Battle of Suez The Battle of Suez was fought on October 24 – 25 , 1973 between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army in the Egypt ian town of Suez . It was the last major battle of the Yom Kippur War , before a ceasefire took effect . On October 23 , with the imminent arrival of UN observers to the front , Israel decided to capture Suez , assuming it would be poorly defended . An armored brigade and an infantry battalion from the Paratroopers Brigade were committed to the task , and entered the city without a battle plan . The armored column was ambushed and severely hit , while the paratroopers came under heavy fire and many of them became trapped inside a local building . The armored column and part of the infantry force were evacuated during the day , while the main contingent of the paratrooper force eventually managed to dash out of the city and make their way back to Israeli lines . Background . At 4 : 00 PM on Tuesday , October 23 , the United Nations Security Council met in New York to reconfirm the ceasefire and send observers to the fighting front . At 6 : 00 PM , General Ensio Siilasvuo , head of the UN Emergency Force in Cairo , called the Israeli Defense Minister , Moshe Dayan , and told him of the decision . Dayan suggested that the ceasefire go into effect at 7 : 00 AM local time , thirty - six hours after the original ceasefire was supposed take effect , and Siilasvuo accepted . The Israeli Chief of Staff , David Elazar , said in the Kirya that he was in a dilemma . From a military perspective , the IDF needed a few more days to make the Egyptian Third Army surrender and cut off the Second Army , which would collapse the entire Egyptian military . On the other hand , Israel had a great debt to the United States as a result of the massive arms shipments of Operation Nickel Grass . He later said it was the latter consideration that made him accept the ceasefire . The town of Suez had about 260 , 000 residents before the War of Attrition , but most of them left during that conflict . However , there were enough men to form a militia , which would make up part of the city ' s defense force . On October 23 , division commander Major - General Avraham Adan had three armored brigades and a makeshift infantry brigade made up of five or six battalions . By October 24 , Israel had two brigades on the outskirts of the city , and one battalion from Yoffe ' s paratroopers brigade southwest of the town at the Gulf of Suez near the old oil refinery . Suez was thus completely isolated from Egypt from the west , and so was most of the Third Army . Yoffe had pushed across the Sarag road west of Suez put a further blocked the Egyptians . Capturing Suez was not considered psychologically or strategically important , although it was presumed to hold supplies for the Third Army . Throughout October 22 to 23 , many Egyptian officers and soldiers had withdrawn into Suez . Most of these belonged to administrative and supply units that had been stationed on the west bank of the canal . They also contained a number of units from Third Army that had been engaging Israeli forces since October 16 . The number of Egyptian forces inside Suez reached almost 5 , 000 men , possessing only small arms and assault rifles . Brigadier General Yusuf ' Afifi commanding the 19th Infantry Division east of the canal , reinforced the city with an ATGM company and a tank - hunting team . On its way to Suez , the company had expended its missiles in an engagement with Israeli tanks , destroying more than nine tanks . This left Egyptian forces in the city with a small number of RPG - 7 weapons and RPG - 43 grenades . Prelude . At 2 : 00 AM , General Shmuel Gonen called Adan and asked him if he could capture Suez in the two to two and half hours between dawn and the ceasefire . Adan answered that it depended on the Egyptian defenses in the town , but that he thought that at least part of the town can be taken . Gonen said : " Okay , if it ' s Beersheba , go ahead ; if it ' s Stalingrad , don ' t do it ! " , referring to Operation Yoav and the Battle of Stalingrad , respectively . Adan gave his orders accordingly . Israel argued that the attack would not be a violation of the ceasefire if it was launched before 7 : 00 AM , even if the battle continued after that hour , since the Arabs were the ones who chose when to start the war and when to call for a ceasefire . Israel also claimed that the ceasefire did not apply to " mopping up " operations that were altering the rear areas and not the front line . Intelligence knew of a commando battalion , two infantry battalions and an antitank missile company . Since Egyptian soldiers had been mostly surrendering during the previous two days , Adan assumed the defenders of Suez would not resist . An armored brigade , under the