The Suez Crisis
Graham Caldwell examines how Britain’s tactical success during the Suez conflict was let down by political and strategic failure
Graham Caldwell examines how France and Britain’s tactical success during the Suez conflict was let down by political and strategic failure, ending their roles as world superpowers.
Most people today would be surprised to learn that just 11 years after WWII Britain invaded another sovereign state, by both air and amphibious landings, in order to depose its head of state. Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, with his French opposite number, Guy Mollet, conspired to remove Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser from power and seize AngloFrench control of the Suez Canal, thus starting the 1956 Suez-Sinai War, more commonly known as the Suez Crisis.
Since its completion in 1869, the 120 mile-long Canal, connecting Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, has been an important waterway for world trade between Europe and Asia, eliminating circumventing Africa via the Cape, saving 5,500 miles. Originally under French control, the 1888 Convention of Constantinople declared the canal a neutral zone under the protection of the British, who occupied Egypt and the Sudan until Egypt gained independence in 1922; yet Britain and France continued to control the Suez Canal Company. This festered local unrest with Egyptians, claiming that the waterway should belong solely to them. In a 1952 military coup, Lieutenant
Colonel Nasser overthrew the monarchy and proclaimed himself President of Egypt, subsequently introducing farreaching reforms.
In July 1954 Nasser evicted all remaining British troops from Egypt, followed by an arms deal for advanced Soviet weaponry, including T-34/85 and JS-3 Stalin tanks, SU-100 self-propelled tank destroyers, MiG-15 fighters and Ilyushin Il-28 Beagle bombers. This new Middle East balance of power threatened Israel’s fragile eight-year existence and angered Washington, resulting in the US government informing Nasser in July 1956 that they would no longer fund the building of the Aswan Dam. Nasser retaliated by nationalising the Suez Canal. Heightened Arab-Israeli tensions followed, plus it ended the transit of cheap Iraqi petroleum, vital to Britain’s economy, by the shortest and cheapest route. Outraged, the United Kingdom and French governments decided to overthrow Nasser by military force.
The Sèrves conspiracy
On the 22 October 1956 a top-level secret meeting was in progress in Sèrves, a suburb of Paris. The three prime ministers - Eden, Mollet and David BenGurion of Israel were attended by their foreign ministers, plus the well-known eye-patched Israeli Defence Force Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Moshe Dayan. The outcome was known as the Sèrves Protocol. The politicians agreed on a three-phase offensive. First, Israel forces, under Operation Kadesh, cross the border entering Egyptian-controlled Sinai with two armoured-infantry divisions, plus airborne troops, thus threatening the Suez Canal 200 miles to the west. Second, Britain and France demand Israel and Egypt cease fighting and withdraw from the Canal Zone immediately to allow free passage, otherwise they will intervene militarily. Third: predicting that Nasser would reject the ultimatum, Britain and France (the Allied forces) would launch airstrikes, amphibious and airborne landings. It was further decided, that because President Eisenhower was against direct force and his full attention was focused on his re-election campaign, not to keep him in the loop. However,
it later transpired that CIA high-altitude spy planes photographed the Allied build-up activity and kept Eisenhower informed. Operation Musketeer called for a four-divisional strength Anglo-French air-sea-ground invasion, a combined fleet including a battleship, seven aircraft carriers, hundreds of landing craft, plus 70 requisitioned merchant ships, to land at the twin cities of Port Said and Port Fuad at the Mediterranean (northern) end of the Suez Canal under a strong air-umbrella. UK forces assembled at Valetta on British-controlled Malta, it being the nearest suitable port for the journey of 1,300 miles to Port Said. Britain mobilised the 3rd Infantry Division, 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Group; 3rd Commando Brigade and 6th Royal Tank Regiment. France provided elements of 7th (Light) Armoured Division, 10th Parachute Division and 21st Marine
Commando Brigade. Britain, as
Right: Major, Tank Corps, Israeli Defence Force (Branford Press) Centre: Corporal, Egyptian regular army (Mark Beerdom)
Far right: Enlisted soldier, Egyptian Special Forces Brigade (sof-mag.ru)
the major contributor, named General Sir Charles Keithley as overall Commanderin-Chief of Musketeer, with French ViceAdmiral Pierre Barjot as the overall French forces commander and Keighley’s deputy. GOC Allied Land Forces was Lieutenant General Sir Hugh Stockwell, supported by Major General Andre Beaufre as the French land forces commander, who doubled up as Stockwell’s deputy. All naval and Fleet Air Arm assets were commanded by Vice Admiral Robin Durnford-Smith and the RAF strategic
bombing campaign was overseen by Air Marshal Dennis Barnett.
Israel launches Operation Kadesh
At 3pm on 29 October 1956, Israeli Mustangs entered Egyptian airspace and attacked Egypt’s 3rd Infantry Division’s communications network in Sinai. An hour later 3,000 men comprising three of the four battalions of Colonel Ariel Sharon’s 202nd Paratroop Brigade, stormed into Egyptian-controlled Sinai, riding M3 half-tracks, 100 trucks and French AMX-13 light tanks. Meanwhile the fourth battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Eytan, roared overhead in 16 Douglas C-47 Dakota transports and dropped unopposed at 4.59pm to block the strategic Mitla Pass, just 18 miles east of the Suez Canal.
