Remembering Th Golan

Global Digest

Poles Oppose
Auschwitz Crosses

Avigdor Kahalani's tank crew from the Yom Kippur War. Left to right, Gidi, Yuval, Kilyon,
Avigdor and Gideon. This is the only photo that sits on Israel s public security minister's desk.

AVI MACHLIS
Special to The Jewish News

Tel Aviv

T

here is only one picture on
Avigdor Kahalani's desk in
his Tel Aviv office: a photo
from the 1973 Yom Kippur
War of his tank crew looking frazzled
and war-weary.
Kahalani, now Israel's public security
minister, 25 years ago led his tank bat-
,— talion to a dramatic victory on the
/--
Golan Heights in one of the most
famous battles of the war.
Against all odds, his unit of about 30
tanks repelled Syrian forces more than
10 times larger who launched an attack
to recapture the Golan Heights con-
quered by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day
War.
On the eve of Yom Kippur in 1973,
Israeli soldiers on the Golan were more
prepared than their comrades in the
Sinai, who were taken completely by
surprise by the Egyptian assault across
the Suez Canal.
At 10 a.m. on Oct. 6, 1973, a few
hours before the Syrians and Egyptians
launched simultaneous attacks on Israeli
positions, Kahalani was told that war
\-- was imminent and he ordered his
,__,.
troops to be ready in the turrets.
"I don't understand how the orders
weren't given in the Sinai," he says, not-
ing that some soldiers in Sinai outposts

Avi Machlis writes for the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency.

were playing soccer when the first shells
struck.
Although they had been warned, his
Battalion 77 was nonetheless taken by
surprise when the first Syrian jets
struck.
After Israel's lightning victory in the
Six-Day War, Kahalani and his com-
rades were sure Israeli planes would
destroy Syria's air force before it got off
the ground.
Evening descended and Kahalani's
tanks were positioned. But night fight-
ing posed the biggest challenge: Syria's
Russian-made tanks were equipped with
infrared night-vision equipment that
Israel's tanks lacked.
That night, Kahalani pulled out his
infrared binoculars and found that his
tank was illuminated with an infrared
shine invisible to the naked eye.
"I took the binoculars off and looked
at the tank [and saw] darkness. I put
the binoculars on again, and I saw the
tank was illuminated." He realized that
a Syrian gunner had sighted him. "The
only thing left for him to do was to
press the trigger," he recalls.
Kahalani frantically ordered his dri-
ver to pull back. They were not hit, but
they realized how vulnerable they were
in the dark.
Later, Kahalani spotted a tank he
thought was Israeli just 20 yards away,
its taillight lit — a dangerous move in
the dark.
Frustrated after trying to figure out
who was risking exposing the battalion,
Kahalani radioed a neighboring crew to

shine a light. He realized the tail-lit tank
was a confused Syrian.
"His cannon was facing the Syrians,
and he was standing to my right as if I
was his commander. So I shot at him
and hit him."
The next morning, Kahalani saw the
burnt-out shells of Syrian tanks
destroyed the night before. He ordered
his tanks to advance 100 yards to the
positions overlooking the Valley of
Tears.
The serenity was quickly shattered
and dust clouds formed as Syrian tanks
and armored vehicles began rumbling
into the valley in an attempt to climb to
the Israeli positions.
After two days of relentless fighting,
Battalion 77 was pushed to the brink.
Ammunition and fuel dwindled, casual-
ties mounted and as Kahalani tried to
come up with a plan, three Syrian tanks
appeared at point-blank range. With
Kahalani directing the turret, his gun-
ner destroyed them, one after another.
To regain their positions, Kahalani
had to motivate his weary-yet-wary men
to cross an open field and expose them-
selves to enemy fire. After several failed
attempts, they rolled forward and
grabbed the strategic high ground just
minutes before the Syrian forces did. A
fierce, close-range battle broke out as
Kahalani's tanks crushed the last remain-
ing Syrian forces headed up the hill.
With the positions they had secured,
Battalion 77 could not be beaten. At the
very end, only four of Kahalani's tanks
were fully functional.111

Rome (JTA) — Only a small
minority of Poles support the for-
est of crosses that have sprung up
recently near the site of the
Auschwitz death camp, according
to a Polish opinion poll.
While only 15 percent of the
respondents back the placing of
new crosses outside Auschwitz by
radical Catholic militants, about
half of those surveyed support the
presence of a much larger cross
that was used by Polish-born
Pope John Paul II during a mass
at Birkenau in 1979 and erected
outside Auschwitz 10 years ago.
The survey also indicated
that many of the respondents
feel that Polish suffering during
World War II has been down-
played.

Sharon To Be
Foreign Minister?

Jerusalem (JTA) — Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is
planning to appoint Ariel
Sharon as foreign minister,
according to Israel Television.
Netanyahu spokesman David
Bar-Illan said the premier was
mulling the appointment of the
hawkish Sharon, who currently
serves as infrastructure minister.
Netanyahu has held the Foreign
Ministry portfolio since David
Levy resigned the post in
January.

Hebron Visitors
Under Fire

Jerusalem (JTA) — Palestinians
fired on a group of Israelis visit-
ing Hebron. An Israeli woman
was hit in the leg by two or three
bullets fired from the Palestinian-
controlled portion of Hebron,
Army Radio said.
In response, several Jewish set-
tlers later beat several Arabs walk-
ing past a Jewish enclave in the
West Bank town.

10/2
1998

Detroit Jewish News

41