command of Colonel Aryeh Keren , had set up its headquarters west of Suez . Keren was in charge of the attack and ordered Yossi Yoffe to lead the attack with his reserve paratroopers using nine captured Soviet APCs , and drive up the main street of the town . He said the confidence based on which he was being sent was groundless . He said he had only one small map and had seen no air photos and asked for time to draw a plan . Adan pressured Keren to capture Suez before the arrival of the observers , and Keren told Yoffe that " in the armored corps , we take our orders while we ' re on the move " , and gave thirty minutes to organize . A tank battalion , under the command of Lieutenant - Colonel Nahum Zaken was to lead the attack with its own infantry detachment , while Yoffe was to follow and leave platoons to secure the intersections . Battle . Ambush . At 10 : 50 Zaken ' s column , stretched for over a mile , started moving up the main street , an extension of the Cairo - Suez highway . His battalion was divided into three groups , each containing eight tanks , each tank followed by an APC or halftrack . Zaken had three miles to go before reaching a large square on the bank of the Gulf of Suez . Along the way , he saw Egyptian soldiers , mostly unarmed , and some of them raised their hands in surrender when they saw the Israeli column . All the Israeli tank and APC commanders were standing in their turrets . Meeting no resistance , the column reached the second intersection at the Al - Arba ' een square . A member of the militia , Mahmoud ' Awad , fired two RPG rounds at the lead tank . One round caused superficial damage , and the other missed . Further ahead , the militia had set up another ambush . Ibrahim Suleiman , positioned in a hideout between Cinema Royal and Cinema Egypt , heard the explosions , and asked his comrade , Mohamed Sarhan , to prepare an RPG round . At a range of 12 meters , Suleiman fired his RPG , hitting the turret ring . The tank blew up , and its cannon tilted to the ground . Moments later , Sarhan fired an RPG round against the APC trailing the lead tank . The APC , carrying paratroopers inside , caught fire . At this point , masses of civilians and soldiers began moving towards the square from the adjacent buildings and from roads leading to the square . The column came to a halt , and began receiving heavy small arms fire , also coming under attack by hand grenades . Within minutes , twenty out of the twenty - four Israeli tank commanders were hit . The Israelis panicked , and began disembarking their vehicles and taking cover in nearby buildings . One group of soldiers tried to enter Cinema Royal , but were repulsed at the entrance . One of the APCs that were hit was carrying the brigade ' s intelligence group . The group abandoned the APC , and all nine men entered a nearby building , where they were presumably killed . The remainder of the battalion turned around to retreat , which was disorderly . The retreating forces came under attack by small arms , grenades and Molotov cocktail s . Four tanks came up behind Sidi Al - Arba ' een Mosque , but were ambushed by soldiers from the 19th Division , forcing the tanks to retreat . Zaken , in the second tank , tried to reach his company commanders on the radio , but got no reply . He called the crewmen and told and learned that many of the commanders were either dead or wounded . He told them to keep moving to get out of the ambush and fire all weapons . The battalion made it to the square at the end of the streets and lined up facing the sources of fire . One tank commander Captain Menashe Goldblatt , who had been hit in the shoulder and lost his consciousness , recovered and was asked by Zaken to go from tank to tank and talk to the crews . He found that many of the commanders were either dead or wounded , and that many of the men were in shock . He appointed gunners and loaders as tank commanders , assigned them fire sectors and told them to switch their radio frequency from the company frequency to the battalion frequency so that they could speak directly to Zaken . One tank commander was not wounded but refused to take his head out of the turret and Goldblatt warned him that he would personally fire a shell at him if he didn ' t start functioning . The casualties were transferred to an APC which surprised the Egyptians as it drove back up the main street , and managed to make it through . The APC crew left the casualties at an aid station and tried to drive back and rejoin the battalion . Halfway through the APC was hit by an RPG , which killed one man and wounded almost all the others , but the driver managed to get out of the city again . A second APC carrying dead and wounded tried to make a dash out of the city and was stopped by heavy fire , but the driver heard on