The fighting that counted

The following lines about the street fighting in Port Said during Monday the 5th. and Tuesday the 6th. includng Wednesday the 7th. of November 1956, is an extreemly short description of the fighting that occured during those invasion and assault days.

Please bear in mind, that this is only a summary , extracted from Yahia Al Shaer's book "The Other Side of the Coin, The 1956.." about this forgotten War and the secret details of the Egyptian underground resistance activites and ambushes in Port Said".

Because of understandable reasons, it is recommended,  to refer to the abovementioned book, to get larger in-depth details about these street battles and also to capture the complete magnitude and the frame of historical information about the resistance and the fightings in Port Said

The book's related chapters documenting the deatails of all the street fightings , between the invadors and the Egyptian defenders - both during and after the Anglo-French assault operations against the city - are enriched with detailed maps, the exact positions of the troops and the development of the fighting.

Please note that these Web pages and the following chapters will always remain as no sbustitute for the book, for any one interested in the maro details.

- Yahia was one of the Special National Guards Commandos Groups (Feadeyeen), distributed within the City premises for expected street fightings

- This selected group was assigned to move around the city to assist weaker defending positions facing the possible enemy approaches to Port Said.

- The focusing was at the beginning from the West direction (Moslem Cemetry), then the North beach approaches.

- The task assigned to Yahia and his group came at 06.30 early morning on Monday 5th  November directly from the leading Commander of the National Guards troops, Colonel Ghareeb El Hoseiny

- The group's task was striktly limited to sniper activities with the highst cautiousness to avoid being captured, under all circumstances and by all possible means

- Their deployment started at the West of the City (Sewage Garden and Moslem Cemetry) at the moment of the Parachute landing, to face the Paracute drop and engage in  the fighting.

- They group was ordered by an officer to move to the city center, as the French drop was setteled at Raswa for case of eventual necessisty

- Expecting an approach from Raswa in the south, we were ordered to take positions along Mohamed Aly street and Saad Zagloul Axis (near to El Mahrousa point), to face eventual amphebian assault and or Raswa.... We did NOT know who is who of the dropped Parachutists. We thought they were also English

- Yahia and commerades had kept positions near by Abassi Mosque and the Mahrousa street

- The great fire, near to Abbasi Mosque, which resulted from the Air bombardement caught the buildings in their area has made it impossible to hide in their traps behind the arcades. They were waiting the approching strom from north to south along Mohamed Aly street, near to El-Huseiny and Elmahrousa streets.

- On Tuesday 06th Novembers, he was one of snipers awaiting the comming LVTs and Centurions along the Mohamed Aly Street. Yahia's sniping targets were the approching armours.

- Our group was able to halt a LVT as a result of direct hit of the driver. The LVT stopped, their occupants had left it and embarked another LVT approching in que. The LVT was recovered by the British some houres later, but the the group suffered substancial and very high losse. We lost 3 persons out of 5.

- Together with the REST of his group and some infantry soldiers, who joined him, they were positioned at the cross road Saad Zagloul / Mohaned Aly streets and kept positins until early after-noon.

- Hit and run was the following task...During these activities near to the Govornorate building, he was engaged in action with some aproaching soldiers, where he lost the majority of his elite group, and had to act upon his own accord after evaluating the field situation.

- Together with additional commerades form the Army and a pair of armed citizend, they consequently, proceeded south east twards the area of the customs house near to the Navy House, where a savage and long lasting tough fighting between the British CRM and the Egyptian Navy soldiers was going on in the area.

- The new formation and Yahia were covering flanks from the south west direction near the Railway station square.This gave them a possiblity to increase the fire directed at the CRMs approaching from the eastern direction supported with their centurions. The fighting and both controlled and uncontrolled shooting from every direction (foe and friend) was unimaginable....

....

One very remarkable thing happened, which has caused us lots of casualities. As their tradition, the British Tanks either centurions or LVTs... both had their unit banner hanging to their radio antenna.... and as they approched from the beach, near to the Governor building where there has been well

hidden Anti-Tanks Plendicides (Sweedish Bazooka) waiting for a sea-land invasion.. But....someone near to ElPasha garden, who might have been hearing the news about Bulganin's threat to intervine with Russian troops in the conflict and take to the side of Port Said saw the approching tanks with the swaying little red flags with other markings and misinterpreted them as RUSSIAN ???, sad, but true.

