The 87th, still attached to the 14th armored brigade, was ordered to lead the attack, taking advantage of its experience from the scouting mission on October 9th. Shortly before H-Hour, which was set at 1800 hrs, the commanding officer of the 14th Brigade, Colonel Amnon Reshef, addressed the warriors of the 87th. He emphasized the importance of the unit's mission – to lead the brigade, the division, Southern Command, and in fact the entire IDF in an attack that could (and indeed would) change the course of the war, transferring the battle into the enemy's homeland encircling the 3rd Egyptian army and launching pressure on the 2nd army, which was stuck in its October 14th position. The 87th was ordered to reach the area designated for the launching of the Canal crossing by going westward along the sector border between the two Egyptian armies (the same path the unit had identified on its scouting mission), then northwards along the road that runs parallel to the Canal, and finally westwards towards the bank of the Canal in a three-pronged movement. "B" company was ordered to lead the unit and to take up the northernmost position, "C" company would follow and hold the center, and finally "A" company, accompanied by the medical and ordnance platoons, would deploy in the southern position, in the actual area of the Canal crossing. Three tank and three paratrooper battalions were to follow the 87th and attack the southern flank of the 2nd Army. The paratroopers of the 247th brigade would follow to establish the bridgehead on the western bank of the Canal.
The burnt-out tank of Yoav Brom, the 87th.'s second commanding officer, a few yards east of the "Tirtur-Lexicon" crossing.
The initial phase of the operation caught the Egyptians by total surprise, and the 87th reached its designated positions undiscovered, receiving only sporadic and uncoordinated fire, mainly from small arms. Unluckily, one armor-piercing 5.56 mm bullet hit the APC of Captain Dov Dechter, injured him in the back of the neck and left "A" Company without deputy CO.
Medical platoons APC and a "C" company tank - October 16th - morning
By then, the Egyptian forces had recovered from the surprise, and the 184th tank battalion was met with heavy anti-tank fire and suffered severe losses, especially in the vicinity of the strategically important road junction "Tirtur-Lexicon". North of this junction and East of the Lexicon road was an area, traversed by numerous deep irrigation canals, nicknamed "The Chinese Farm". This was actually an experimental agricultural farm built by the Japanese before the Six Day War. When the Israeli forces reached this area after the 1967 war, the Japanese inscriptions on the equipment were mistaken for Chinese letters, hence the name. Holding the "Tirtur-Lexicon" junction and the surrounding key area, including the "Chinese Farm", was obligatory in order to control the transport of the heavy bridging equipment for the crossing of the Canal.
The APC that carried injured soldiers, ambushed by the Egyptians. All 8 soldiers on board were killed
When it became clear around 0300 hrs on October 16th that "Tirtur-Lexicon" was still controlled by the Egyptians, the 87th was ordered to launch an attack on the junction from the west. Almost at the beginning of the attack the 87th came under heavy tank and missile fire. A small unit of four tanks and few APC's, lead by the battalion CO, Major Yoav Brom, did actually reach and pass the junction, but then his tank was hit and he was killed instantly. The tanks of the CO's of "A" and "C" companies were both hit, the one of "C" destroyed. The two company commanders were injured, but reached the medical platoon that had followed the tanks eastward on "Tirtur", and were treated and evacuated. Further to the north, "B" company, which had been ordered to join and assist the 79th armored battalion, had many casualties, including the company commander, Captain Bar-Lev who was killed when his tank was hit and exploded.
Destroyed armored vehicles, Tirtur-Lexicon crossing
Dawn of October 16th found the unit fighting for its existence as a coherent combat unit. At that stage 87th had lost its commander as well as many officers in key positions and only few tanks remained serviceable. One APC, carrying injured soldiers from the night battle at the center section of the "Chinese Farm" to the unit's medical platoon situated on "Tirtur", was ambushed by the Egyptians, who killed all the defenseless wounded soldiers. A transmission with a terrible significance was broadcast over the battalion network by the battalion's deputy CO: "'Shikma' stations ('Shikma' was the battalion's call sign), this is Sunray Minor - who is still alive - report in order - over". More than anything else, this one cruel sentence told the fate of the gallant warriors of the 87th. Altogether, 25 warriors were killed during the heroic night battle and scores were injured.
Armored vehicles damaged by landmines, Tirtur-Lexicon crossing
Later in the morning, a tank with a brigade commander's mark appeared in the area where the remaining vehicles of the 87th had gathered. This was the tank of Colonel Reshef of the 14th brigade. After having assessed the situation, he decided to reassign the remaining warriors of the 87th to other units of the brigade.
