To the north of the Hedgehog were a series of sand dunes that made the approach difficult for infantry and almost impossible for wheeled and tracked vehicles. To the south were Jebel Halal, Jebel Dalfa and Jebel Wugier – rocky promontories that dominated the lowlands around them. The road from Al-Qusaymah passed between the southern promontories and below the hedgehog. The natural cliffs and hills that formed the Hedgehog created defensive positions that could only be assaulted from either the Umm Qataf Ridge or the Ruafa Ridge. The Hedgehog was a natural stronghold that was easily defended.
Protecting the crossroads and the village were three thousand Egyptian soldiers of the 17th and 18th battalions of the 3rd Infantry Division commanded by Colonel Sami Yassa. The soldiers held a series of fortified trenches and bunkers on the Hedgehog. Artillery allowed for mutual fire support of the Egyptian defensive positions. Israeli forces advancing on the Hedgehog and village outnumbered Egyptian forces four to one. The Egyptians had no armor but had ten Archer anti-tank guns, seven 57-mm guns, six 25-pounder artillery pieces, two 30-mm cannons and a mix of 40-mm Bofors and Czech 57-mm guns. The Egyptian guns and artillery were well-placed inside their defensive positions on the Hedgehog and the surrounding area.
Both the Israeli and Egyptian Air Forces were a very real threat to the forces on the ground and to each other. Although both sides possessed jet fighters based on the latest technology, the Egyptian Air Force outnumbered the Israeli Air Force by a significant margin. The Israeli Air Force had two significant advantages over the Egyptian Air Force. First, Israeli pilots were better trained and more aggressive than their Egyptian counterparts. Second, the Israeli ground crews were trained to turn around the aircraft that had landed in a minimum amount of time. Fast-turn-around created a force multiplier by keeping more Israeli jets in the air longer than the Egyptians.
The Israelis could not go around the Hedgehog without risking encirclement or having their supply lines cut. By taking the Hedgehog from the Egyptians the tables would be turned, and any Egyptian counter-attack on Israeli forces in the Sinai would face the same risks. It was the key to the northern Sinai and the Israeli border. It was worth fighting for. It was worth dying for.
The Israeli southern command was under Major General Assaf Simhoni. Experience told him that even with all his firepower and manpower the assault on the Hedgehog would be costly in both lives and equipment. But there was no getting around it. It had to be taken.
Colonel Yehuda Wallach was in command of the 38th Division which included the 4th Infantry Brigade commanded by Colonel Harpaz, the 10th Infantry Brigade commanded by Colonel Shmuel Golinda and the 7th Armored Brigade commanded by Colonel Uri Ben-Ari. In all, twelve thousand soldiers and the majority of Israeli armor were under Wallach’s command. His mission was critical to Israel’s war plan. Failure to take the Hedgehog could put Israel in danger of a massive Egyptian counter-attack and even threaten the young country’s existence.
October 30, 1956 - Abu Ageila, Egypt
Major Izhak Ben-Ari was ordered to probe the Egyptian defenses at Umm Qataf, one of the two possible avenues of approach to the Hedgehog. He was under orders to avoid combat with the enemy during daylight while the Egyptian Air Force was still a threat. The Israeli plan was to wait until the Egyptian Air Force was neutralized before attacking the Hedgehog. That way they could use their own aircraft to occupy the Egyptians while the Israelis assaulted the stronghold. That wouldn’t happen until November 1st at the earliest, based on the Operation Kadesh timetable. But Simhoni and Wallach needed to understand what they were facing to form an effective battle plan. It was Ben-Ari’s job to reconnoiter the Hedgehog and return with the intelligence.
Ben-Ari’s reconnaissance force was mostly made up of jeeps and halftracks. They were like a worm that dangles in front of a fish. They would watch how the fish strikes and, in doing so, determine the size and power of the forces they would face during the actual assault. They could also make note of the current positions of the Egyptian guns, information that could be relayed to the Israeli fighter-bombers once they arrived and to Israeli artillery batteries. But Ben-Ari and his men were not prepared for the ferocity of the Egyptian defense.
