Battles of the Sinai (1948)
Encyclopedia
The Battles of the Sinai refer to a series of military engagements between the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) and the Egyptian Army
fought in the Sinai Peninsula in December 1948 – January 1949, as part of the Israeli Operation Horev
. The IDF's Southern Command, under Yigal Allon
, concentrated forces to push into the Sinai following their success in the Battle of Bir 'Asluj and the Battle of 'Auja
.
Forces from the Negev
and 8th brigades entered the Sinai on December 28 and at night captured Umm Katef and Abu Ageila. They continued north to al-Arish, which Allon planned to capture, in order to encircle the Egyptian expeditionary force in Palestine and end the war. However, due to political and diplomatic considerations, all Israeli forces retreated from the Sinai on January 2, 1949. Another attempt to encircle the Egyptian forces was made on the next day in the Battle of Rafah
, but Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
ordered the IDF to turn back, ending military engagements in the war.
on the southern front. While the Israelis made significant tactical and strategic gains in Operation Yoav, the political situation changed little and Egypt was still dragging its feet on proposed armistice talks. Operation Horev
was therefore launched in the south with the final aim of expelling all Egyptian forces from Israel.
–'Auja road, including Bir 'Asluj. The Southern Command decided to exploit this success in order to complete the rest of Operation Horev, namely, to surround and eventually expel all Egyptian forces from Palestine. The order was given to move into the Sinai Peninsula on the morning of December 28. This order directly contradicted the General Staff plan, which forbade entering Egyptian territory. According to Yitzhak Rabin
, then the operations officer of the Southern Command, the command attempted to create facts on the ground
before getting the necessary approval for the action.
The original Southern Command plan called for the thrust to be done by the 8th Brigade, but it had not had time to recover from the Battle of 'Auja, and it was necessary to quickly overwhelm the Egyptian forces in the peninsula, so the Southern Command decided to send the Negev Brigade instead. Abu Ageila was a small oasis in the desert situated on an important road junction. It contained a few clay houses and a village, a water well
and a dam for water collection in the winter months.
. At 11:15 on December 26, a force of sappers rendezvoused with the Israel Navy and two patrol boats, INS Sa'ar and INS Palmach, landed the troops in the Sinai, between al-Arish and Rafah
, at 21:45.
The sappers planted their bombs on the 235th kilometer of the railway, returned to their ships at 03:00 on December 27, and the charges blew at 06:00.
) was flown.
At 16:30, the force attacked Umm Katef, the position overlooking Abu Ageila. The Egyptians had a strength of about one battalion. They repelled the Israeli attack with anti-tank fire, while part of the attacking 9th Battalion got bogged down in the sands and failed to reach the position. At this time, the IDF Chief of Operations Yigael Yadin
sent out an order to Yigal Allon not to capture Abu Ageila until the latter came to see him.
At night, Israeli artillery began a barrage on Umm Katef. The 7th Battalion then outflanked the position, and by 02:30 on December 29, it was in Israeli hands. The Egyptians retreated to Abu Ageila, and whenthe Israelis entered it at dawn, the Egyptians left for al-Arish. Ten vehicles, three PIAT
s and small arms were captured at Umm Katef. In the meantime, Harel Brigade
forces, including its staff, also entered the Sinai. Upon capturing the area, the Negev forces set free the Palestinian Arab prisoners who had been held by the Egyptians, but took in several hundred Egyptians who surrendered.
While Yigal Allon's objective was the capture of al-Arish itself, he withheld this information from his superiors. His forces pushed on towards al-Arish and stopped about 8 km to the south of the city. Fearing for the aircraft, the Egyptians emptied the nearby airbases. Meanwhile, on December 29, Harel and Negev forces conducted raids deep into the Sinai Peninsula. Three platoons from the 7th Battalion meant to raid the Bir al-Hamma airfield, but met with heavy fire and retreated. However, they managed to destroy three airplanes on the ground. On December 31, a platoon from the 10th Battalion (Harel Brigade) raided Bir al-Hassana and captured about 200–500 prisoners. Other Harel forces from the 10th and 4th battalions, stationed at 'Auja, attacked and captured Kusseima on the same day, taking dozens of prisoners.