the radio that the paratroopers were on their way . Trap . The paratroopers started going down the avenue and came under fire . They could not distinguish where the enemy fire was coming from . Yoffe ' s APC was hit by an RPG , killing four of his men and wounding him as well as others . The vehicles pulled over and the soldiers took cover in adjacent buildings , most of them entering Al - Arba ' een Police Station , a two - story building surrounded by a tall brick wall . In a very brief firefight the paratroopers wounded two and captured eight policemen . Ten minutes later the second floor was cleared . Lieutenant David Amit , the ranking unwounded officer , organized the defenses of the fifty paratroopers inside . He posted men at windows and behind the brick wall in the front of the building to block the entrance . A room was used as an aid station . Five men positioned themselves on the roof an adjacent building and began firing on the surrounding Egyptians . The policemen launched two attempts to break into the police station and rescue those held inside . In one of the attempts , the Egyptians broke into the building from a side entrance and advanced toward the aid station , and the battalion doctor and his medics opened fire on them . Yoffe ' s leg had been badly ripped but he refused morphine in order to stay alert . When the Egyptian fire stopped , he told his men that the Egyptians are preparing for an attack . The building was then attacked by RPGs and grenades , and the second floor caught fire . Yoffe told the doctor that it ' s time to burn the maps and papers that might help the Egyptian intelligence . Having lost much blood , he kept losing consciousness . The fire was eventually doused and the attack repulsed . Both attempts failed had cost the Egyptians another eight policemen killed . Outside the police station , both sides were still firing on each other . A few wounded Israelis who were unable to take cover in the nearby buildings lay stranded on the streets . The Egyptians concentrated their fire against the paratroopers in the building . The Israelis decided to release a police officer to inform the Egyptians of their desire to surrender , provided the Egyptians guaranteed they will not be harmed . The police officer left the building and told Sarhan that the Israelis wanted to surrender . Sarhan took the officer to Colonel Fathy ' Abbas , head of intelligence in the southern sector of the canal . ' Abbas met both men before noon that day , and was enthusiastic to accept the Israeli surrender and end the fighting , especially considering the potential intelligence gains . ' Abbas asked both men to go back to the police station and negotiate terms of surrender with the Israelis . They were unable to enter the building however , as the shooting would not stop and there was no overall commander in control of the militia surrounding the police station . The police officer , an old man , lost his nerve and would not come near the building . Consequently no negotiations took place and there would be no Israeli surrender . The armored forces made several failed attempts to break through to the building . When one force approached , they threw furniture out the window to signal their location , but the vehicles ' hatches were closed and drove pass the building , all the while under small arms fire . The armored force noticed another paratroop group , under the command of Lieutenant - Colonel Yaakov Hisdai , with eighty men , most of them wounded , which followed Yoffe ' s battalion . All but sixty men were rescued . At around 4 : 00 pm , Ibrahim Suleiman and three others tried to break into the building . Suleiman went around the building and climbed a pole , hoping to take the Israelis by surprise . However , he was spotted and killed . Two others were killed while trying to break in from the front , after coming under massive fire from the paratroopers in the second floor . A few Egyptians climbed up to the rooftop adjacent to the police station where five paratroopers positioned themselves . The rooftop was cleared and all five Israelis were killed after vicious close quarter combat involving hand - to - hand fighting . Mahmoud ' Awad , fearing the Israelis might try to recover their abandoned armor , resolved to completely destroy the fifteen tanks and APCs , all damaged or destroyed , that lined the streets leading to the square . At midnight , he poured considerable amounts of gasoline on them and set them on fire . Escape . As darkness fell , Adan ordered the armored forces out of the city . They were evacuated along the gulf shore , which had been cleared . Adan learned that another force was also meeting stiff resistance in the green belt north of the town , and could spare only one battalion , in addition to another battalion