| By
0800
hours the battle of the crossing had been won. The three armored
brigades and one infantry brigade defending the Bar-Lev line had
been virtually annihilated: 300 of the enemy's 360 tanks
destroyed; thousands of men killed. Our losses were five aircraft,
20
tanks, 280 killed-2.5 percent of the aircraft we deployed,
two percent of the tanks, 0.3 percent of the combat troops. In 18
hours we had put across the canal 90,000 men, 850 tanks and
11,000
vehicles.
The
enemy forces were in chaos, effectively without armor in the tactical zone.
That, paradoxically, was now the issue which faced us. The
Defense Intelligence Department estimate had forecast the main blows
of the enemy's mobilized reserves within H + 6 to H
+ 8 hours. This morning, 18 hours after our assault, there was
no sign that the enemy's reserves had yet joined the battle. So the
question confronting us was: "When will the enemy deliver their main
counter-attack, the 8th or the 9th?"
For
both sides, Sunday was a race to prepare for that big battle. The
very success of our deception operations had handed the enemy some advantages
in this race. The principal benefit was that our deployments were fully
revealed: the five fronts; the heavily-reinforced infantry
division in each; our tactics at the perimeters; the caution of our steady
moves forward; the nature, density and effectiveness of our SAM
and anti-tank guided weapons. The enemy could plan their counterattack
on fairly full knowledge. Had their reserves been available in the later
stages of our initial assault, by contrast, they would have attacked in
considerable ignorance of our plans and of what our infantrymen could
achieve.
To
be fair, the relative lull that Sunday enabled us to do three things.
We all but abandoned the attempt to operate bridges in the far southern
sector. Instead, we used Sunday to send the tanks and heavy weapons
destined for the 19th Division in that sector across the bridges
of 7th Division to the north. Meanwhile, the divisions within each
army group widened their bridgeheads to narrow the nine-mile gaps
we had left between them in the initial assault. (And I snatched a few
hours to go home for a hot bath and change of clothes, my first night at
home since October 1, my last till December 12).
In
24 hours we had put across the canal 100,000 men, 1,020 tanks,
and 13;500 vehicles-the largest first day crossing in world military
history. For the record, here are the details:
-32,000 men in
rubber boats,
-1,000 men in
amphibious tanks and carriers over the Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah,
-4,500 men in
tanks and vehicles over ferries,
-1,500 men over
light bridges,
-61,000 men over
heavy bridges.
| |
SAILING
|
ON FERRIES
|
OVER
HEAVY
BRIDGES
|
OVER
LIGHT
BRIDGES
|
TOTAL
|
| Tanks |
20
|
200
|
800
|
-
|
1,020
|
| Vehicles |
100
|
750
|
12,150
|
500
|
13,500
|
Our
other task through Sunday was to organize our administration on
the battlefield. Our men had crossed with no more than 24-hours food,
a little over four pints of water, and all the weapons and ammunition they
could carry or drag. Now those 100,000 men and their 1,020 tanks
and
13,500
vehicles
had to be fed, replenished, re-equipped. But the administrative machine
to do this was disorganized. Virtually all administrative units down to
Priority
Five had crossed. But casualties and the problems in the southern
sector had led to confusion. Units were living from hand to mouth.
The
Sunday may have been a relative lull in the battle zone, but enemy
air strikes continued and elsewhere in Sinai our special units were
in action. Our amphibious brigade had headed east from the Bitter Lakes
and divided to push simultaneously through the Mitlah and
Gidiyy
Passes.
Its mission was to disrupt the enemy's southern sector command and
communications system. Their southern sector HQ was at the entrance
of the Mitlah Pass.
At
0810 hours on Sunday it was surrounded and under heavy fire,
while other elements of our brigade were raiding nearby radar and
electronics stations. The Gidiyy force pushed through the pass and
drove eastward into Sinai. The ranger groups landed by helicopter
just before last-light the day before were also in action, ambushing enemy
convoys rolling westward and in the process apparently causing some
panic among their reservists who had been told nothing of our successes.
The climax came in the early hours next morning, when our Gidiyy
force launched a daring raid on the enemy air base at Biyr-al-Thamadah
before returning successfully to our own lines.
| NEXT EPISODE:
October 8th, 1973 |
|