Later that night they received an aerial delivery of mortars, antitank weapons, recoilless guns and jeeps courtesy of French Noratlas transports. They now awaited the arrival of Sharon’s column crossing 105 miles of desert, the rapid linkup only taking until 10.30pm the following day.
The 202nd Paratroop Brigade
threat at Sudr on the Suez Canal was a prelude to the main Israeli assault during the next two days, led by Major General Asaf Simoni, but his boss, Moshe Dayan was not one to sit at a desk in Tel Aviv and seemed to appear everywhere.
On 30 October, two divisional-sized columns drove through Sinai. The northern Group-77 (Brigadier-General Haim Lascov), comprised of 27th Armoured Brigade, 1st and 11th Infantry Brigades, advanced along the coastal road towards El-Arish, the Egyptian HQ in Sinai and the base of the Egyptian
3rd Infantry Division, commanded by Brigadier-General Anwar al-Qadi.
By 1 November Group-77 had shattered Egyptian positions in Gaza and along the northern axis. Meanwhile, on a parallel course further south, Group-38 (Colonel Yehuda Wallach) with 7th and 37th Armoured Brigades and 4th and 10th Infantry Brigades, aimed for the Suez Canal at Ismalilyah, over 200 miles to the west, through desert passes via Qusaymah and Abu Ageila, both key three-road intersections. The latter was dominated by three ridges, called the Hedgehog, which was heavily fortified by the Egyptian 6th Infantry Brigade armed with 25-pounder artillery and Archer anti-tank guns under the command of Colonel Sami Yassa. After severe fighting,
including the French Air Force showering the defenders with napalm, rockets and bombs, the Hedgehog garrison was forced to evacuate.
The most spectacular Israeli achievement began on 30 October when Brigadier-General Uri Ben Ari’s
7th Armoured Brigade, equipped with 75mm Super-Shermans, bypassed strong Egyptian defences at Um Katef, then finding an undefended pass at Deika defile, fell on the enemy position from the rear. Without pausing for infantry support, Ben Ari’s tanks headed west at full speed and overran most of central Sinai in a single day, reaching Bir Gifgafa on 31 October, just 50 miles from the Canal. This sudden appearance alerted the Egyptian 1st and 2nd Armoured Brigades, which crossed east into Sinai and attacked Ben Ari’s command headon, but waves of Israeli and French fighter-bombers attacked the Egyptian column devastating it. Ari’s force reached the Suez Canal opposite Ismalilyah on 2 November, 45 miles south of Port Said. Late on 30 October the Anglo-French ultimatum demanded that Egypt and Israel cease fire and withdraw from the Suez Canal to allow free passage; due to expire the next day at 4.30am, otherwise Britain and France would intervene. Israel played out the charade by accepting. As expected, Nasser rejected it.
Britain and France launch Operation Musketeer
The 85,000 man Egyptian Army (supported by 150,000 National Guardsmen) was caught flat-footed to successfully repel an invasion at Port Said. Army chief General Abdel Hakim Amer (a crony of Nasser, who promoted him four grades in one jump from Major to Major General three years earlier) had placed the bulk of Egypt’s best units around Cairo and in the Nile Delta at Alexandria. All that Brigadier-General Salahedin Moguy could call on at Port Said were two regular infantry regiments, three National Guard battalions, 18 antitank guns, some anti-aircraft units and
a platoon of self-propelled SU-100 tank destroyers, the latter Soviet-built selfpropelled 100mm-gun tracked vehicles, making them effective against attack, yet difficult targets for fast-moving aircraft. 45 miles south at Ismailia, on the west bank of the Canal, was the Egyptian
2nd Division of three infantry and one armoured brigade (T-34/85s) which could have caused problems had the war lasted longer than it did. During the night of 31 October/1 November the British invasion armada sailed from Malta, except for
16th Independent Parachute Brigade which embarked from Cyprus, while the French force left from Algiers.
The Allies commenced a four-day bombing campaign on 31 October to gain air superiority, causing the UN to demand a ceasefire, but this was vetoed by Britain and France. RAF Canberra and Valiant bombers, French Air Force F.84F Thunderstreaks, Fleet Air Arm Seahawks, Sea Venoms and Westland Wyvern’s from carriers Eagle, Bulwark and Albion, plus FU4 Corsairs and TBM-Avengers from the French carriers Arromanches and La Fayette, attacked Egyptian airfields and troop concentrations, destroying
Egypt’s air force on the ground. Over four days 44 Allied squadrons dropped 1,962 bombs destroyed 260 enemy planes for the loss of seven aircraft and three pilots.
