One Day in September Page #7

the whole area suddenly lit up...

and an enormous

amount of firing started.

So we all opened fire in the direction

the shooting was coming from.

And a key marksman was moving

from one position...

to another, blocked by a pillar...

Gerald Seymour

ITN News Reporter

to get into another shooting position

when the shooting started...

and therefore missed the crucial shot

against the Black September commander.

Issa managed to get back to the cover

of the helicopters unscathed.

Sniper Two was more successful,

seriously wounding Issa's deputy.

Snipers Three and Four opened fire

on the six terrorists...

guarding the helicopters...

but inexplicably

managed to kill only one.

Sniper Five did not fire

a single shot.

Because the helicopters had been

landed in the wrong place...

he found himself

in the direct line of fire...

of his fellow marksmen

on the tower.

Like the others, he had not been

supplied with a bulletproof vest...

or steel helmet and found himself

hopelessly exposed.

Meanwhile, a policeman standing

by a window inside the tower...

was killed when a stray bullet

struck him in the head.

They weren't capable.

I can tell you that I doubt

whether the snipers...

were really snipers

according to what I listened to.

One was lying on the roof...

not far away from us.

He wasn't firing

with a sniper's rifle.

But they didn't see it.

They didn't see the targets.

Unbelievable.

The latest word

we get from the airport...

is that, quote, "All hell

has broken loose out there"...

that there is still shooting going on-

but all seems to be confusion.

Nothing is nailed down.

We have no idea what has happened

to the hostages.

The leader was now

on his feet again and shooting...

but his deputy

was seriously wounded.

I crawled over to him

and was hit in the hand.

My gun flew from my hand.

I tried to grab his gun

so I could head for cover...

but I just couldn't do it.

And I only hope that our people...

and the Israelis, that they could

get out of the helicopter...

but they had tied them together

or whatever...

and so they couldn't leave

the helicopters.

The entire area

is ringed off by troops-

heavily armed troops with dogs,

keeping everybody away.

We tried to approach, were stopped by

one of the guards with a machine gun...

and he said, " Do not come closer.

They're heavily armed.

You're going to get hurt. "

But it's total confusion out there.

Just about everybody

and his brother and his sister...

got into their cars

and they've driven to the area.

They've clogged the roads.

Police reinforcements

had a bad time getting there...

because all of these people

are curious, flocking to the area...

clogging up the roads.

Just absolute confusion.

Then I decided to try and find

the commander of the police...

and then we said...

Zvi Zamir, Chief of Mossad

(Israel Secret Service) 1968-74

"What else?

What are you doing?"

Then he said

that he is waiting...

for armored cars to arrive...

from somewhere near Munich.

The police had forgotten

to order the armored cars...

to come to the airport earlier...

and it was only now,

that they radioed to Munich

for them to be sent.

But because the roads

were congested with onlookers...

they did not arrive at the scene

for another hour...

by which time

most of the fighting was over.

Still no word...

the word we really want,

from the hostages.

We asked them to let us

go on top of the roof...

and try to negotiate

with the terrorists.

They refused at the beginning...

but then they said,

'All right, on certain conditions. "

We went up on top of the roof...

and we started to speak Arabic

to the terrorists.

Their reply was clear,

very clear.

They opened fire on the building.

General Ulrich K. Wegener

They fired at the tower,

and I told the minister he should lie down...

and he touched down

under the desk of the commander.

Very funny,

from our view today.

One of the surviving terrorists

now made a dash for it...

heading straight for Sniper Five.

As the terrorist ran towards him,

Sniper Number Five...

fired his only shots of the night...

point-blank

into the fleeing man's face.

Seeing these shots...

police reinforcements

arriving at the scene...

with no knowledge of the precise

location of their own snipers...

mistakenly identified Sniper Five

and the helicopter pilot...

who had fled for cover beside him

as terrorists...

and opened fire on them.

Both were seriously wounded.

At midnight

came the official announcement...

of the spokesman

of the German government...

who said all the Israelis are saved...

and all the terrorists are dead.

Conrad Ahlers

German Government Spokesman

I'm very glad that, as far as we can see now,

this police action was successful.

Of course,

it's an unfortunate interruption...

of the Olympic Games...

but, I mean, if all that comes out...

as we hope it will come out

or has come out...

I think it will be forgotten

after a few weeks.

Ankie Spitzer

People all over Holland were calling me-

all my friends, my family.

A neighbor came to us

with this bottle of champagne...

Alex Springer

and we all...

was very glad and happy...

and I think that I went to sleep.

Then the Israeli ambassador

in The Hague, he called me and said...

"Ankie, I just heard the news.

Congratulations,

and everybody is saved...

and everything is okay. "

Originally they said

that the hostages were safe.

Now that has been changed...

and an Olympic spokesman said...

"We are afraid the information

given so far is too optimistic. "

That's where we seem to stand.

So I called the Olympic village.

I called every half-hour, and every

time the news got worse and worse...

and at 3:
00 in the morning I said...

"If you know that something happened,

then you tell me now...

because I'm not Hercules.

I have been waiting

from 7:
00 in the morning...

and now it's 3:
00 the next morning.

I just want to know

what happened to Andre. "

We keep hearing

that the indications are not good...

that Johnny Klein

may have very bad news.

After almost two hours of fighting...

one of the surviving Palestinians

threw a hand grenade...

into the eastern helicopter.

The helicopter was refueled...

and within minutes...

the helicopter

and the area around it...

was in fire.

Simultaneously,

one of his comrades...

sprayed a full clip of bullets

into the other helicopter.

Then there was silence.

And I told the minister...

"I think I have to go to look

for what the police is doing. "

And then I went to the captain

of the police company there...

and said,

"Are you going to do something?

You have to move your people there.

You pull out the hostages

or whatever, you know...

and do something. "

They didn't do anything.

"I have no orders," he said.

It was-

It was a really tragic story...

and so we could only look,

you know.

And when after-

You could hear them yelling,

you know.

We've just gotten the final word.

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