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Israel expands bridgehead, downs 32 enemy aircraft TEL AVIV — Israeli troops yesterday expanded their bridgehead on the east bank of the Suez Canal rolling the Egyptian defenses back to a distance of 25-30 kilometers from the Canal, along a front some 40 kilometers long. Yesterday’s operations were supported by an Air Force enjoying what a senior officer termed ’almost total freedom of action’ on both sides, along the entire length of the Canal — following the destruction of ’some dozen’ Egyptian surface-to-air missile batteries. Egyptian attempts to attack Israeli forces from the air ended in the downing of 28 Egyptian fighter planes. At least 60 Egyptian tanks were knocked out on both sides of the Canal yesterday. Senior officers here the Egyptian troops were still displaying readiness to fight to the end with determination and vigor, showing no signs of crumbling or turning tail in the face of the Israeli advance. The spokesman stressed that the achievements of the Israeli force had been accomplished by hard fighting. The Egyptians had ’scraped the barrel,’ and put whatever forces they still had into their effort to block the Israeli advance. These forces were composed mainly of armor on the southern and western flanks, and crack commando and paratroop units on the north. The enemy had not, however, weakened its bridgeheads on the east bank of the Canal to bolster the force on the other side. They apparently see the bridgeheads as their major achievement and intend to hold on to them at all costs. The Israeli bulge on the west bank yesterday extended from a line about 5 kilometers south of the Ismaliya-Cairo road to the Small Bitter Lake in the south. The areahad not been entirely cleared of enemy forces, and skirmishes with pockets of Egyptian troops were still going on yesterday evening. But the bulk of the force was concentrating on its major objective: Destroying Egyptian anti-aircraft missiles as well as engaging and destroying as many enemy tanks as possible. The forces in the bulge were receiving supplies and reinforcements across the 3 bridges over the Canal, north of the Great Bitter Lake, it was disclosed yesterday evening. On the east bank, the Egyptians still hold long, narrow areas along the Canal, one extending from north of Kanatara to the southern tip of Lake Timseh, and the other extending from the southern tip of Small Bitter Lake to a point a few kilometers south of Suez. They also hold Port Fuad at the northern tip of the Canal, as they did before the current war. Although the southwestern section of the bulge is less than 100 kilometers from Cairo, the officer said: "Our aim remains to destroy the armies that attacked us," he said. On Saturday night, Israel navy units, including missile boats, continue to harass Egyptian coastal defenses, again concentrating on Damietta, west of Port Said in the Nile Delta. The only section on the east bank yesterday was what was described as a ’smallfish’ tank battle near Lake Timseh. The Egyptians are estimated to have only about 350-400 tanks left on the east bank, out of about 1200 which crossed in the first few days of the war. They still have considerable numbers of infantry equipped with anti-tank weapons. The Air Force concentrated its main efforts on attacking Egyptian armor concentrations and giving close support to the ground troops. Sources here stressed that the air battles were all over in a matter of minutes; and as well as the almost unlimited freedom from the missile danger, our superiority in aerial combat was unchallenged. Most of the missile batteries destroyed were of the static Sam-2 and Sam-3 type, but many of the mobile Sam-6 missiles were also knocked out. Sources here declined to answer if any Sam-6 missiles, which are launched from tracked vehicles, had been seized intact. Official sources here could not confirm rumors that 2 Egyptian generals had been captured on the west bank of the Canal.
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