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on April 12:
1573 Jacques Bonfrère Dutch bible expert
1724 Lyman Hall US physician (signed Declaration of Independence)
1777 Henry Clay [the Great Compromiser] US politician
1793 Ferdinand I the Good Natured, Emperor of Austria/king of Hungary
1831 George Burgwyn Anderson Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1831 Grenville Mellen Dodge Major General (Union volunteers)
1856 William M Conway English historian/explorer (Spitzbergen)
1871 Ioannis Metaxas Greek General/dictator (1936-41)
1879 Frederick G Melcher US, publisher/editor/founded children book week
1883 Imogen Cunningham photographer (1965 ASMP award)
1884 Otto Meyerhof Germany, psychologist/biochemist (Nobel-1922)
1911 Darrell A Amyx US archaeologist (Greek Ceramics)
1912 Herbert Mills singer, (Mills Brothers)
1923 Ann Miller [Lucille Ann Collier] Houston TX, dancer/actress (On the Town)
1923 Maria Callas opera singer (Carmen)
1927 Jane Withers Atlanta GA, actress (All Together Now, Josephine the plumber)
1927 Patrick Meehan petty criminal
1928 Brooklyn Supreme Belgium, stallion, heaviest known horse (1450 kg)
1932 Tiny Tim [Herbert Butros Khaury] New York NY, singer (Tip Toe Thru' the Tulips With Me)
1937 Igor Petrovich Volk Russia, cosmonaut (Soyuz T-12)
1940 Herbie Hancock Chicago IL, pianist (I Thought it was You)
1942 Frank Bank Hollywood CA, actor (Lumpy-Leave it to Beaver)
1944 John Kay [Joachim F Krauledat] Tilsit East Prussia Germany, rocker (Steppenwolf-Born to be Wild)
1946 Ed[ward] O'Neill Youngstown OH, actor(Al Bundy-Married with Children)
1947 David Letterman Indianapolis IN, comedian (Late Night)
1950 David Cassidy New York NY, singer/actor (Keith-Partridge Family)
1956 Andy Garcia [Andrés Arturo García Menéndez] Havana Cube, actor (Stand & Deliver, 8 Million Ways to Die)
1973 Pamela Polk Berlin WI, Miss Wisconsin-America (1996)
Deaths which occurred on April 12:
0352 Julius I pope (337-52), dies
1817 Charles Messier "comet ferret" & catalogs famous "M objects", dies
1864 Thomas Green US Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 50
1878 William M "Boss" Tweed New York politician, dies
1912 Clara Barton organized American Red Cross, dies at 90
1945 Franklin Delano Roosevelt 32nd US President (1933-1945, Democrat), dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs GA at 63
1946 August Borms Flemish nazi collaborator, executed at 67
1959 Ernest Willem Mulder composer, dies at 60
1975 Joséphine Baker US/French revue artist (Folies-Bergère), dies at 68
1976 Paul Ford actor (Phil Silvers Show), dies at 74
1977 Philip K Wrigley baseball owner (Chicago Cubs), dies at 82
1981 Joe Louis [Brown bomber] US heavyweight champion (1937-49),dies at 66
1987 Ewan Calague economist/statistician (Social Security) dies at 90
1989 Abbie Hoffman yippie "peace" activist of the 60's, dies at 52
1989 Sugar Ray Robinson [Walker Smith Jr] world welterweight champion (1946-51)/5-time middleweight champion, dies of Alzheimers at 67
1991 James Schuyler US poet (Pulitzer 1980), dies
1999 Lecil Martin "BoxCar Willie", country singer, 67. spent 22 years in the Air Force.
GWOT Casualties
Iraq
12-Apr-2003 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Corporal Jesus Angel Gonzalez Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire
US Lance Corporal David Edward Owens Jr. Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire
12-Apr-2004 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Lance Corporal Robert Paul Zurheide Jr. Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US Lance Corporal Brad S. Shuder Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
Afghanistan/other
116 04/12/04 Szwec, Adrian Basil Commander 43 Navy Naval Hospital Guantanamo Bay Non-hostile - non-combat related
http://icasualties.org/oif/ Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
On this day...
0352 St Julius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1065 Pilgrims under bishop Günther of Bamberg reach Jerusalem
1111 Pope Paschalis II crowns Henry V, Roman emperor
1204 4th Crusade occupies & plunders Constantinople
1545 French king François I orders protestants of Vaudois to be killed
1606 England adopts the Union Jack as its flag
1654 England, Ireland & Scotland unite(or else)
1709 1st edition of Tattler magazine in England
1770 Townsend Acts repealed
1776 Halifax resolution for independence adopted by North Carolina
1782 Battle at Les Saintes West-Indies British fleet beats French
1811 1st US colonists on Pacific coast arrive at Cape Disappointment WA
1844 Texas became a US territory
1857 Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" published
1858 1st US billiards championship is held in Detroit (Michael J Phelan wins)
1861 Fort Sumter SC is shelled by Confederacy, starting the Civil War
1862 James Andrews steals Confederate train (General) at Kennesaw GA
1862 Union troops occupy Fort Pulaski GA
1863 Gunboat battle at Bayou Teche LA
1864 Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Fort Pillow TN
1864 Battle of Blair's Landing LA
1869 North Carolina legislature passes anti-Klan Law
1872 Jesse James gang robs bank in Columbia KY (1 dead/$1,500)
1877 Catcher's mask 1st used in a baseball game
1892 George C Blickensderfer patents portable typewriter
1893 Battle at Hoornkrans Southwest-Africa German Schutztruppen chases away Hottentotten under Hendrik Witbooi
1894 British & Belgian secret accord on dividing Central-Africa
1905 French Dufaux brothers test helicopter
1911 1st non-stop London-Paris flight (Pierre Prier in 3 hours 56 minutes)
1919 British Parliament passes a 48-hour work week with minimum wages
