CHAPTER ONE: THE LOST WAR
EPISODE FOUR
Back
in Cairo I cursed myself for what I had allowed to happen. It was
not the first time, nor the last, that I have had cause to regret my violent
temper. All I achieved on this occasion was to place the entire responsibility
for the war in Palestine on the inadequate shoulders of Mawawiyy
As for myself, I was placed in command of the Senior Officers' School.
My superiors seemed to regard my new command as a sort of consolation prize,
but I regarded it as a form of punishment, for I had expected to be either
court-martialed or sent back to the front.
It
was not until November, after a series of disastrous retreats, that
Mawawiyy was at last relieved. Luwa' (Major General)
Ahmad Fuw’ad Sadiq was appointed to succeed
him as the GOC in Palestine. Sadiq in turn appointed
me to command the 10th Infantry Brigade Group, which he intended
to use as his main striking force, but it was only after he had threatened
to resign that my appointment was approved.
A secret committee had previously been appointed to investigate
my quarrel with Mawawiyy and what had happened since. The
president of the committee was Faruwq's brother-in-law, Isma`iyl
Shiriyn
the second husband of Princess Fawziyah, the former Empress
of Iran. Shiriyn was an honorary colonel who owed
his rank to his wife's position. He was a capable young man, even so, and
I was grateful for his support. His committee submitted a report to the
King in which it was recommended that I be decorated and promoted
and that either I or Sadiq or al-Liwa'
(Major
General) `Abbas `Abd al-Hamiyd be named to succeed
Mawawiyy as our GOC in Palestine. But, though the
King reacted favorably, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant
General Muhammad Haydar, did not. He appointed Sadiq
to succeed Mawawiyy and vetoed both my promotion and my decoration
on the ground that, after quarreling with Mawawiyy, I was
not entitled to either.
My
wife was in the hospital at the time, undergoing treatment for rheumatism,
and so I stayed at home with our three sons while I awaited the promotion
that Haydar had countermanded. In the meantime, however,
Sadiq
had become so worried that he ordered me to return to the front immediately,
regardless of my status. As I packed my kit and prepared to leave, I listened
to an official radio broadcast in which it was announced that the King
had just conferred on me the Fuw’ad
Star, in spite of
Haydar's disapproval.
Although
I was still only a brigadier, Sadiq placed me in command
of the 10th Infantry Brigade Group, which consisted of four infantry battalions
plus artillery, tanks, engineers, and other auxiliary services. This was
on November 19. Two weeks later he added the 4th Infantry Brigade
to my command, thus making me the first Egyptian officer ever to command
what amounted to a division in the field.
Isduwd
and Magdal had long since been lost. Our front south of Bayt
Lahm had been pushed back to a line running from Biyr al-sab`
to Gaza on the Mediterranean.
On
the night of December 22, 1948, the enemy broke through our lines
south of Gaza between Dayr al-Balah and Khan Yuwnis,
capturing Hill 86, from which height they were able to shell both
villages. At dawn on December 23, using three companies and five
tanks, I attempted to encircle Hill 86. All of the tanks stalled
before they could overrun the enemy's positions. The automobile batteries
with which they were equipped were not strong enough to start their engines
more than a few times on a single charge. Each tank carried replacements,
of course, but the time lost in exchanging batteries robbed us of the advantage
of surprise.
The
Egyptians mounting a concentrated counterattack with armor, artillery and
half tracks mounting flame-throwers, forcing the Israeli "Golani" brigade
to withdraw from post 86 on the road between Rafah and Gaza.
December 23, 1948
One
of the stalled tanks was caught in a cross fire from two enemy machine-gun
emplacements. Only one member of the crew of three succeeded in emerging
safely. The second was killed outright and the third, who had been wounded,
was trapped inside, as I could tell from the way he struggled to escape.
Feeling
responsible for his predicament, I left my jeep and driver and the staff
officer who was accompanying us and crawled five hundred yards under heavy
fire in the hope of pulling the wounded man out to safety. As I was lifting
him out of the hatch, he was hit in the head and instantly killed by two
machine-gun bullets, two more of which hit me before I could take cover
behind the tank.
