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Wounded tell of battle in Sinai The first wounded back from the fronts described yesterday how they broke their Yom Kippur fast by eating battle rations as they moved forward into combat. Three young soldiers interviewed at Hadassah Hospital all said they and most of their comrades had fasted at least until the enemy attack began on Saturday at 2 p.m. Some front-line soldiers continued to fast until sundown when Yom Kippur was over despite an announcement by the Military Rabbinate that the obligation to fast was waived with the outbreak of fighting. Soldiers who fought on the Suez spoke of the night-time Egyptian ambushes and stiff fighting. A 20-year-old second lieutenant told how his tank was hit by bazooka fire and set on fire about 5 kilometers west of the Canal as he led 2 other tank towards the front line about midnight Saturday. "The tank was disabled but I put the fire out. The Egyptians fired a flare and I saw the enemy soldiers. There were many. I’d say a company. They were lying in a line in front of low sand dunes." The tank’s cannon was still working and the lieutenant opened fire on the Egyptians from about 300 yards. When the second tank in line came up behind him, he changed tanks with its commander and ordered the driver to charge directly at the enemy commandos with the third tank providing covering fire. As he reached the Egyptian line, his tank was hit simultaneously by 4 bazooka shells and the lieutenant, who was standing exposed in the turret, fell wounded into the tank. He yelled at the driver to turn left so as to run along the length of the enemy line. "Crush them,‘ he shouted. ’Crush them." The lieutenant, who had been wounded in the left hand and right shoulder, realized that his injuries were not grave and climbed back into the turret. He saw Egyptians running away as close as 3 meters away and opened fire with his Uzi. When the Egyptians attempted to reorganize he opened fire with the tank’s cannon and scored hits. He was shortly afterwards evacuated to a rear aid station. Another ambush, this one staged by the Egyptians from their own bank on the canal, was described by a 22-year-old tank gunner. His unit began moving towards the canal from a rear position Saturday afternoon. Although ordered at 3 p.m. to break his fast, the red-headed gunner, a sergeant, did not eat until 4 p.m. when a heavy Egyptian barrage made it seem a sensible thing to do. "I used to be religious and even now Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are holidays I respect.‘ His ammunition loaded, he said, did not get to eat before he was wounded midnight Saturday since he had wanted to wait until sundown before breaking his fast and by that time he was in combat and too busy to eat. ’He was almost dehydrated," he said. The sergeant was in the lead tank as the unit approached the canal 10 p.m. About a kilometer from the waterline, it was suddenly struck by a tank-to-tank rocket dubbed the Shmil. It was fired by an Egyptian tank perched atop one of the lofty ramps built by the Egyptians on their side of the canal. The rocket killed the tank commander in the turret and wounded the sergeant who escaped with the rest of the crew to other tanks. In the ensuing battle, however, the sergeant’s new tank was hit by three rockets. He escaped from the burning vehicle whose ammunition began exploding. "We were told before Yom Kippur started that we could expect something big. They explained to us it was a political problem and we would just wait for the attack. But I didn’t expect it to come on Yom Kippur itself."
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