1927 General Chiang Kai-shek begins counter revolution in Shanghai
1928 Assassination attempt on king Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
1931 Spanish voters reject the monarchy
1934 Highest velocity wind ever recorded on Mount Washington NH, 231 mph
1935 "Your Hit Parade", debuts on radio
1935 Germany prohibits publishing "not-Arian" writers
1942 Japan kills about 400 Filipino officers in Bataan
1945 Canadian troops liberate Nazi concentration camp Westerbork, Netherlands
1945 Harry Truman sworn in as 33rd US President
1946 Syria gains independence from France
1951 Israeli Knesset officially designates April 13 as Holocaust Day
1954 Bill Haley & the Comets record "Rock Around the Clock"
1954 Joe Turner releases "Shake, Rattle & Roll"
1955 Salk polio vaccine safe & effective; 4 billion dimes marched
1959 France Observator reports torture practice by French army in Algeria
1960 Bill Veeck & Chicago Comiskey Park debut the "Exploding Scoreboard"
1961 Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin becomes 1st person to orbit Earth (Vostok 1)
1963 Birmingham police use dogs & cattle prods on peaceful demonstrators
1966 Rocker Jan Berry crashes his Corvette into a parked truck
1966 1st B-52 bombing on North Vietnam
1969 Simon & Garfunkel releases "The Boxer"
1970 Yankees dedicate plaques to Mickey Mantle & Joe DiMaggio
1980 US Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of the Moscow games
1981 Maiden voyage Space Transit System-space shuttle Columbia launched (astronauts Robert L. Crippen and John W. Young)
1983 Harold Washington becomes Chicago's 1st black mayor
1987 Texaco files for bankruptcy
1988 Frank Robinson replaces Cal Ripkin as manager of the Baltimore Orioles
1988 Harvard University patents genetically engineered mouse (1st for animal life)
1988 Sonny Bono elected mayor of Palm Springs CA
1990 1st meeting of East German democratically elected parliament, acknowledges responsibility for Nazi holocaust & asks for forgiveness
1990 Greyhound Bus hires new drivers to replace strikers
1990 James Brown moves to a work-release center after serving 15 months
1991 US announces closing of 31 major US military bases
1991 Nepalese Congress party wins general elections
1992 Lynn Gunther of California threatens to blow herself up in front of UN
1996 Raul Salinas de Gortari ordered to stand trial on charges of hiding millions of dollars in unexplained income during his career as administrator of food-subsidy programs in the 1980s.
1999 A federal judge in Little Rock, Ark., found President Clinton in contempt of court for lying during his sworn deposition in Jan. 1998 Clinton fined $1,202, the cost of the judge's trip to Washington to preside over the deposition(legacy alert)
2000 Attorney General Janet Reno met in Miami with the U.S. relatives of Elian Gonzalez, after which she ordered them to bring the 6-year-old boy to an airport the next day so he could be taken to a reunion with his father in Washington. (legacy alert)
2002 Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law ignored growing demands for his resignation because of the sex scandal engulfing the church. Law ended up resigning the following December.
2003 25th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US officials said 1,200 police and judicial officers will go to Iraq to help restore order. In western Iraq, US forces stopped a busload of men who had $630,000 in cash and a letter offering rewards for killing American soldiers. Baghdad Museum lost some 50,000 artefacts after 48 hours of looting. Unesco later reported 150,000 items lost with a combined value in the billions. It was later reported that losses were minimal and that curators had put away most valuables into vaults before the war began.
Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi (7 of diamonds), Saddam Hussein's science adviser, surrendered to US military authorities.
Jessica Lynch returned to the United States after treatment at a U.S. military hospital in Germany.
2004 Mexican Morelos state Gov. Sergio Estrada ordered the firing of all 552 state police officers following charges that commanders provided protection to drug traffickers.
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Mauritius : Ougadi
North Carolina : Halifax Independence Day (1776)
Russia : Cosmonaut Day
US : Egg Salad Week
US : National Garden Week Week (Day 2)
Big Wind Day
Look up at the Sky Day - don't you have anything better to do?
Reach as High as You Can Day
Dog Appreciation Month
Religious Observances
Religious History
1204 The armies of the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople and established the Latin Empire.
1572 French-born Swiss reformer Theodore Beza (John Calvin's successor) wrote in a letter to Scottish reformer John Knox: 'They whose citizenship is in heaven ought to have their whole dependence on heaven.'
1799 The Church Missionary Society was organized in London under the original name of the Society for Missions in Africa and the East. This Anglican missions agency currently works in fields located in Africa, Ceylon, India, Pakistan, Iran, Palestine and the Far East.
1882 The Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwest Germany was created by royal decree when the king of Prussia ordered the 124 "reformed" congregations scattered throughout the area to become incorporated as an independent territorial church.
1914 An 11-day constitutional convention in Hot Springs, Arkansas, ended. During its sessions, the Assemblies of God denomination was founded.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"There is no sense in being pessimistic. It wouldn't work anyway."
