| Subscribe! | News Ticker |
RSS | Blogs |  Get JPost Toolbar! |
| 
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Heavy Egyptian tank and plane losses as counter-attack fails TEL AVIV — Israeli forces have re-established control over part of the east bank of the Suez Canal, linking up with the task force which has been operating on the Egyptian side of the waterway since Tuesday. Egyptian assaults on the Israeli wedge on Wednesday and yesterday were repulsed with a loss to Egypt of 200 tanks as well as 19 fighter planes and 6 helcopters. At least 4 of the helicopters were carrying assault troops. The Egyptians had brought armor, helicopter-borne troops and fighter planes into their desperate counter assault. Israeli losses were considered ’surprisingly light’ in view of the massive scale of the battles. In other actions, Israeli naval commandos caused severe damage in raids inside the Egyptian naval bases at Port Said and Rardak during the past few nights, the Army spokesman said yesterday. At least 5 large vessels were sunk. Naval units also shelled Egyptian coastal installations I the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Suez. All the Israeli boats returned safely to base. The Egyptian losses in the air are believed to reflect their increasing tendency to use their aircraft to protect their threatened formations in the central sector on both sides of the Canal. Three of the enemy planes shot down on the Egyptian front were Mirage, apparently supplied by Libya. They all fell into the sea of El Arish. The ’task force’ which military sources here last night decline to term as bridgehead or an invasion of Egypt, was reinforced yesterday with artillery and tanks. It continued to attack SAM anti-aircraft batteries, as well as artillery, armor and rear echelon headquarters, and to disrupt communications and logistics. The force is enjoying freedom of movement, despite enemy attempts to pin it down, the sources said. The dogged Egyptian attempts to counter Israeli operations in the central sector indicate that they understand the fateful nature of the current battle, according to the sources here. Their infantry, in particular, has been making supreme, but unsuccessful efforts to hold on to their positions. The southern and northern sectors of the Sinai front were relatively quiet yesterday, with both sides concentrating their efforts on the central sector. Egypt’s defenses on the west bank of the Canal are reported to be thinly spread. Most of their armor was transferred to the Israeli side in the early days of the campaign. They are now believed to have moved up some of the armor originally kept in reserve for the defense of Cairo. Egypt is now believed to have a maximum of 600 tanks operational on the east bank, about half of the estimated 1200 with which they crossed in the first few days of the war. Despite the high price the Egyptians have paid in the recent fighting, there is no haste here to foresee an imminent collapse of the Egyptian army. The bulk of their air force is intact. Apart from providing an umbrella and close support for the Israeli offensive in the central sector, the Air Force yesterday also attacked air fields, anti-aircraft batteries and military targets along the Gulf of Suez. By yesterday evening a total of 326 enemy fighters and 33 helicopters had been shot down. The number of enemy prisoners, from both fronts, had reached 945 by yesterday evening.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
