Posted on 11/06/2006 4:15:37 AM PST by Nextrush
At 6:20 AM on November 6, 1956 amphibious landings began at Port Said with Royal Marines and Centurion tanks coming ashore.
Helicopters flew in additional troops and supplies.
Egyptian resistance was broken as the newly landed forces linked up with the paratroopers landed the day before.
Meanwhile the pressure for Britain and France to agree to the cease-fire called for by the UN General Assembly was building.
Late on the evening of November 5th the Soviet Union sent letters to Israel, Britain and France that carried a threatening tone.
Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion was particularly offended by the questioning of Israel's right to exist in the separate letter Israel received.
As for the British and French this line sounded the most threatening:
"If rocket weapons were used against Britain and France, you would certainly call it a barbaric action."
In retrospect, it appears this was a Soviet propaganda ploy to create the impression that Soviet pressure led to the cease-fire that was inevitable at this point.
Cairo Radio, in an attempt to boost morale after days of Anglo-French bombing, claimed that Soviet help was on the way and that "World War III had begun."
French Prime Minister Guy Mollet called US Ambassador Dillon to his residence in the middle of the night early on the morning of November 6th. Mollet was gathered with members of his cabinet and asked for assurances of American support if France were attacked by rockets. Dillon gave them but did not give such assurances for the protection of French forces in Egypt.
On the morning of November 6th, Election Day in the United States, President Eisenhower met with his advisors and felt that geography would prevent Soviet military action in Egypt in spite of all the claims of thousands of volunteers signing up to fight there and reports of unidentified jets flying over Turkey.
In honesty, the Soviet army and some air force units were involved at that moment in suppressing Hungarian freedom fighters. They weren't moving towards the Middle East.
But in the end "the straw that broke the camels back" was a financial one. Britain saw a run on the pound sterling that was threatening the established minimum value of $2.78 to 1.
This forced Britain to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund to hold up its currency.
The Conservative Party leader of the House of Commons, R.A. Butler spoke during the day by phone with US Treasury Secretary George Humphrey. Humphrey told Butler that the aid was contingent on a cease fire by midnight and acceptance of the UN resolution calling for an emergency force (troops) to be brought in.
Prime Minister Eden called the French prime minister, Mollet and both agreed to the cease-fire at midnight London time. Just before 6PM Eden spoke to President Eisenhower to confirm the cease-fire. Shortly therafter he announced the cease-fire to the House of Commons.
The French had hoped to grab the Suez Canal before the cease-fire came but British command of the operation prevented them from pushing forward.
As it was when word of the cease-fire reached Port Said, the local commander British Brigadier M.A.H. Butler, decided to head south with a squadron of tanks and a battalion of paratroopers. By 2AM Egyptian time on November 7th when the cease-fire began, they had covered 23 miles along the west bank of the canal....
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