Pacifica Military History Free Sample Chapters.pmd

Free Sample Chapters 265
moving on, and he ordered his troop leaders to establish defensive
positions along a front of two kilometers.
Lieutenant Colonel More’s five-tank attack followed Zvika’s by a
lengthy interval. It did a great deal to confirm Ismail’s convictions, but
the initial contact upset More, who reasoned that his attack was based
upon faulty information with respect to the Syrian disposition and, it
appeared, the composition of the Syrian force. In the heat of his brief,
sharp fight, Zvika had not observed the mechanized infantry
accom-panying Ismail’s tanks.
More’s tanks were hit and disabled, one at a time. When the battal-ion
commander saw a Syrian aim an antitank rocket at his command tank,
he grabbed hold of his free machine gun and opened fire. But the machine
gun jammed and the Syrian grenadier let fly. Uzi More lost an arm and
an eye in the blast.
Zvika emerged from the dark, standing erect in the turret of the only
Centurion to survive his column’s abortive attack. He reached Colonel
Ben Shoham by radio and reported the destruction of More Force.
For his part, Ben Shoham acknowledged that what could not be done
immediately would have to be done later. He raised Eitan on the
command net and told him of the failed counterattack, suggesting that
Baruch Force be split to reinforce Zvika on the Petroleum Force. The
balance of Major Lenschner’s tanks would establish defensive posi-tions
on the Sindiana Road.
*
At this stage of his holding battle, Eitan discarded specific limited
counterattacks to establish a coherent defensive line through the southern
Golan. What Eitan proposed was a considerable undertaking in light of
the numbers and dispositions of men and equipment and the complexity
of moving them through the darkened battle area. Eitan laid out a new
defense line from Bunker 110, on the east, through Tel Yosifon to the
Kuzabia crossroads, on the west. The line was then ex-tended southward,
through the waterfall area to Tel Bazak and on to the El Al Ridge. The
forces involved were not large, but they incorporated Regulars and
Reservists in six distinct movements and concentrations.