Bucha, Ukraine - 27 Feb 2022 - 15mm
1967 Six Day War - Battle at Bir Lahfan
So with Episode 01 of the Ops Center up …
… going over the 1956 Arab-Israeli Sinai War, we’re now moving into the 1967 “Six Day” War. Again it was myself and Damon at a table of Avalon Hill’s The Arab Israeli Wars, with Damon playing the Israelis and myself playing the Egyptians.
The big difference here between this and previous TAIW games is that for once, the Israelis are on the defensive. Damon’s Centurions, TCM-20s, and infantry will try to hold a Sinai crossroads and the high ground flanking it against superior numbers of one of Egypt’s better tank and mechanized brigades.
Furthermore, the battle takes place (initially) at night, where the Egyptians actually have a slight advantage in Soviet IR sights. If they can hold out until morning, however, the Israeli Air force (IAF) arrives in force, undertaking more tactical strike missions on the second day of the way now that the strikes against Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian air forces and C3 networks have been completed.
The battle on the table was the Battle of Bir Lahfan, fought primarily in the wee hours of the morning of June 6, 1967. Sneaking between heavily entrenched Egyptian fortification complexes, leading elements of Yoffe’s 31st Division have now taken the Sinai crossroads at Bir Lahfan. They are thus astride Egyptian communication and transport routes between fortified areas of Rafah to the north, and Abu Agheila to the south. As Egyptian reinforcements try to respond to either threatened sector (under attack from Tal’s Division and Sharon’s Division, respectively), they will now run into 200th Armored Brigade. They Egyptians organize a night attack by the 2nd Armored Brigade (T-55s), plus mechanized infantry if the 18th Mechanized Brigade (BTR-60 troop carriers) in hideous numbers. The attack will come around 0300-0400 hours on the morning of 6 June. The Israeli battalion here has called in air strikes, but they will not arrive until the run comes up. Also, heavy reinforcements are approaching from the north (7th Armored Brigade, Tal’s Division) from the Jeradi Pass and the coastal town of El Arish. But they won’t arrive until noon. For most of this game on the table, the lead battalion (Lt. Col. Abraham Bar-Am) of 200th Brigade (Col Aluf Mishne Shadmi) will be on their own. GREEN RECTANGLE shows the scaled and measured size of our700-hex AIW table (with I” hexes = 1:10,000 scale, 250 meters / hex). 
Bar-Am’s Battalion, Shadmi’s Brigade, Yoffe’s Division (reinforced by mechanized infantry in halftracks and some TCM-20 SPAA systems and an M3 mortar carrier) set up and ready to face the Egyptians coming out of the southwest. Roads lead southwest to Jebel Libni (where the next big battle is fought by this unit historically enter this afternoon and into the night, reinforced by elements of 7th Brigade), northwest to the coastal rail junction of El Arish, northeast to the crucial Jeradi Pass (Egyptian 7th Infantry Division), and southeast to the huge Egyptian fortification complex of Abu Agheila and Um Katef (2nd Egyptian Infantry Division, where Sharon’s Division is currently engaged in a furious battle).
The Egyptians make their rush. One thing you can’t away from the T-55s are their speed and, in this case, their numbers. In all I have 15 counters (75 tanks), plus 15 SU-100s and 50 BTR-60s carrying 450 Egyptian infantry plus headquarters section. But the “Shot” Centurions (L7 105mm guns) in reverse slope hull down positions along that ridge open fire, in some cases at ranges of 3000 meters (12 hexes, almost two miles) and score the first kills. FULL DISCLOSURE – I’m not 100% sure I got the Egyptian force correct, 18th Mech Brigade was part of 3rd Infantry Division – but we know from eyewitnesses those were T-55 tanks, and that’s probably from 4th Armoured Division further back. There were several battles between sunset of 5 June and then toward the advance on Jebel Libni 24 hours later. I think I might have gotten two of these attacks merged together.
Egyptian infantry is blatantly sacrificed, trying to pin down the Israeli Centurions in the center and south while I use the cover of Bir Lahfan to swing tanks around the north. I’ve had SOME success in killing Centurions on the high ground, but it’s taking fire phases of 60 tanks and 15 tank destroyers to MAYBE kill one platoon of 5 Centurions. But of course, I outnumber the Israelis by a tremendous margin. And one or two lost Centurion platoons could easily destabilize the whole 200th Brigade line. Welcome to the Arab-Israeli Wars. 
The swing around the north does kind of work, but again, Egyptian losses are simply ghastly. I shift weight to the other foot, instead shoving straight up the slope, using the SHAPE of that slope to blind some Israeli gunners. But chugging up that slope is slow going, and we’re on Turn 5 now … which means the sun has come up and Israeli gunners can now see as clearly as I could with IR sights. More Centurions are burning, however, along with some Israeli halftracks and TCM-20 SPAA mounts (also on WW2 surplus halftracks).
Turn 06, the sun is now FULLY up and the IAF makes its appearance. Again, apologies, these should be Mystere class fighter bombers, not Mirage IIIs. Massive Egyptian opportunity fire phase as a veritable wall of ground fire comes up against these jets. But only one is driven off (jets are extremely hard to shoot down or drive off with just AKs and HMGs, please remember the SIZE of this Egyptian force and remember these jets are using unguided rockets, which mean they have to get very close). The seven remaining Mystere fighter bombers release ordinance and blow ten T-55s (two counters) clean off that ridge. But even now, Israeli losses are mounting. 
Giving up on the southern and central ridges, the Israeli Centurions condense their defense on the crossroads of Bir Lahfan itself. In so doing, they more or less smash my northern arm. That’s the bad news. The good news is that my remaining T-55s, SU-100s, and even BTR-60s now have the high ground and the Israelis are no longer getting +2 DRM on all my fire coming at them because of hull-down shielding. In fact, I’M getting the +2 DRM for my SU-100s, which Damon keeps dispersing but never quite killing. Meanwhile, I’m dying fast everywhere else, but still inflicting casualties. One thing’s for sure, Damon’s paying a much steeper butcher’s bill for this defense than Bar-Am’s Battalion did historically.
Relocated Centurions (30 of them in three counters, plus 10 TCM-20s and a couple hundred infantry) deliver the coup de grace against the T-55s and SU-100s.
The Egyptians survivors start pulling back to the wadi along the Jebel Libni Road, as I call the game. Congrats to Damon on a rugged, measured, and flexible defense! 
This was fun, at first I thought that many T-55s would be all over my hill positions really quick as there was more targets than I had guns to shoot at them with. But it worked out, just…
Thanks, @damon – yeah, that games was super-hastily designed at the last minute. But I feel it worked rather well. It’s almost a “mini- Valley of Tears” with 7-8 Centurion platoons on high ground fending off mass attacks of T-55s (and T-62s at Quneitra). The difference there is that instead of facing 15 platoons of T-55s, you’re facing off against 19 platoons of T-55s … and 19 platoons of T-62s … and artillery … and mech infantry … and PT-54s … and Saggers … and and and and … Then again, those Centurions (called “Patturion” in the game) have the… Read more »