On the evening of December 29, Yigal Allon visited Nahum Sarig and the Negev Brigade staff at Bir Lahfan and ordered the forces to organize for the capture of al-Arish at midnight. He then flew to Tel Aviv to meet Yadin, who was sick at home, and tried to persuade him to authorize his plan to capture al-Arish and encircle the Egyptians in the Gaza corridor. However, he failed and ordered his troops to withhold the assault. A subsequent meeting with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
in the morning of December 30 did not change matters. On the next day, the Israeli forces returned to Abu Ageila. The complete withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula lasted until January 2, 1949.
Despite the refusal to fight in the Sinai, Yadin permitted Allon to instead move from 'Auja to Rafah and encircle the Egyptians from there. While by the time of Yadin and Ben-Gurion's refusal, there had been almost no international pressure to stop the advance into the Sinai, partly because it had not been clear whether the Sinai had indeed been invaded, on December 30 both the British and American government called for Israel's withdrawal to the international boundary, and the British allowed the Egyptians to use their airbases in Egypt for refueling.
The Sinai Peninsula saw a number of skirmishes in the early 1950s between Israeli and Egyptian forces, culminating in Operation Volcano in 1955. The next war fought in the area was the 1956 Suez War
. The area of Umm Katef – Abu Ageila also saw fighting
in the 1967 Six-Day War
.
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF) and the Egyptian Army
Egyptian Army
The Egyptian Army is the largest service branch within the Egyptian Armed Forces and holds power in the current Egyptian government. It is estimated to number around 379,000, in addition to 479,000 reservists for a total of 858,000 strong. The modern army was created in the 1820s, and during the...
fought in the Sinai Peninsula in December 1948 – January 1949, as part of the Israeli Operation Horev
Operation Horev
At the end of Israel's War of Independence Operation Horev was a large scale attack against the Egyptian army in the Western Negev. Its objective was to trap the Egyptian Army in the Gaza Strip...
. The IDF's Southern Command, under Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon was an Israeli politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Israeli Labor party, and acting Prime Minister of Israel, and was a member of the Knesset and government minister from the 10th through the...
, concentrated forces to push into the Sinai following their success in the Battle of Bir 'Asluj and the Battle of 'Auja
Battle of 'Auja
The Battle of 'Auja, also called Battle of Nitzana, was a military engagement between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army in and around 'Auja , a small village on the Egypt–Israel border. It was fought on December 26–27, 1948, as part of Operation Horev, an Israeli campaign meant to...
.
Forces from the Negev
Negev Brigade
The 12th Negev Brigade was an Israeli infantry brigade that served in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It was commanded by Nahum "Sergei" Sarig and consisted of four Palmach battalions...
and 8th brigades entered the Sinai on December 28 and at night captured Umm Katef and Abu Ageila. They continued north to al-Arish, which Allon planned to capture, in order to encircle the Egyptian expeditionary force in Palestine and end the war. However, due to political and diplomatic considerations, all Israeli forces retreated from the Sinai on January 2, 1949. Another attempt to encircle the Egyptian forces was made on the next day in the Battle of Rafah
Battle of Rafah (1948)
The Battle of Rafah was a military engagement between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army in the final stage of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was fought on January 3–8, 1949, just south of Rafah, today in the Gaza Strip. The battle was initiated by Israel as part of Operation Horev, on...
, but Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
ordered the IDF to turn back, ending military engagements in the war.
Background
The third and final stage of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War started on October 15, 1948, when Israel launched Operation YoavOperation Yoav
Operation Yoav was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15–22 October 1948 in the Negev Desert, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its goal was to drive a wedge between the Egyptian forces along the coast and the Beersheba–Hebron–Jerusalem road and ultimately to conquer the whole Negev...
on the southern front. While the Israelis made significant tactical and strategic gains in Operation Yoav, the political situation changed little and Egypt was still dragging its feet on proposed armistice talks. Operation Horev
Operation Horev
At the end of Israel's War of Independence Operation Horev was a large scale attack against the Egyptian army in the Western Negev. Its objective was to trap the Egyptian Army in the Gaza Strip...
was therefore launched in the south with the final aim of expelling all Egyptian forces from Israel.
