29 October 1956-The Second Arab-Israeli War began with a drop of Israeli airborne troops into the Sinai peninsula. In keeping with the agreement reached in Sevres, France on 24 October, 1956, Israel’s attack on Egypt was designed to make Egypt fight, thus “imperiling” the Suez Canal. This would necessitate an ultimatum from France and the UK for both sides to cease fighting and to withdraw to a buffer zone away from the canal. Israel would comply, Egypt would refuse, enabling the UK and France to bomb and invade Egypt so that the Suez canal would revert to their rightful owners.
Israel’s main objectives on the first day of the invasion were the capture of the Gaza Strip and the town of Sharm el-Sheikh, which is at the base of the Sinai peninsula. The Egyptian blockade of the Strait of Tiran, which leads to the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aqaba, was based at Sharm el Sheikh. Capturing this town would open the Red Sea to Israeli commerce. Capturing the Gaza strip would eliminate the Fedayen base camps which were used as staging areas for raids into Israel, and also prevent the Egyptians from using this territory to block the Israeli infantry and armor advance.
As in all wars, the plans which look so elegant and wonderful at HQ tend to go wrong when actually executed. The Israeli plan called for a paratroop drop into the Sinai, catching the Egyptians by surprise, thus clearing the path for a rapid advance of Israeli armor forces into the peninsula. The paratroopers dropped several miles from their objectives, and wasted valuable time in regrouping for the assault on Egyptian forces guarding the passes that required capture for the rapid advance of the IDF. While the the paratroopers struggled, the plan to disrupt Egypt’s command and control went down flawlessly, as Israeli P-51 fighters flew at treetop level, using their propellers to cut all the telephone and telegraph wires used by the Egyptian high command to relay instructions. In the South the Israeli forces conquered the town of Ras an-Naqb by complete surprise before the Egyptians had time to ready their defenses. The Egyptians surrendered the town without a fight, and the Israelis suffered no casualties. Capture of this strongpoint provided a vital anchor for the assault on Sharm el-Sheikh, which would take place in the next few days.
Israel also demonstrated superb expertise in the use of jet fighters for close air support of advancing infantry and armor units, as its newly acquired Mystere fighters dove and strafed Egyptian forces, clearing the path for the Israelis to advance towards the Canal. Punishing air strikes by the Mysteres allowed for quick advances, since the infantry and armor units didn’t have to wait for artillery units to move and position themselves for fire-support.
News of the invasion reached President Eisenhower as he was departing on a campaign swing through Florida and Virginia (Ike was up for re-election in 1956). The President was concerned at the speed and depth of the Israeli advance into the Sinai, as by nightfall the Israelis were a mere 25 miles east of the Suez canal. Ike was also worried that the French and British were somehow involved in this military action. He had ordered U-2 flights of Cyprus and Israel on 27 October, and those missions had shown large amounts of British and French attack and transport aircraft in both countries. The mission over Cyprus showed that the two main RAF airfields were crammed to the bursting with aircraft, necessitating the use of a third auxiliary field which could barely support modern warplanes. Another source of concern for Eisenhower was the growing threat of a Soviet invasion of Hungary to crush that country’s democratic revolt. Eisenhower knew that it would be next to impossible to get the UN to condemn the Soviet action if the UK and France were colluding with Israel in aggression against Egypt. He was suspicious of his NATO allies, but he had no concrete proof of the collusion. NSA had identified enciphered communication links between Paris, London and Tel Aviv, but each country could explain that away as routine planning and coordination. The U2 photos of Cyprus and Israel were problematic, as only the UK and the US knew about the ultra-secret radar evading plane that flew at 70,000 feet and produced crystal-clear photos of Soviet installations. Eisenhower couldn’t confront the French with this evidence, as that would blow his one insight into the US’ ability to determine the nature and strength of the Soviet arms program. All he could do was wait for some sort of overt action from the UK and France. That action would come in 24 hours.
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