As his vehicles climbed the slopes, the Egyptians opened fire with their anti-tank guns, heavy machineguns and artillery. Several of Ben-Ari’s vehicles were hit and immobilized. A half-dozen of the drivers and passengers were badly wounded or killed. The Egyptians poured on the fire and inflicted even more damage to the Israelis trying to rescue and recover their men. Ben-Ari’s reconnaissance mission turned into a full-on attack as the commander of the 7th Armored Brigade ordered more units up the slope to protect the Israeli retreat. Some of the tank commanders pressed forward and for a moment it looked like the Israelis could take the position.
The Egyptians also suffered greatly as the Israeli tanks, heavy mortars and artillery opened fire, pounding their positions. Reinforcements arrived and bolstered Egyptian defenses, pouring even more fire down on the Israelis. The Egyptian commander Colonel Yassa was badly wounded by mortar shrapnel and was evacuated from the battlefield. Yassa was replaced by Colonel Saadedden Mutawally who was unfamiliar with the Egyptian defensive positions and the layout of the Hedgehog.
As the fighting intensified, Ben-Ari ordered the Israeli front to spread out so their tanks and artillery could bring more firepower on to the Egyptian positions. Unknowingly, the Israeli new offensive positions had expanded into the range of the artillery and anti-tank guns in the village of Abu Ageila. The Egyptians opened fire from their second defensive position with devastating effect. The Israelis lost several of their tanks in just the first minutes of the bombardment.
Wallach ordered an end to the unplanned attack. The Israelis gathered their wounded and dead and retreated from the hillside, leaving many of their vehicles punctured with anti-tank shell holes and burning. It was the beginning of what promised to be a series of bloody battles for the Hedgehog. For the first time in the war the Israelis had lost a battle and were bogged down. Their confidence was far from shattered, but their noses were bloodied. The Egyptians cheered. They had held their ground and kept their honor.
October 30, 1956 - Abu Ageila, Egypt
Wallach sat in a jeep eating his MRE dinner. Colonel Ben-Ari, the commander of the 7th Armored Brigade approached. “Well that was a disaster,” he said.
“You eat yet?” said Wallach.
“I don’t feel much like eating.”
“You gotta keep your strength up and your mind sharp… for your men’s sake.”
“I’ll eat after I check on the wounded.”
“Oh, that should build your appetite.”
“I’m sensing sarcasm.”
“You would be correct,” said Wallach finishing his meal. “Uri, we’ve got to find another way up the Hedgehog. I’m not sending any more tanks up the Umm Qataf unless we are attacking on two fronts minimum. Three would be even better. It’s too much of a meat grinder when they are able to consolidate their forces.”
“We’ve looked. There is no other way except for Ruafa Ridge on the west side of the Hedgehog. But we can’t get to Ruafa Ridge without taking heavy losses because of mine fields and passing under Egyptian artillery.”
“Send your scouts out again. There has to be something, somewhere.”
“Alright. Will do, Boss,” said Ben-Ari moving off.
“And don’t forget to eat,” Wallach called after him.
October 30, 1956 - Abu Ageila, Egypt
Ben-Ari assigned an armored reconnaissance team to once again scout the Hedgehog for an unseen path through the plateau. He wondered about the wisdom of sending more men in harm’s way to search for a path that he already knew didn’t exit, but he had his orders.
Lieutenant David Frischman rode in the lead halftrack as his team moved along the bottom of the Hedgehog. He was going over terrain that he had previously scouted and it didn’t sit well with him. It felt like his commander was questioning his competence as
a leader. If there was some way through the Hedgehog he and his men would have found it the first time.
Frischman was surprised when one of his men pointed out what looked like a ravine in the side of the mountain. He radioed his team to stop and take up defensive positions. He stepped from his halftrack and moved toward the ravine.