from near Shalufa . Zaken ' s battalion had eighteen men killed , thirty - five wounded and three disabled tanks which were abandoned . Adan ordered the paratroopers to get out of the city on foot . Hisdai and Keren spoke in the Hebrew equivalent of pig latin to confuse the Egyptians , and Hisdai asked to have tank projectors beam lights toward the sky to indicate the location of the nearest Israeli unit . He checked the route and returned to lead his troops out . Yoffe ' s troops were over two miles into the city and after dark others also joined him in the police station , totaling ninety men , twenty - three of them wounded . They made several dashes to their vehicles to bring ammunition , medical supplies and water . Keren tried to convince Amit to lead the men out , but Amit preferred to wait until morning . Eventually , he agreed to send the men in small groups . Keren objected , saying that they must move in one group in order to be able to carry the wounded and defend themselves if attacked . Hisdai also asked Amit to move . Gonen also spoke to Amit and , having heard his explanation , told Keren to make a rescue attempt in the morning . Keren called Adan , who called Gonen and told him that a rescue attempt would be too costly . Gonen then called Amit back and told him to leave on foot . The exchange went on for four hours . After Amit was convinced , Gonen found the location on an enlarged air photo of Suez and planned an artillery box in the center of which Amit could move . He asked Amit to take out a pen and paper , looked at the air photo and dictated to him the route out . Halfway through , Amit stopped writing , deciding that the route would be tough even by day and with a map , and that the area south of the building , through which Gonen ' s route was to pass , was filled with Egyptian troops . Despite that , he kept answering " Yes sir " , and asked for artillery bombardment around the police station , although not in the rest of the city , where Amit preferred to move quietly . He organized his men into squads so that each squad would carry three wounded men . The squads were ordered to keep distance but not lose eye contact . As they were getting ready to move , lookouts reported activity in the nearby buildings and said Egyptian troops had taken positions down the street . Amit ordered all his men back into the building . The paratroopers concluded that they would not be rescued , and that the Egyptians would not take prisoners . Some of them contemplated committing suicide before the Egyptians break in . At 2 : 00 AM , Gonen called , asked for Amit , and ordered him " Move out . Report implementation in ten minutes . Out " . Amit woke Yoffe up and Yoffe agreed that moving out would be the best solution . Yoffe got up and tried to make a few steps before saying " I can ' t walk " . Other wounded men got up to see if they can . Amit ordered his men out . two of whom had to be carried out on stretchers , and some had to be supported by others . They came out under artillery cover , with the leading squad not carrying any wounded . They did not follow Gonen ' s route , instead opting to go north across the broad avenue and then turn left on a parallel side street . They could not move quietly because of broken glass and other debris . Egyptian soldiers passed by several times , occasionally passing through gaps in the column , but did not challenge them , perhaps believing they were Egyptians . After almost two hours , they reached the Sweetwater Canal , outside the area under Egyptian control . They followed its inner face toward a vehicular bridge marked on the map , but a few score yards before it they reached a railroad bridge , which did not appear on the map . They could hear that the vehicular bridge was guarded by Egyptians , but the railroad bridge was not and they crossed it . Shortly before dawn , they reached Keren ' s force outside the city . Aftermath . The IDF casualties in the battle were 80 dead and 120 wounded . Israel made two more probes into Suez , one on the 25th and one on the 28th , but both were repulsed . On the 28th the UN observers were taking positions west of Suez . The Egyptian Chief of Staff , Saad El Shazly , noted that on October 27 , the Israelis refused to let the UN Emergency Force contingent into Suez , and also blocked an Egyptian column of 109 trucks and 20 ambulances . The battle of Suez was the last major battle of the war . When the ceasefire came into effect on October 24 , two divisions under the command of Adan and Magen were sealing off the Third Army . The IDF was also holding a corridor on the east bank of the Suez Canal , with three bridges across it , and occupying an area of 1 , 600 square kilometers inside Egypt as far south as Adabia . On October 28 , Israel accepted the ceasefire .