Sinai Front: Katib el Subha

For the past three days the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade has been steadily advancing across the central Suez pursuing withdrawing Egyptian units. At Bir Gigafa the Egyptian 1st Armored Brigade deployed to delay the Israelis and allow the other Egyptian …

1956-11-02

12

For the past three days the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade has been steadily advancing across the central Suez pursuing withdrawing Egyptian units. At Bir Gigafa the Egyptian 1st Armored Brigade deployed to delay the Israelis and allow the other Egyptian units to move across the Suez Canal unhindered. On the 315t of October elements of the two armored brigades engaged each other near Bir Gigafa. After a brief skirmish the Egyptians conducted a delaying action back towards the Canal over the next two days with the Israelis cautioust pursuing. Finally on the late afternoon of 2 November it was the 1st Armored's turn to cross over the Canal. With the enemy close by the Egyptians left a armored battalion near Kabit el Subha to perform a rear guard action against the Israelis. The Israelis attacked the rear guard hoping to barrel on through and catch the remainder of the 1st Armored still crossing but was held up by fierce gunfire from the rear guard. In the ensuing tank battle the Egyptians lost two platoons of tanks but the Israelis had many of their tanks damaged. As the Israelis paused to regroup and reorganize the Egyptian rear guard pulled out and crossed over the Canal to safety.

Bir Gafgafa, Sinai

The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was an invasion of Egypt in late 1956 by Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France. The aims were to regain control of the Suez Canal for the Western powers and to remove Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had just nationalised the canal. After the fighting had started, political pressure from the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Nations led to a withdrawal by the three invaders. The episode humiliated the United Kingdom and France and strengthened Nasser.

Wikipedia: Second Arab–Israeli War

Israeli

Egyptain