Israeli Turn 27..."The Massacre at Amir"
Cpt Shazly watched as the last of his 18 truck convoy exited the assault bridge. He climbed back in his vehicle and went to the head of the column. Once there, he turned right keeping the high bank of the canal to his right and headed south. His orders were to move to an area approx 500m south of the bridge and setup a defensive position to deny the enemy access to the bridge. He asked his commander "What enemy?" "Hq's says enemy "Raiding groups" were operating in the area and were believed to be heading towards the bridge to destroy it. Deploy your unit in front of the road using the canal to secure your right, and tie your left with the unit here." He pointed to a group of buildings that were at the road intersection on his map.
The terrain was mostly marsh, sand, and hardpack so the going was slow. There was a light fog hanging in the air making visibility only about 500m. Off to his left he saw a bright glow in the night sky and he heard the muffled sounds of what he thought was... tank cannon fire? As he approached the position where he would dismount his troops, he saw the burning hulks of bridging vehicles, SAM vehicles, APC's and tanks. "What "Raiding Party" can do this?" he asked himself. The last thing he saw was a bright flash off to his left front before he died...
Lt. Havanah's makeshift company of tanks, made up from survivors from the early fight at the Tirtur/Lexicon junction, were positioned along the canal bank about 1.5km's from Usha road. His force was the one that eliminated the Egyptian armor foray into the Matzmed area and now he was trading fire with various vehicles that were using the multitude of wrecks as cover. Between the smoke, fog, and fires, it was becoming tedious and they were wasting precious ammo.
He called the TC's of the two tanks from Mitzner's Bn and told them to hold their positions as he moved the rest of the tanks off to the east and north. He wanted to get around the wrecks to finish remaining enemy vehicles. As his tanks cleared the wrecks, a lone T62 was mixed in with some bridging vehicles. Then, just to the right, a column of trucks appeared. He ordered his force to open fire with white phosphorous and machineguns on the trucks while he took on the tank.
3 more tanks were spotted coming down what he believed to be Usha Road. In the ensuing 15 minutes, he stood in his TC's hatch as he watched as his tanks decimated the column. The tanks raked the vehicles as enemy soldiers tried to escape the killing ground...18 trucks, 5 tanks, 2 Bridge tanks, 2 Mobile Sam launchers, and an untold number of Egyptian soldiers....
Just to his east, the sound of massive tank cannon fire rocked the night. Multiple hits within the small village caused the Egyptians to panic and attempt to retreat. More Israeli tanks fired at the enemy tanks on the high ground to the east also causing mayham as more and more tanks were destroyed. Just to the south of this onslaught, erez's tanks pulled into reverse slope positions waiting for the Egyptian's to expose themselves at very close range....
