The Battle of Sinai (film)

Last updated

The Battle of Sinai or Five Days in Sinai is an Italian produced film released in Italy and Israel in 1968 under the title of "La Battaglia Del Sinai" and released in an English-dubbed version in 1969. It was directed by Maurizio Lucidi. It stars Ze'ev Revach, Assi Dayan, Carlo De Mejo, Daniele Dublino and Franco Giornelli. Female leads are Mavie Bardanzellu and Katia Christine. [1]

Plot

The docu-drama style film follows the Six-day War between Egypt and Israel, primarily as seen from the Israeli perspective. The story line jumps between locations in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and the Sinai desert.

The main military character Rafi (Franco Giornelli), a captain in the Israeli army, wishes to leave Jerusalem and go to the United States to work as an engineer, and he tells his military girlfriend Alek (Daniele Dublino). He praises Moshe Dayan the Israeli leader. Meanwhile, his civilian counterpart Ylan (Carlo de Mejo), the son of a shipbuilder, lives the life of a playboy at the poolside, before joining his battalion. [2]

In a scene later copied in American Graffiti two cars charge head on at each other in a game of chicken watched by a crowd of teenagers. Two of the men are later part of the battle. Meanwhile, a battalion of tanks is lined up facing the border. Koffi and other officers are briefed on the plan of attack. Outside Jossi (Assi Dayan the son of Moshe Dayan), one of the troops meets his military girlfriend Lails (Katia Christine).

The attack begins with an air force strike into enemy territory. The tanks then move forward into the Sinai Peninsula. A tank battle begins with the Egyptian army. rafi acts as a spotter placed in a jeep above the battlefield.

Alek and Laila search for their boyfriends from a helicopter, viewing the devastation of burned out vehicles along the road. They find them. An Egyptian soldier fires on the group and blows up the helicopter before being killed. The group then have to walk out of the battlefield. On the long journey they spot a SAM-2 missile base being created. In the base the Egyption colonel (Gideon Singer) plans his defence.

Saadia (Ze'ev Revach) and one of the others capture an outlying guard position on the edge of the base. One of the men who can speak Arabic removes his Israeli uniform and acts as a decoy to put another guard out of action. All seven men then attack the base and capture the colonel. Laila hears the gunfire and grabs a gun to help out. She kills two men and is overcome with emotion.

They raise an improvised Israeli flag over the camp.

The Egyptian command plans to recapture the base or to destroy the missiles captured by the Israelis. The men who escaped the base say they were greatly outnumbered by the Israelis (which they were not). Two armoured cars full of troops are sent back to the base. The Israelis take out one with an RPG. Ylan and another mount a heavy machine gun on a jeep and play chicken with the remaining armoured car, driving it back. Saadia is killed defending the base but the Egyptians are driven off.

Rafi and the Egyptian colonel philosophise about the right of Israel to exist. A large group of mainly unarmed soldiers appear looking for water and they oblige. The Egyptian colonel's assistant runs forward and tells the group to attack the Israelis as they are very few. He starts pouring the water away. They attack and kill him and leave quietly with the water.

The radio announces the end of the conflict and the film ends with true life footage of Moshe Dayan and the aftermath of the conflict.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Six-Day War</span> 1967 war between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria

The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or the Third Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from 5 to 10 June 1967 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states primarily comprising Jordan, Syria and Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yom Kippur War</span> 1973 war between Israel and a coalition of Arab states

The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. The majority of combat between the two sides took place in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights—both of which were occupied by Israel in 1967—with some fighting in African Egypt and northern Israel. Egypt's initial objective in the war was to seize a foothold on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal and subsequently leverage these gains to negotiate the return of the rest of the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suez Crisis</span> 1956 invasion of Egypt by Israel, the United Kingdom and France

The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was an invasion of Egypt in late 1956 by Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France. The aims were to regain control of the Suez Canal for the Western powers and to remove Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had just swiftly nationalised the foreign-owned Suez Canal Company, which administered the canal. After the fighting had started, political pressure from the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Nations led to a withdrawal by the three invaders. The episode humiliated the United Kingdom and France and strengthened Nasser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moshe Dayan</span> Israeli military leader and politician (1915–1981)

Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–1958) during the 1956 Suez Crisis, but mainly as Defense Minister during the Six-Day War in 1967, he became a worldwide fighting symbol of the new state of Israel. In the 1930s, Dayan joined the Haganah, the pre-state Jewish defense force of Mandatory Palestine. He served in the Special Night Squads under Orde Wingate during the Arab revolt in Palestine and later lost an eye in a raid on Vichy forces in Lebanon during World War II. Dayan was close to David Ben-Gurion and joined him in leaving the Mapai party and setting up the Rafi party in 1965 with Shimon Peres. Dayan became Defence Minister just before the 1967 Six-Day War. After the Yom Kippur War of 1973, during which Dayan served as Defense Minister, he was blamed for the lack of preparedness; after some time he resigned. In 1977, following the election of Menachem Begin as Prime Minister, Dayan was expelled from the Labor Party because he joined the Likud-led government as Foreign Minister, playing an important part in negotiating the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War of Attrition</span> 1967-70 war between Israel and Egypt

The War of Attrition involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from 1967 to 1970.

The history of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intertwines in its early stages with history of the Haganah.

Giv'at Halfon Eina Ona, also titled Giv'at Halfon, is a cult Israeli comedy film produced in 1976. It is a good-hearted satire of the Israel Defense Forces which tells the story of a reserves company, watching the Egyptian border in Sinai. Characters such as the conman Sergio Constanza, the Egyptian-born Mr. Hasson, and the huge cook Yosifoun became classics.

Meir Har-Zion was an Israeli military commando.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tzvi Tzur</span> Israeli military officer (1923–2004)

Tzvi Tzur was an Israeli officer who served as the IDF's 6th Chief of Staff (1961–1963).

David Elazar Ninth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces

David "Dado" Elazar was the ninth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), serving in that capacity from 1972 to 1974. He was forced to resign in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shmuel Gonen</span>

Shmuel "Gorodish" Gonen was an Israeli general and Chief of the Southern Command of the Israel Defense Forces during the Yom Kippur War.

8th Armored Brigade (Israel)

The 8th Armored Brigade was an Israeli mechanized brigade headquartered near Jerusalem. It was the Israel Defense Forces' first armoured brigade which possessed tanks, jeeps and armored personnel carriers (APCs), whereas all other IDF units at the time were entirely infantry-based.

Battle of the Chinese Farm 1973 battle of the Yom Kippur War

The Battle of the Chinese Farm took place during October 15 to October 17, 1973 between the Egyptian Army and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as part of the Yom Kippur War. It was fought in the Sinai Peninsula, north of the Great Bitter Lake and just east of the Suez Canal, near an Egyptian agricultural research station. The area was known to the Israeli military as the Chinese Farm – a misnomer resulting from the research station's use of Japanese-made equipment, with Japanese writing on the machinery mistaken by Israeli observers for Chinese characters.

Tel Faher Former Syrian outpost in the Golan Heights

Tel Faher is a former Syrian outpost in the Golan Heights that has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">An-Nekhel Fortress</span> Fortress in Sinai, Egypt

The Fortress of an-Nekhel is a Ksar (castle) located in the Nekhel Municipality of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. It holds a strategic location at the exact center of the peninsula. Excavations at the site have revealed remains dating from Ancient Egypt. It has historically been an important stop and staging ground for Muslim pilgrims undertaking the Hajj or Umra, holy Muslim pilgrimages.

Reprisal operations (Israel) Military operations carried out by Israel in response to Arab fedayeen attacks

Reprisal operations were raids carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the 1950s and 1960s in response to frequent fedayeen attacks during which armed Arab militants infiltrated Israel from Syria, Egypt, and Jordan to carry out attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers. Most of the reprisal operations followed raids that resulted in Israeli fatalities. The goal of these operations was to create deterrence and prevent future attacks. Two other factors behind the raids were restoring public morale and training newly formed army units.

This article outlines events which occurred in Israel in the year 1979.

Events in the year 1956 in Israel.

Operation Egged, also known as the Kuntilla operation, was an Israeli military operation carried out on night of October 28–29, 1955 that targeted an Egyptian military post at Kuntilla, located in northeastern Sinai. The operation was a success and resulted in the destruction of the post. Twelve Egyptian soldiers were killed and twenty-nine were taken prisoner. There were two Israeli fatalities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanks of the Israel Defense Forces</span>

This article deals with the history and development of tanks of the Israeli Army, from their first use after World War II in the establishment of the State of Israel after the end of the British Mandate, and into the Cold War and what today is considered the modern era.

References

  1. "Five Days in Sinai (1968) - IMDb". IMDb .
  2. The Battle for Sinai 1968