Suddenly out of the sky, just before dawn on 5 November, 687 men of the 3rd Battalion of the 16th Parachute Brigade, led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Crook, secured El Gamil Airfield three miles west of Port Said and planned to link up with their fellow paratroopers landing by sea the next day. Crook later wrote of his experience: ‘The latest photos of Gamil airfield seemed to be covered in little black dots we thought might be anti-personnel mines, but they turned out to be 40-gallon oil drums to prevent aircraft landing, which in fact were good to hide behind when people shot at you. One or two people got hit going down, including our doctor Sandy Cavanagh. The airfield was quickly cleared, then we had quite a battle up towards Port Said. As I was standing talking to B Company commander,
Major Stevens, who had been hit in the hand, there was a burst of fire and he was hit in the knee. I brought in C Company and planned an attack with what mortar and machine-gun firepower we had on enemy machine-gun positions in a cemetery, which was proving a problem. The Fleet Air Arm attacked the cemetery very accurately two minutes before we went in at 10.30am. Suddenly, from behind a gravestone, up popped an Egyptian who pointed his musket at me, but my personal bodyguard, Corporal
Ray Issitt, promptly used his Sten gun and shot him!’
Some 10 miles from 3rd Para, 487 French paratroopers of the 10th Colonial Parachute Division and 100 more of
11th (Special Forces) Brigade, dropped to secure the Canal Zone bridges at Raswa and Port Fuad, which swiftly eliminated all resistance. Port Said was now cut off from Egyptian reinforcements. The local Egyptian commander, Brigadier-General Moguy, centered his defence on the
Arab Manakh district, placing his four SU-100 tank-destroyers as mobile points of resistance. Because the waterworks had been taken, Moguy requested a ceasefire in order to gain permission to surrender the city, its 195,000 inhabitants now cut off from water. However, Nasser vetoed the suggestion, thus the terms were
rejected at 9.30pm.
By now it was apparent that far from a rout, Egyptian forces in Port Said had successfully held Allied forces from advancing further, depriving Britain and France of a rapid victory. At first light on 6 November, Royal Marine 40 and 42 Commandos landed over the beaches of Port Said in LCI landing-craft and LVT Buffalo amphibious vehicles, plus 14 Centurion Mk.5 tanks of C Squadron, 6th Royal Tank Regiment by LSTs. Meantime, the 1st French Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment and three battalions of the 21st Marine Commando Regiment, supported by a squadron of AMX-13 tanks, landed unopposed at the smaller Port Fuad.
The 45-minute pre-landing naval bombardment was less effective due to a political decision to limit ordnance to nothing larger than 4.5in calibre guns to minimise civilian casualties, which particularly disappointed the 1,569 sailors on board the French 15in gun battleship Jean Bart.
By early afternoon the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 16th Parachute Brigade, plus A Squadron 6RTR (a further 14 Centurion’s) disembarked in the main harbour. Fighting house to house and coming up against the first real Egyptian resistance, including endless sniper fire, best described as urban warfare tactics, the effective enemy defence slowed down the Anglo-French advance. It was now the turn of 45 Commando to make the first helicopter-borne assault in history when they lifted-off carriers Theseus and Ocean at 8am the same day. Arriving by Westland Whirlwind Mk.2s, it took only
83 minutes to put 415 Royal Marines and 23 tons of stores ashore and evacuate 18 (friendly-fire) wounded marines.
After a tenuous linkup between 45 Commando and 3rd Parachute Regiment, Generals Stockwell and Beaufre, Admiral Durnford-Slater and Air Marshal Barnett were misinformed that the enemy was ready to surrender. Arriving in a motor launch, the top-brass party attempted to come ashore when Egyptian gunners started firing on them, hitting the boat from only 100yd away! Turning away, the Air Marshal said to Stockwell, “I don’t think General, that they are quite ready for us yet!”
As the fighting continued, Eisenhower, emboldened by his re-election, applied intense political pressure on London and Paris to cease fighting, plus Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev, siding with Nasser, threatened rocket attacks on all three belligerents if they did not withdraw. Eden, who had been quite ill and under intense pressure, caved in and at 2am local time on 7 November, and with Prime Minister Mollet’s acquiescence, ordered a permanent ceasefire, followed some days later by UN peacekeepers from Norway and Denmark.
Britain the biggest loser
The Middle East power vacuum was filled by the United States and the Soviet Union; Britain and France were no longer judged as super powers thereafter. Nasser confiscated all UK assets and closed canal access to Britain, causing an oil crisis. Eden took sick leave and was replaced
as Prime Minister by Harold Macmillan two months later. France also suffered from the debacle with the collapse of the Fourth Republic, leading to the return to power of Charles De Gaulle in 1958. Israel gained Gaza, access to the Red Sea at the port of Eilat and a reputation that their armed forces were a force to be reckoned with. Gamal Nasser, emerged as a pan-Arab hero and Middle East leader of world importance, until his death at age 53 in 1970.
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Acknowledgement: Thanks to The
Map Archive www.themaparchive. com which kindly provided the custom designed twin-map of the Suez Crisis.