Operation Egged
{{Short description|1955 Israeli military operation}}
{{pp-30-500|small=yes}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict =Operation Egged
|partof =the Retribution operations (Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency)
|image =
|caption =
|date =October 28–29, 1955
|place =Kuntilla, Sinai
|result =Israeli victory
|combatant1 ={{flagicon|Israel}} Israel
|combatant2 ={{flag|Egypt|1952}}
|commander1 =Moshe Dayan
Ariel Sharon
|commander2 =
|strength1 =
|strength2 =
|casualties1 =2 killed
|casualties2 =12 killed
29 captured
|campaignbox ={{Campaignbox Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency}}
}}
Operation Egged ({{langx|he|מִבְצָע אֶגֶד}}), also known as the Kuntilla operation, was an Israeli military operation carried out on night of October 28–29, 1955 that targeted an Egyptian military post at Kuntilla, located in northeastern Sinai. The operation was a success and resulted in the destruction of the post. Twelve Egyptian soldiers were killed and twenty-nine were taken prisoner. There were two Israeli fatalities.
Background
On October 26, 1955 Egyptian forces raided a small Israeli outpost at Be'erotayim, located in the southern sector of the Nitzana/El-Auja demilitarized zone. One Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier was killed and two were captured.Ze'ev Drory, Israel's reprisal policy, 1953–1956: the dynamics of military retaliation, Frank Cass (2005) p. 145 Concurrent with this action, sizable Egyptian forces took control of positions in the southern corner of the Demilitarized Zone near El-Sabcha. Elements of this force also penetrated one kilometer into Israeli territorySefer Hatzanchanim, A. Levin-Epstein (1969), p. 115 and occupied positions near a strategic hill, which the Israelis code-named "Lilly".{{cite news|title=Operation Har Ga'ash|url=http://www.202.org.il/Pages/tagmul/peulot/sabcha.php|work=The paratroops}}
The battle
Moshe Dayan, Israel’s Chief of Staff, authorized an immediate retaliation for the Egyptian border transgression but in an entirely different sector. The chosen target was an Egyptian military post near Kuntilla, one-hundred miles south of the Demilitarized Zone.Michael Oren, Origins of the Second Arab-Israeli war, Egypt, Israel and the Great Powers, Frank Cass (1992), p. 32 On the night of October 28–29, 1955 two-hundred paratroopers commanded by Ariel Sharon attacked the Kuntilla post killing twelve Egyptian soldiers and capturing twenty-nine others. The post was leveled. Two Israeli soldiers, Yaakov Mizrahi and Amnon Abukai, were killed.{{cite news|title=Remembering Israel's Defenders: The Fallen Striker|url=http://www.csjl.org/articles/article82-RememberingIsraelsDefenders.htm|work=Center for Sport and Jewish Life}} Both were issued posthumous medals (Mizrahi for "Valor" and Abukai for "Courage") for their daring conduct during the assault.
Aftermath
File:Dayan w Kuntila Raid comm.jpg, Maj. Ariel Sharon, Lt. Gen. Moshe Dayan, Capt. Danny Matt, Lt. Moshe Efron, Col. Asaf Simhoni; crouching, left to right: Capt. Aharon Davidi, Lt. Yaakov Yaakov, Capt. Rafael Eitan]]
Operation Egged merely served as a diversion for the main Israeli assault which was ultimately directed at Egyptian positions in and around El-Sachba.Drory 2005, pp. 145–146 The ruse worked. On the night of November 2–3, Israel initiated Operation Volcano. Israeli paratroopers as well as additional infantry from the Golani and Nahal Brigades attacked Egyptian positions at El-Sabcha, killing eighty-one Egyptian soldiers and capturing fifty-five others.Drory 2005, p. 152 Following the Sabcha operation, there were no more Egyptian incursions into the Demilitarized Zone.Walter Eytan, The First Ten Years: A Diplomatic History of Israel, Simon & Schuster (1958), p. 34