Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Fragment on the Notes of Naksa : Lost and Fearless in the desert And In The Sky

I have decided this year to spot the lights on some of the unknown aspects of Naksa 1967,I once had this little online conversation with 1967/1973 vet Brigadier General Osama Al-Sadak last year regarding that offensive ad using a very special patriotic song not to his generation only but to all Egyptians.
Among the questions I asked him and they were not too many : Was the Post 5th of June 1967 Osama Al-Sadak different than the Pre 5th of June 1967 especially he had been through a terrifying experience ??
His answer came as follows :
My personality change in this war was explained by the analysts with whom I sat with after returning back that I was like the little child who was walking in the darkness of the night or in the street giving no damn for cars , as I had not tasted fear yet I was brave whether I like or not. I do not think that this analysis is true as I feared the enemy in several times. After the Naksa I felt that as a Professional officer I have to fight the enemies without waiting orders and this what happened in 1967. We had to fight back without orders as it was open arena with no options available expect to die or fight back. We did a lot of operations alone during those horrifying days , this is why I think my personality became more bolder in fight with experience I earned by myself through our withdrawal from Sinai .
Osama Al-Sadak’s book “ The people and War” is from the valuable resources about both wars in 1967 and 1973 I believe because it was written from a human experience more than a military experience. He was a young officer leading soldiers who found himself with no introduction in front of an brutal enemy that does not have an mercy from any kind. Young Osama was not prepared along with his n723795268_1337873_7856 generation because of their unqualified political and military leaderships alike that only cared for power. The leaderships were using the war for their our publicity , the leaderships were busy in fighting each other on whom would role Egypt I am afraid. Officially we did not fire back but unofficially some of our men fired back
There were small candles in our darkest moments ,we should not forget this. The road to 1973 was hard despite it was short , it is unbelievable a nation would gather itself in less than 10 years to restore not only its land but its dignity. The road to 1973 war and then to peace was not an easy one.
First Candle : William Shafiek
In chapter 12 of Al-Sadak’s book “The people and war “  there is a breathtaking story about Major William Shafiek but first there was that story about the Israeli Mirage
Osama Al-Sadak while trying to get back from Sinai safely in the desert encountered many things and incidents that should be revised over and over. Once in the desert he found and his n663501921_1896621_7615 soldiers the debris of an Egyptian Meg 21 and after kilometers he found the debris of an ISRAELI MIRAGE DEBRIS, so it seems that there was a battle and an Israeli Mirage was downed , I know it sounds silly because it may be nothing comparing our losses in EAF , but let’s agree on something what the IAF managed to do is to destroy the aircrafts  themselves not the pilots. Back to the Mirage , it made me so happy to know that our EAF did something even if it were 1% . May God bless those pilots in the Egyptian Meg 21.
Now in his gateway Al-Sadek and those with him found a small rocky oasis, it was like a heaven on earth but moments later from their arrival it was more like hell. They heard the sound of an Israeli tank coming to their way. They were scared for sure and they had to hide , already in their way to their little heaven they witnessed the bodies of the Egyptian officers and soldiers which the Israeli tanks had ran over  “oh yes the Israeli tanks used to run over our soldiers bodies , we can’t forget the great massacres that happened in Al-Arish in Tofaha”
Yet what they saw was much scarier and more provocative than anyone can imagine.
They saw the Israeli tank dragging a group of Egyptian POWs alive !! I can’t imagine the scene or how they felt but I know that they were so angry and felt helpless. The tank stopped and 4 came out of it , one stayed at the hatch , the three “among them a girl” went down to complete the torture of Egyptian POWs with their shoes , one of the three kept torturing the Egyptian POWs where as the girl and the boy were over each other and could not find a room ,thus they decided to make love on the sand !!
Without too much thinking Al-Sadek and his men despite having only 12 remaining bolts decided to save those poor POWs even if it was going to cost them their lives. The plan was quick , to target first the guy on the hatch ,then the guy walking alone and of course the loving birds were very easy target as they were in another world. They did it and saved the Egyptian POWs , four were alive and two were dead or rather killed “May God bless their souls”. The freed POWs were led by Major William Shafik “ I will try to get his info” who thanked them so much for saving them.
Major Shafik asked El-Sadek and his men to get away very fast because there were another two Israeli tanks dragging our POWs coming in the way, he decided to save them regardless of the cost they had to pay , he asked El-Sadek and his men to escape because it was his turn to save his men. El-Sadek had to leave after the persistence of Shafik and the fact that later headed to the Israeli tank to stay there with his men waiting for the IDF tanks arrival.