I lay
on my back and unbuttoned my overcoat and blouse. Blood was bubbling out
of a hole in my chest, and there was a burning pain in my right side. The
hands of my watch indicated that it was now 7 A.M. It was broad
daylight, and had been for several hours, but it seemed so dark that I
was surprised to find that I could still tell the time.
At
seven forty-five, after the other tanks had forced the enemy to withdraw,
it was possible for al-Yuwzbashiy (Captain) Gamal Sabir
and two soldiers from the 7th Infantry Battalion to help me return to my
jeep, whose driver had approached to within a hundred yards of where I
had been lying. Sabir's men wanted to carry me, but I insisted
on walking with my arms around their shoulders in order to conceal from
the rest of my troops how badly wounded I really was. It is never good
for the morale of soldiers to see their commander being carried off the
battlefield.
At
the company command post I explained what had happened and gave the necessary
orders for continuing the battle ‘Amiyr 'Alay (Brigadier)
Mahmuwd Ra'fat the commander of the sector, who was to take
my place, asked me to forgive him for the bitter remark he had made as
I was about to attack.
May
God send you a bullet," he had said, "if you get us into any more
trouble than we're in already."
Although
my wounds were causing an increasing amount of pain, I did my best to smile
as I agreed to forgive him on one condition namely, that he write down
my testament and see that it reached my sons.
He
wrote at my dictation, "Remember that your father died honorably and
that his last desire was that you should avenge our defeat in Palestine
and work for the unity and independence of the Nile Valley."
I
must
here ask Western readers to forgive me if my words seem quaint. We Muslims
live with God, the same God as yours, and when we die it is our custom
to leave our children an inspiring thought to remember as part of their
family heritage. My wife still retains the message I sent to our children,
although it was God's will that I should be spared to lead the Egyptian
Revolution.
Enemy
airplanes were bombing and strafing the regimental aid post at Dayr
al-Balah when we arrived. I was accordingly driven back to our
field hospital near Rafah on the old Egyptian border.
There,
at nine o'clock, because I had no pulse, I was pronounced dead by the first
surgeon who examined me.
Fortunately
my body was soon discovered by Captain Salah al-
Diyn
Shariyf the commander of our medical transportation al-yuwzbashiy
(Captain) Shariyf was a half brother of my friend and late comrade
in arms, al-Bikbashiy (Colonel) Ahmad `Abd al-`Aziyz [1],
who had distinguished himself in the fighting at Bayt Lahm (Bethlehem)
and Biyr al-sab` (Beersheba). On lifting the blanket that covered
my face, and noticing that I blinked my eyes, Captain Shariyf called
another surgeon, who succeeded in bringing me back to life with the help
of adrenaline, a blood transfusion, and an oxygen tent. Later that day
I asked al-Luwa’ (General) Sadiq, who had come to
see me, if we had won any sort of victory. With tears in his eyes he told
me that we had. The Jews had been forced to abandon Hill 86.
Khan Yuwnis and Dayr el Balah for the time being
were secure.
"Now," I said, "I can die happily."
But
instead of dying I recovered. By April 1949 I was strong enough
to leave the `Aguwzah Military Hospital in Giyzah to join my family
in the little house my wife had rented in the Cairo suburb of Hilmiyat
al-Zaytuwn. My survival was a miracle. One of the two bullets had cracked
two of my right ribs. The other had perforated my left lung, grazed my
heart, and emerged through my third left rib. The initial hemorrhage was
soon stanched but the subsequent pleurisy lasted for several months. In
the end, though, thanks to God, the Beneficent, the Merciful, I regained
my normal health.
FOOTNOTE
[1]
Al-Bikbashiy (Colonel) 'Ahmad `Abd al-`Aziyz, a regular cavalry
officer (silah al-firsan) had already distinguished himself
in the south of Palestine as the commander of the irregular Egyptian
(Fida'iyin) forces of the Muslim brotherhood. His units have been
operating in Palestine before the conclusion of the Mandate. `Abd al-`Aziyz
heroic exploits in the fight in Palestine became legendary, earning him
the title of "al-Batal" among the rank and file of the Egyptian
army,
(To be continued)
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