{{Short description|1955 Israeli military operation}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Infobox military conflict |conflict =Operation Egged |partof =the Retribution operations (Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency) |image = |caption = |date =October 28–29, 1955 |place =Kuntilla, Sinai |result =Israeli victory |combatant1 ={{flagicon|Israel}} Israel |combatant2 ={{flag|Egypt|1952}} |commander1 =Moshe Dayan<br>Ariel Sharon |commander2 = |strength1 = |strength2 = |casualties1 =2 killed |casualties2 =12 killed<br>29 captured |campaignbox ={{Campaignbox Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency}} }} '''Operation Egged''' ({{langx|he|מִבְצָע אֶגֶד}}), also known as the '''Kuntilla operation''', was an Israeli military operation carried out on night of October 28–29, 1955 that targeted an Egyptian military post at Kuntilla, located in northeastern Sinai. The operation was a success and resulted in the destruction of the post. Twelve Egyptian soldiers were killed and twenty-nine were taken prisoner. There were two Israeli fatalities.
==Background==
On October 26, 1955 Egyptian forces raided a small Israeli outpost at Be'erotayim, located in the southern sector of the Nitzana/El-Auja demilitarized zone. One Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier was killed and two were captured.<ref name=Drory145>Ze'ev Drory, Israel's reprisal policy, 1953–1956: the dynamics of military retaliation, Frank Cass (2005) p. 145</ref> Concurrent with this action, sizable Egyptian forces took control of positions in the southern corner of the Demilitarized Zone near El-Sabcha. Elements of this force also penetrated one kilometer into Israeli territory<ref>Sefer Hatzanchanim, A. Levin-Epstein (1969), p. 115</ref> and occupied positions near a strategic hill, which the Israelis code-named "Lilly".<ref name="sabcha">{{cite news|title=Operation Har Ga'ash|url=http://www.202.org.il/Pages/tagmul/peulot/sabcha.php|work=The paratroops|archive-date=2012-02-14|access-date=2011-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214175433/http://www.202.org.il/Pages/tagmul/peulot/sabcha.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==The battle==
Moshe Dayan, Israel’s Chief of Staff, authorized an immediate retaliation for the Egyptian border transgression but in an entirely different sector. The chosen target was an Egyptian military post near Kuntilla, one-hundred miles south of the Demilitarized Zone.<ref>Michael Oren, Origins of the Second Arab-Israeli war, Egypt, Israel and the Great Powers, Frank Cass (1992), p. 32</ref> On the night of October 28–29, 1955 two-hundred paratroopers commanded by Ariel Sharon attacked the Kuntilla post killing twelve Egyptian soldiers and capturing twenty-nine others.<ref name=Drory145/> The post was leveled. Two Israeli soldiers, Yaakov Mizrahi and Amnon Abukai, were killed.<ref name= Kuntilla>{{cite news|title=Remembering Israel's Defenders: The Fallen Striker|url=http://www.csjl.org/articles/article82-RememberingIsraelsDefenders.htm|work=Center for Sport and Jewish Life}}</ref> Both were issued posthumous medals (Mizrahi for "Valor" and Abukai for "Courage") for their daring conduct during the assault.<ref name=Kuntilla/>
==Aftermath== [[File:Dayan w Kuntila Raid comm.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Israeli commanders pose after Operation Egged. Standing left to right: Lt. Meir Har-Zion, Maj. Ariel Sharon, Lt. Gen. Moshe Dayan, Capt. Danny Matt, Lt. Moshe Efron, Col. Asaf Simhoni; crouching, left to right: Capt. Aharon Davidi, Lt. Yaakov Yaakov, Capt. Rafael Eitan]] Operation Egged merely served as a diversion for the main Israeli assault which was ultimately directed at Egyptian positions in and around El-Sachba.<ref name=sabcha/><ref>Drory 2005, pp. 145–146</ref> The ruse worked. On the night of November 2–3, Israel initiated Operation Volcano. Israeli paratroopers as well as additional infantry from the Golani and Nahal Brigades attacked Egyptian positions at El-Sabcha, killing eighty-one Egyptian soldiers and capturing fifty-five others.<ref>Drory 2005, p. 152</ref> Following the Sabcha operation, there were no more Egyptian incursions into the Demilitarized Zone.<ref>Walter Eytan, The First Ten Years: A Diplomatic History of Israel, Simon & Schuster (1958), p. 34</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Egged 1955}} Category:October 1955 in Asia Category:Operations involving special forces of Israel Category:Reprisal operations (Israel) Category:Ariel Sharon Category:Egypt in the Arab–Israeli conflict Category:1955 in Israel Category:1955 in Egypt Category:Conflicts in 1955 Category:20th century in the Sinai Peninsula Category:Attacks on military installations in the 1950s Category:Attacks on military installations in Egypt