El-Sadek and men hided in a water well leaving one of his men to tell them what happened behind the well. They heard huge blasts and their man in the end came to tell them the story of a small battle took place above their head.
Major Shafik and his men in the Israeli tank managed to blow the two Israeli tanks coming yet unfortunately two choppers came too , one of them Shafik managed to down where as the other one managed to blow Shafik’s tank with his soldiers inside it.
Yes Egyptians were killed in this battle about 11 Egyptians to be exact but on the other hand 3 Israeli tanks and a chopper were down , we are talking here about 14 IDF soldier and officer , the start was  just with 12 bolts and a group of lost soldiers who could not find their direction home.
God Bless all our men who died by honor , God bless Major William and his men.
Second Candle : Mahmoud Al-Sersawy
This is the story of first lieutenant Essam Mahmoud Al-Sersawy in commandos forces in the Egyptian army. His family has been among the Egyptian families that dedicate itself to the army and navy even before the revolution up till now , his father General Mahmoud Al-Sersawy was among the teachers of Gamal Abdel Nasser in the academy. Essam was just 25 years old when he was leading a platoon in Sinai. Essam refused to listen to the orders coming from the radio on the morning of 5th of June 1967 , he told his soldiers that he would stay and fight back ,they had the freedom to go back but they refused and they stayed with him. They fought back till the last breath. The last time Essam was seen alive in it was when he was bleeding on the desert. Some say that he was killed because of his injury , others say that he was killed after being captured by the the IDF, of course the IDF’s treatment to POWs is Universal !!
Essam was in my age when he fought his first and last battle on earth , he fought it like a hero. He was a real man unlike those bastards if I may call them Amar and his gang !! Those who survived the war from his platoon say that he fought like a lion , he fought unlike anyone they saw.
Here is the last Photo for Essam alive taken in Sinai before the war by couple of days may be.
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Third candle From the West Bank to Egypt :
It is not well known but Saad El-Din El-Shazaaly , Colonel then managed to withdrawal with a whole battalion from the west bank back to Ismailia with no losses at all , in fact the Israelis were the one who were losing in front of him !! Interesting enough you be even more surprised to know that the IDF sent another battalion to stop him whose leader was Ariel Sharon !! Yes our Ariel Sharon, it was the luck and the excellent planning of El-Shazaaly that made him leave by hours before Sharon’s arrival. Sharon did not forget and considered it personal matter , of course after 6 years the two men met in the Defersoir operation. It is worth to mention that the Israeli officers that were with Sharon in that operation knew it was a personal vendetta and that he sent them to hell.
This is a fragment usually forgotten but we should not forget it , we should be proud of it .
Fourth candle Flying without orders :
General Pilot Awad Hamdy revealed in an interview in Al Wafd newspaper yesterday about the wonderful heroic operation he led with his co-pilots from Abu-Sowair airbase on the 5th of June 1967 morning. Hamdy is known for the real historians of 1967 as the daring pilot who asked Nasser in his famous press conference on  23rd May 1967 questions that were omitted from the official records about how we could possibility attack Israel with our losses in Yemen war ,Nasser replied on the question that we were not going to attack , we would wait Israel to attack !!  The historical answer of Nasser was omitted from the audio and video records of that very famous press conference full of tension but it was not omitted from the human memory.
Hamdy was the first Egyptian pilot to down an IAF air fighter since 1948 war. Hamdy Awad
The Co-pilots who were with Hamdy during this short battle were : Assam Ghazi, George Tosah and Hassan Khadr. Those pilots and other who joined them in those few sad hours broke the orders and kept on fighting
Ironically or even sadly he was down by an Egyptian rocket !!
Hamdy is saying that there were wonderful heroic stories for the pilots in 1967 but no one is listening to these stories , these little candles who lightened the way to 1973.
Updated No.1 : 
I just want to correct something regarding the story of late hero Mahmoud El-Sersawy ,the Six days war was not his first battle , he fought in Yemen War too.
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3 comments:

  1. beautiful amazing stories thank you for posting them

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  2. Bravo Zeinobia for this interesting and historical article. This men are the true heroes in 1967 war but we lost the war because we have coward President and useless defence minister. Defence Minister who only good in one thing..womanizing the belly dancers, actresses and singers! May the heroes their souls R.I.P in Jannah.

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  3. @anonymous, you welcome

    @aonymous#2, yes we lost the war because of them , I share with you your prayers and I know in advance that heroes' souls are already in Jannah

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