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42 Detroit Jewish News
AVI MACH LIS
Special to The Jewish News
Jerusalem
E
ach fall, when the High
Holidays approach, Yossi
Harel remembers three hell-
ish days at the beginning of
the Yom Kippur War.
It is 25 years later, but Harel, 50,
director of the Unit for Jewish and
Cultural Education and Ulpanim, still
recalls how heroism, determination
and a prayer shawl helped save his bat-
tered unit lost in the Sinai Desert.
Most Israelis were at home or in
synagogue when news of the war
broke on Oct. 6, 1973. Harel, a uni-
versity student, was serving on the
front line at the Bar-Lev Line opposite
Egypt, one of 436 soldiers stationed at
posts along the 110-mile-long Suez
Canal. Harel said his reserve unit —
the 68th infantry battalion — had
reported armored vehicle movements
and sightings of Egyptian troops sus-
piciously wearing helmets, and won-
dered why they didn't get a reaction to
their reports from those higher up.
Harel, who is Orthodox, attended a
Kol Nidre service with other soldiers
at the Milano post on Friday night. As
they rested Saturday to gather strength
for their fast, the company comman-
der held a briefing. Intelligence
reports, he said, warned of a possible
Egyptian shelling later that day. Before
the briefing was completed, a barrage
of shells came crashing down on
Milano.
"It caught us completely off guard,"
said Harel. Some soldiers jumped for
cover behind benches before the corn-
pany commander ordered all troops to
the bunker. Harel was sent to the
observation tower to see what was
happening.
"It was a frightening scene," he
recalled. "Rubber boats carrying
Egyptian soldiers were crossing the
canal. Hundreds of Egyptian troops
were mobilizing."
The troops at Milano didn't realize
how serious things were until they
heard on the radio that Israel was
under an all-out attack.
Recalling the national pride after
the 1967 Six-Day War when Israel
swiftly defeated the Arab armies,
Harel said, "We were sure that within
minutes, the air force would come in
and crush the Egyptians."
Instead, Harel saw several Israeli
planes fly in and get shot down.
He and his company commander
opened fire on the rafts, sinking sever-
al, but failed to provide a formidable
response to the massive movement of
Egyptian troops across the canal. A
shell exploded, throwing shrapnel into
the commanding officer's face and
Harel's elbow. His scars remain today.
In the bunker, two soldiers were
dead. Making matters worse, the com-
pany doctor had gone into shell shock.
At night, the shells fell relentlessly. By
Sunday morning, four were dead, six
more wounded. Morale was low.
Several posts along the canal had been
completely wiped out.
Somehow, the company repelled
Egyptian troops from the compound
five times, before an order was issued
at 10 p.m. Sunday to abandon the
post and head to a base about 15
miles north. Since many posts already
had been overrun, the air force
planned to shower the Israeli side of
the Suez Canal with bombs.
Harel's company had to leave the
corpses of their friends behind as they
set out on foot. All night, the troops
played cat and mouse with the
Egyptian army. There were some
30,000 Egyptian troops swarming the
Israeli side.
On Monday morning, trekking
through the Sinai Desert, Harel's corn-
pany found a resting place among
some shrubbery. For the first time
since Yom Kippur began more than
two days earlier, they ate the little
food they had. One soldier had man-
aged to salvage his prayer shawl and
tefillin. Secular and religious soldiers
alike took turns donning the tefillin.
Then, they heard an approaching
rank. A soldier put his ear to the
ground to listen to the tank treads.
-It's one of ours," he said.
Immediately, he grabbed the tallit, ran
up a hill, and spread the prayer shawl
like a flag to signal the tank.
The Israeli tank crew in the dis-
tance tried to decipher the signal. One
crew member thought it was a tallit,
but the commander thought it was a
kaffiyeh, or Arab headdress, and almost
opened fire. In the end, the tallit was
recognized and the tank steered for
the soldiers.
The weary 20 soldiers piled onto
the tank and were transported to base
— survivors of the approximately 60
men who started Yom Kippur at
Milano.