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13-tank Yuval tells his story SAFAD -Tank commander Yuval G. had head, shoulder and back injuries yesterday, but he also had 13 Syrian tanks to his credit. Yuval, 19, of Haifa, told his story from a bed at the New General Hospital here. Listening were his parents and younger brother, aged 15. An older brother is fighting on the Suez front. "I got back from home leave to my base and were sent up to the Golan Heights. Nobody expected that the Syrians were up anything just on Yom Kippur. "News that they might attack came on Saturday morning. We got into the tanks, loaded with ammunition. At noon the army chaplaincy allowed us to eat, but many preferred to keep fasting. Just after noon we got out into the open, into tents. At 2 p.m. we saw three Sukhois overhead. We rushed back like hell into our tanks and fired at them. An hour later we spread out in the terrain and minutes later a heavy bombardment began that made the ground tremble. "We moved forward, and the men in the advanced positions waved and put up their thumbs as we passed them. The Syrians had zeroed in on us, so we changed course to reach our destination. Our ten tanks reached it and we saw 30 Syrian tanks facing us. The duel began instantly. It’s a strange feeling to see people who crossed into our territory to destroy us, turn into burning targets, over 2000 meters from us. We saw their crew run in every direction. "But another wave of tanks turned up: We counted about 60. Our position was a bit higher. We drove closed, to about 1500 meters and within minutes turned many of the them into torches. We repaid them. "Over the wireless we got an order to relieve a hard-pressed company. It was already evening and we were passing burnt Syrian tanks when we ran up against a column of 30-40 tanks, armored troop carriers, trucks with infantry behind them, just east of Kuneitra. When the first Syrian shell exploded among us, we gave them all we had to offer. They drew closer, to about 1000 meters. We knocked out half their tanks and the rest of the column began to withdraw. We had orders not to go beyond the cease-fire lines. By then it was dark. "About midnight we got the order to help another company that was in trouble. The rest of the night turned into day, lit by phosphorus shells and explosions that made one hell of a racket. Our shooting was accurate, since we saw one Syrian tank after another burst into flames, like those targets we practice on in training. We couldn’t keep count of those we hit. Their whole line-up was one sea of flames. "But our got hit too. All of a sudden the firing stopped. It got quiet and as the flames died out, quite dark. But that wasn’t the end of the night for us. We were sent to another spot and at about 2:30 a.m. we saw 7 or 8 T54 (Soviet made) tanks. Another engagement with the same results, flames shooting up from the Syrians. The whole thing last less than 5 minutes. We were half dead from fatigue. Some of us had got it. Some of the men’s tanks had caught fire and they had jumped out to put out the flames. These men got back into their tank and fired a round at the Syrian tank that had hit them. "Just then we got order to drive up to the top of the hill. It was close to dawn that we ran into eight Syrians, and knocked them out. Two other Syrians on the flank got two of ours. We outflanked them and destroyed them. Then we saw a column of about 50 Syrian tanks and armored vehicles about 5 kms away and coming near. We stopped the first wave of that column, but the others and mortars poured shells on us. One landed on the lid of my tank and wounded me and the wireless operator, who lost consciousness. The man at the gun and the driver weren’t hurt. My glasses were shattered and I got it in the head and back and shoulder. They put us on tank and took us to hospital. "In those 20 hours we ate nothing. We had battle rations with us but we had neither thought nor time for food. "My tank alone knocked out 13 tanks at least."
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