Prelude
The main thrust of Operation Horev was in the south, and on December 25–27, Israeli forces captured the BeershebaBeersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
–'Auja road, including Bir 'Asluj. The Southern Command decided to exploit this success in order to complete the rest of Operation Horev, namely, to surround and eventually expel all Egyptian forces from Palestine. The order was given to move into the Sinai Peninsula on the morning of December 28. This order directly contradicted the General Staff plan, which forbade entering Egyptian territory. According to Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
, then the operations officer of the Southern Command, the command attempted to create facts on the ground
Facts on the ground
Facts on the ground is a diplomatic term that means the situation in reality as opposed to in the abstract. It originated in discussions of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, where it was used to refer to Israeli settlements built in the occupied West Bank, which were intended to establish permanent...
before getting the necessary approval for the action.
The original Southern Command plan called for the thrust to be done by the 8th Brigade, but it had not had time to recover from the Battle of 'Auja, and it was necessary to quickly overwhelm the Egyptian forces in the peninsula, so the Southern Command decided to send the Negev Brigade instead. Abu Ageila was a small oasis in the desert situated on an important road junction. It contained a few clay houses and a village, a water well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
and a dam for water collection in the winter months.
Operation Beginning
While the battles on the Beersheba–'Auja road were raging, the IDF initiated Operation Beginning with the aim of cutting off supply to the Egyptian forces in Gaza by destroying sections of the coastal railwayCoastal railway line, Israel
The Coastal railway line is a mainline railway in Israel, which begins just south of the Lebanon-Israel border on the Mediterranean coast, near the town of Nahariya in Northern Israel and currently ends in Tel Aviv; by 2013 it will be linked to the existing Ashdod Railway Station south of Tel Aviv,...
. At 11:15 on December 26, a force of sappers rendezvoused with the Israel Navy and two patrol boats, INS Sa'ar and INS Palmach, landed the troops in the Sinai, between al-Arish and Rafah
Rafah
Rafah , also known as Rafiah, is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. Located south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,003 is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees. Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities. Rafah is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate...
, at 21:45.
The sappers planted their bombs on the 235th kilometer of the railway, returned to their ships at 03:00 on December 27, and the charges blew at 06:00.
Battle of Umm Katef
The Israeli task force set out into the Sinai at 14:00 on December 28. This was the first time that many of the soldiers, including Yitzhak Rabin, visited another country. The force consisted, in the order of movement, of the Negev Brigade's 9th Battalion and staff, the 82nd Battalion of the 8th Brigade, and the Negev's 7th Infantry Battalion. Israeli aircraft mistakenly attacked them, killing one soldier and injuring another, until a flag resembling the Israeli (a military flag from the Jewish BrigadeJewish Brigade
The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group was a military formation of the British Army that served in Europe during the Second World War. The brigade was formed in late 1944, and its personnel fought the Germans in Italy...
) was flown.
At 16:30, the force attacked Umm Katef, the position overlooking Abu Ageila. The Egyptians had a strength of about one battalion. They repelled the Israeli attack with anti-tank fire, while part of the attacking 9th Battalion got bogged down in the sands and failed to reach the position. At this time, the IDF Chief of Operations Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin on 21 March 1917, died 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, politician, and the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.-Early life and military career:...
sent out an order to Yigal Allon not to capture Abu Ageila until the latter came to see him.