As he moved closer he saw that the ravine was well hidden because the hillside was made of rock, dirt and sand. The colors on the inside walls of the ravine matched the outside walls perfectly and the walls were close enough together that they didn’t cast shadows from the sun except at noon. He understood why he and his men missed it the first time, but he didn’t relish the idea of explaining the mistake to his commander. The area was called Al-Dayyiqa on the map but showed no markings of a path.
He ordered half of his men to follow him into the gorge while the other half kept watch outside. The first thing that he noticed was that the width of the walls was about twelve feet, barely enough to fit a tank. The ground was uneven but passable. There were a few large boulders that had fallen from above blocking the path, but he knew his men could remove the obstacles with cables and chains if needed. He and his team moved about thirty yards through the ravine before it opened up into a small canyon with high cliffs. Before him was a bridge and beyond that was a gap that looked like it led all the way through the Hedgehog as if the plateau had been cleaved in two. He felt both stupid and lucky. He and his men exchanged giddy glances until machinegun fire racked the walls around them. They hit the deck.
Frischman’s recon team had surprised the Egyptian soldiers guarding the canyon and the hidden gap. He couldn’t see where the shots were coming from. There were plenty of places a light machinegun team could hide. His first inclination was to retreat back to his vehicles and report to his commander. This was big news. He decided he needed to know the size of the Egyptian force protecting the canyon before he reported. He ordered one of his men, a young corporal, to cross the bridge and get a better look at what they were facing.
His men gave the corporal covering fire as he made a run for the bridge. Bullets pelleted the ground around him. He dove behind a boulder to catch his breath before crossing the bridge. Frischman waved him forward. He gave Frischman a thumbs up and took off running.
The corporal hit the bridge at a dead run. He was almost half way across when the bridge exploded in the middle cutting it in half and sending half the bridge into the air like a hinged catapult. The corporal had instinctively hit the deck when the explosion occurred. He was launched through the air and landed near Frischman. He was lucky and only suffered a broken arm plus a nasty splinter of metal from the bridge. “Sorry, sir,” he said to Frischman. “I didn’t get all the way across like you wanted.”
Frischman shook his head in disbelief and said, “You did just fine, corporal. We found out what we needed to know.” The team medic tended to the corporal. The Egyptian machinegun stopped firing. Frischman had his men cease fire to conserve ammunition. The canyon was quiet. “Shall I have the men move up, Lieutenant?” said a sergeant.
“No. We stay put. I don’t think they’re done.”
Frischman was right. A series of explosion inside the gap brought down the high walls and kicked up a thick cloud of dust.
When the dust settled, Frischman and his men moved forward with caution. The Egyptian soldiers were gone, believing they had blocked the gap and that there was nothing left to guard.
Upon closer inspection, Frischman found that the actual damage was superficial. The boulders that dropped from the walls had shattered into pieces when they hit the ground and could be easily cleared. Those that were still intact could be moved to the side. Even the demolished bridge was not a problem because there was no water in the riverbed and the banks were shallow slopes that could be traversed with tracked vehicles.
Frischman and his men moved through the gap. Twenty minutes later they came out on the western side of the Hedgehog. They stayed hidden so as not to reveal their discovery to the Egyptians. The gap through the Hedgehog was still viable.
Frischman and his men went back through the gap to the eastern side. He left his platoon to guard the canyon in case the Egyptians returned. Then he took one of the halftracks and went to report his findings to his commander. He couldn’t stop smiling. He felt like a fox that had just discovered a hole into the hen house.
October 30, 1956 – London, England
Eden, Lloyd, Mollet and Pineau sat in Eden’s office at 10 Downing Street. Eden’s secretary served champagne. On a nod from Eden, his secretary departed the office. Eden raised his glass and said, “To a victorious intervention and the end of Nasser.”
They drank and congratulated each other with hearty handshakes.
At his desk in the reception area, the secretary opened a drawer and retrieved two letters already signed by Eden and Mollet. The letters were addressed to Nasser and Ben-Gurion. Each letter demanded that the armies of their respective nations cease hostilities and retreat to positions a minimum of ten miles from the shores of the Suez Canal within the next twelve hours, or Britain and France in unison would be forced to take the necessary action to separate the two warring parties and protect the canal. The letters were simple in wording and could only be construed as ultimatums. The secretary handed each letter to couriers that would deliver them to the Egyptian and Israeli Embassies. Even though the letters carried the date of October 30, 1956, they had been written and signed two days previously.
