In the previous article, we began tackling a contemporary page of the Egyptian history which reflected the Egyptians’ courage and heroism, for the sake of attaining the Victory of October as we live in its memory nowadays. The heroism of the Egyptian fighter are not confined to a certain group, but rather they have expanded to every Egyptian living in the homeland, the victory, which the world thought to be impossible, was achieved, it was the determination and work which paved the way before Egypt’s champions.
There are many stories of heroism that have shown the depth of love, cohesion and unity among the heroes of Egypt, and the sacrifice of each of them in order to save others’ lives, through indescribable stances. Maj. Gen. Medhat Abdel Tawab, one of the heroes of “Squadron 46 Air Combat” – was a lieutenant then, recounts to us the memories of the war and the stances he witnessed during its outbreak. His division participated in combats and clashes with the enemy’s aircrafts until they dropped two of them. On 14 October, he took off with his plane three times in one of the clashes and was accompanied by the Chief of Staff, Major General Pilot Samir Abdullah, in the Air Battle of Mansoura, which was described as the longest air battle in history! Then followed the events of the twenty-first of October when the plane of Pilot Mohammed Abdel Tawab was struck and exploded at a low height landing in the Defreswar area, which was a field of fierce fighting between enemy tanks and heroes of the Sa’ka forces (Thunderbolt forces). One of the Sa’ka men noticed that the Egyptian pilot was motionless, while he was the goal for the enemy’s fire; so, he rushed to him, indifferent to death, to find him with broken legs, the Sa’ka hero immediately dragged him into one of the deep holes until the end of the battle, then he carried him to the nearest ambulance which was three kilometers away.
We read about the heroism of a man of Sa’ka forces who threw himself on the embrasures of machine guns in the Barlev Line to allow his mates to enter the fortifications, being martyred himself for his love for Egypt!
Thus, many heroic stances, which cannot be counted, became signs of the war of victory. These heroisms were witnessed not only by the Egyptians, but also the whole world and the enemy forces themselves bore witness to them. One of the tank commanders who was injured in the war describes the men of Egypt saying: “They came out of the burnt tanks’ chains, loading RPG weapons, and shooting us from a distance of twenty meters (These weapons shall be fired at a distance not less than 200 meters!) – they were crazy … as if they had decided to pay their lives as a price to prevent us from going forward for only one meter!” As for the heroes of the air force, they broke all the rules, the same pilot used to do more than one flight in the war, that the enemy thought they was deceived in the number of Egyptian aircrafts! Instead of facing up to 60 planes, they found themselves facing more than 150 aircrafts! Yes, these are heroism followed another until they all were fused together to achieve the victory, which was indeed achieved.
On this fragrant anniversary, we cannot forget the one who destructed the largest military barrier in human history; the Barlev defensive fortified line: the Egyptian officer engineer, Major-General Baki Zaki Yusuf; with his innovative thinking, he managed to move away the biggest obstacle towards victory. Truthfully said Varar Hockley, the Director of Combat Development of the British Army: “The lessons learnt from October War are more related to people and their capabilities than the instruments they used. The impressive achievement of the Egyptians is geniality and skill of the commanders and officers who were trained and launched such a completely surprising attack to the other side.” A greeting to all the heroes of Egypt who wrote with their blood, bravery and geniality the glorious Victory of October.
And… Stories never end in beautiful Egypt
The General Bishop
Head of Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