At night, Israeli artillery began a barrage on Umm Katef. The 7th Battalion then outflanked the position, and by 02:30 on December 29, it was in Israeli hands. The Egyptians retreated to Abu Ageila, and whenthe Israelis entered it at dawn, the Egyptians left for al-Arish. Ten vehicles, three PIAT
PIAT
The Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank was a British hand-held anti-tank weapon developed during the Second World War. The PIAT was designed in 1942 in response to the British Army's need for a more effective infantry anti-tank weapon, and entered service in 1943.The PIAT was based on the spigot...
s and small arms were captured at Umm Katef. In the meantime, Harel Brigade
Harel Brigade
Harel Brigade is a reserve brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, today part of the Northern Command. It played a critical role in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.- War of Independence :...
forces, including its staff, also entered the Sinai. Upon capturing the area, the Negev forces set free the Palestinian Arab prisoners who had been held by the Egyptians, but took in several hundred Egyptians who surrendered.
Raids and advance to al-Arish
After the capture of Abu Ageila, the bulk of the Israeli task force continued north, while units from the 7th Battalion remained to dig in. It met with Egyptian aerial bombardment that attempted to slow their advance to the al-Arish area. At 15:00 on December 29, the 9th Battalion captured the airfield at Bir Lahfan without encountering resistance. In the evening, Bir Lahfan, about 13 km south of al-Arish, was taken by the 82nd Battalion, which defeated the Egyptian battalion stationed there. They managed to capture the battalion commander—the highest-ranking Egyptian officer to be taken alive by Israel during the war—and four aircraft.While Yigal Allon's objective was the capture of al-Arish itself, he withheld this information from his superiors. His forces pushed on towards al-Arish and stopped about 8 km to the south of the city. Fearing for the aircraft, the Egyptians emptied the nearby airbases. Meanwhile, on December 29, Harel and Negev forces conducted raids deep into the Sinai Peninsula. Three platoons from the 7th Battalion meant to raid the Bir al-Hamma airfield, but met with heavy fire and retreated. However, they managed to destroy three airplanes on the ground. On December 31, a platoon from the 10th Battalion (Harel Brigade) raided Bir al-Hassana and captured about 200–500 prisoners. Other Harel forces from the 10th and 4th battalions, stationed at 'Auja, attacked and captured Kusseima on the same day, taking dozens of prisoners.
On the evening of December 29, Yigal Allon visited Nahum Sarig and the Negev Brigade staff at Bir Lahfan and ordered the forces to organize for the capture of al-Arish at midnight. He then flew to Tel Aviv to meet Yadin, who was sick at home, and tried to persuade him to authorize his plan to capture al-Arish and encircle the Egyptians in the Gaza corridor. However, he failed and ordered his troops to withhold the assault. A subsequent meeting with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
in the morning of December 30 did not change matters. On the next day, the Israeli forces returned to Abu Ageila. The complete withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula lasted until January 2, 1949.
Despite the refusal to fight in the Sinai, Yadin permitted Allon to instead move from 'Auja to Rafah and encircle the Egyptians from there. While by the time of Yadin and Ben-Gurion's refusal, there had been almost no international pressure to stop the advance into the Sinai, partly because it had not been clear whether the Sinai had indeed been invaded, on December 30 both the British and American government called for Israel's withdrawal to the international boundary, and the British allowed the Egyptians to use their airbases in Egypt for refueling.
Aftermath
The battles of the Sinai officially ended the first part of Operation Horev. While the IDF was denied its space to maneuver in the Sinai against the Egyptian forces still on its territory, it subsequently attacked Rafah and encircled the entire Egyptian expeditionary force. However, by this time the Egyptian government announced its agreement to negotiate armistice with the Israelis, which cased Ben-Gurion to order the troops' withdrawal yet again, effectively ending combat in the war.The Sinai Peninsula saw a number of skirmishes in the early 1950s between Israeli and Egyptian forces, culminating in Operation Volcano in 1955. The next war fought in the area was the 1956 Suez War
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
. The area of Umm Katef – Abu Ageila also saw fighting
Battle of Abu-Ageila (1967)
The 1967 Battle of Abu-Ageila was a military confrontation between the Israeli and Egyptian military which was part of the Six-Day War of June 1967...
in the 1967 Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
.