Fifteen minutes after releasing the ultimatum letters to Egypt and Israel, Eden stood before Parliament and lied. He told the backbenchers and ministers that Britain and France had acted in the name of peace to protect the canal. Parliament was shocked. As far as any of the members knew, Britain and Egypt were negotiating an agreement to protect the canal and pay fair compensation to the canal’s investors. Britain was supposed to be disengaging from Egypt and washing her hands of the whole affair. Now, Britain was offering ultimatums and threatening military action. All of this was at a time when NATO had its hands full with Russian aggression. At the end of Eden’s short speech, one of the members said, “There is nothing in the United Nations charter that allows a nation to declare itself the World’s police force. Are the Americans supporting us? Are they giving us their full backing or are we doing this off our own bat?”
“We have been in close talks with both the Americans and the U.N. Security Counsel,” said Eden. “We will continue to advise both as to our progress.”
“If either Egypt or Israel refuse to comply with your ultimatum, will Britain send in ground troops?” said another member.
“Britain will do whatever is necessary to protect its interests and reputation. We do not ask for war, but we will not turn our backs if war is offered,” said Eden.
There was a growing murmur in the chamber as Eden left Parliament without further comment.
October 30, 1956 – Washington D.C., USA
Eisenhower was in a meeting with his cabinet when he received word of the ultimatums. He was furious and cursed openly. “That back-stabbing weasel,” he said. “The son-of-a-bitch is backing me into a corner. If he thinks I don’t have the gumption to respond, he’s dead wrong.”
“Is it a threat or do they actually plan on using military force?” said Emmet Hughes, one of the cabinet members.
“It’s not just a threat. They’re throwing down the gauntlet and daring Nasser to pick it up. The poor bastard has no choice but to defy the Western powers or lose all his standing with the Arab community,” said Eisenhower. “Eden’s gambling that America will choose NATO over Egypt. It’s a bad bet on his part.”
The normally out-spoken cabinet was sheepish at seeing the president’s anger. “Will the United States join Egypt against our Western allies?” asked Hughes.
“The Soviets are not going to stand still for this,” said another cabinet member. “They’ve already backed Egypt with weapons and loans. They could back them with their military. Are we wil
ling to risk World War III over Egypt for God’s sake?”
“The British and French are playing right into the Soviet’s hands,” said Eisenhower. “It’s like they’re handing the Soviet’s the Middle East on a silver platter.”
Eisenhower excused himself from the meeting and walked out on to the patio where he could chain-smoke three cigarettes and think more clearly. He could not understand why the British and French would put their most powerful ally in such a precarious position. He was sure they understood that if the United States was seen to be siding with Israel it would end America’s influence with the Arabs and clear the way for the Soviets. The Middle East and its oil would be lost. He was also sure that Eden and Mollet both knew that Nasser would have no choice but to reject the ultimatum. Nasser could not back down while Israeli troops were on Egyptian soil. His own people and military would not stand for it, not to mention how such weakness would be seen by the other Arab nations.
Eisenhower realized that Britain and France had every intention of going to war with Egypt. He didn’t know what role Israel would play in all of this and he didn’t care. They could end the conflict at any time by simply withdrawing their forces. But of course, the Israelis wouldn’t do that without winning some sort of concession. The Israelis always demanded treasure for their blood. The British and French were purposely allowing Israel to stay on the battlefield, a condition that Nasser could not accept. Nasser would fall into their trap. Britain and France would attack Egypt. If the Israelis were smart, they would accept the ultimatum and let Britain and France deal with Egypt. They would be in a much stronger position to negotiate their withdrawal once Egypt’s armed forces were mauled by the Western powers. Britain and France get the canal and Israel gets whatever it wants, thought Eisenhower. It’s like they planned it all along.
Sèvres Protocol Page 11