In his high anticipation that the Russians will come, he sprang out of his ditsh arms hig in the air, full joy and began to run twards the approaching tanks, shooting in the air..as the habbit in the orients shouting " The Russians have come,,,the Russians have come..!!".He was hurrying twards the approching tanks.... many saw him and heared his loud shouting automatically left their barricades behaind the stone walls of El Pahsa garden. They simply have followed him, many others have followed track...!! It was a very deprssive view, how they were shot down....!!! It was a human mistake which led to the death of many and his own.

The painfull choice

As we witnessed the concentrated air attacks against the Egyptian forces positions defending the ciy, the centurions were amid of us.. they have just penetrated the city on the way to the south. Other tanks (we never knew what LVT is... it looked like a tank, was large like a tank and moved like one. Many of them had the back door with soldiers sitting and directing their terrible Vickers in all directions...It must be a tank...we saw how -relatively - helpless we were. We knew that we have no other choice but to fight. We knew that we could not stop the invasion, but we can at least try to cost them as much casualties as we could. We were prctically left alone....... The propagated Russian Ultimatum that they will come, proved to be empty words and resulted in creating more irretation than hope. The only thing that did not crumble, was hope. We our hopes for the days to come. We were patient.

We needed to look up. to the sky. "There....were the only two mighty Powers that really counted; .....God,...to help us and the striking Anglo-French air forces and Jets emptying their death charges to kill us ..." we new that we.....have.Lost...

The Street battles,an account of  fighting to live

Not only civilians but also number of Egyptian soldiers who had to take positions behind the Colums of thearcades have participated in these fightings. Additional danger to both adversaries was added to the street battles from the shootings of the uncontrolled and unorganised armed groups every where in the city.... The snipers were shooting every thing that moves infront of them. It resembled a shooting orgy. Hide or die !

Air Chief Marshal Sir David Lee admits

Air Chief Marshal Sir David Lee has descriped on page 92 of his book ( Wings in the Sun) the Battels in Port Said as follows. "...Troughout the day, fierce street fighting took place in Port Said, in which three Royal Marine Commandos, Nos 40, 42 and 45, in company with part 6 RTR attempted a street by street clearance of the town. This was difficult operation, occasionally aided by naval air strikes from carrier offshore. The task was greatly complicated by the number of Egyptian troops who had discarded their uniforms for 'gallibiyahs' and were indistinguishable from civilians, many had been handed weapons from stockpiles in the street.

Roads had to be cleared house by house, and sometimes room by room. This took time and required heavy expenditure of small arms ammunition and grenades. Failure to observe the normal street fighting drill in an endeavour to get through Port Said quickly  and to avoid civilian casualties led in some cases to avoidable casualties among British personnel. But it is a tribute to their patience and forbearance that so little damage was done to the town itself. "

Hand to hand and close fighting

The fighting battles west of Port Said were charactarised with their severity and hand to hand close fightings which left the painful memories by all participating combatants of this short period war. Meanwhile the other battles had to use heavy bombarment and armour tanks - partially point blank bombardment - support to fight their way through and proceed southwards. In the South and in Port Fouad (sister city ), the French had faced stubborn ressistance from remainders of the Egyptian two Infantry troops ( 275th Infantry Battalion ) who have arrived to Port Said on 1st November- retreating from Sinai - to be stationed immediately at Port Fouad. Some soldiers of the Saka soldiers, Customs guards and members of the National Guards were involved in the fightings against the French Paras and Legion Etranger in Port Fouad, some Egyptians wer captured as POWs, but many were not.

El Gamil Airfield and the Bridiges West of Port Said
(Anglo-Egyptian)

After four Canberras from 18 and 139 Squadrons marked the Dropping Zone with 1000 pound Target Indicators before proceeding to mark the French DZ at the Interior Basin south of the city, Hunters of 34 Squadron from Tangmere Wing flew a protective sweep ahead of the Hastings an Valettas, flying round the DZ and searching for and straffing possible opposition.