War

When the historic Six-Day War breaks out in June 1967, Yaël Dayan finds herself on the front lines in the Sinai desert, fighting for her country. Dayan, a journalist, an author, and the daughter of the renowned Israeli general Moshe Dayan, a key military leader in Israel’s War of Independence two decades earlier, offers a female soldier’s unique perspective and observations on life during active combat.

Dayan’s wartime journal entries chronicle her time spent in the desert campaign under the command of the legendary Arik Sharon, the battle against Egyptian forces, and the indelible effect these experiences had on her as both a soldier and a woman. As the author so aptly remarks in her diary, “Nothing will be the same now. I have looked at cessation of life, destruction of matter, sorrow of destroyers, agony of the victorious, and it had to leave a mark.”

With raw truth and intensity, these snapshots capture the hardships of battle, the mournfulness of loss, and the harshness of war.