Sinai Front: Bir Gifgafa

During the battle for the central Sinai, the Egyptian High Command at first rushed reinforcements to the area then later issued withdrawal orders to bring them back to the Canal. In the confusion several units did not receive the withdraw …

1967-06-08

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During the battle for the central Sinai, the Egyptian High Command at first rushed reinforcements to the area then later issued withdrawal orders to bring them back to the Canal. In the confusion several units did not receive the withdraw order and continued to advance. One such unit was the Egyptian 1st Armored Brigade. During the night of June 7, it advanced to Bir Gifgafa where it ran into an armored battalion of the israelí "Aviram" Brigade, in the ensuing night battle the Egyptians slowly pushed back the Israeli force. The Egyptian T-54's were impervious to the armor piercing rounds of the Israeli AMX-13's while the 100mm guns on the Egyptian tanks were making scrap iron out of the Israeli tanks. As the Egyptians were about to break through the beleaguered Israeli force another Israeli tank battalion, this one equipped with Centurion tanks, counterattacked from the direction of Bir Gifgafa catching the Egyptians by surprise. After losing ten tanks to the Centurions, the Egyptians disengaged and withdrew back towards the Canal.

Bir Gifgafa, Sinai

The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War, or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between 5 and 10 June 1967 between Israel and Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. Relations between Israel and its neighbours were not normalised after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. In 1956 Israel invaded the Sinai peninsula in Egypt, with one of its objectives being the reopening of the Straits of Tiran that Egypt had blocked to Israeli shipping since 1950. Israel was eventually forced to withdraw but was guaranteed that the Straits of Tiran would remain open. A United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was deployed along the border, but there was no demilitarisation agreement.

Wikipedia: Six Day War

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