In this article we continue our interview with Egyptian artist Galal Abdo Hashem, you can find part one of this series, here. When we reached the Six-Day War and the War of Attrition in our interview with Galal, we tried to get all the possible details we could from him. In the end, he told us that he will speak about the notable incidents as he has many stories that would take months to cover.
Note: The views of the individuals we interview on the Silah Report Podcast represent themselves only and not the views of Silah Report. In Silah Report, one of our core tenets is to remain apolitical and unbiased when it comes to our research. Indeed, in Silah Report we have members from different ethnicities, religions and political views. We do not let our personal convictions affect the quality of the content we provide to our audience and we do our best to provide you with the most accurate and unbiased information available.
https://soundcloud.com/silah-report/galal-a-hashem-interview
(10:35-12:00)
Galal told us about the general environment in Egypt right before the war started. There was a looming sense of war across the country, the people felt they would soon be at war with Israel, possibly in Gaza. He remembers hearing on the radio that the Soviets advised Egypt not to strike Israel first due to the nature of the political landscape at that time. Galal decided that with a possible war at his doorstep, just like what happened in 1956, he must join a militia and prepare to find his home city in case he finds the enemy at his doorstep.
“There is no catalog for Egyptians.” – Galal Abdo Hashem
Early in the morning of the 4th June 1967, Galal and several other civilians were given some basic military training on soldiering, which basically amounted to marching drills. The second day though was a completely different scenario. Galal and the trainees with him were on top of a hill and about to be given lessons on marksmanship and the usage of firearms; suddenly they spotted Israeli jets flying above them firing guns and rockets, immediately the training was halted and everyone returned back to their homes.
“That war would break the spine of any nation for two hundred or three hundred years but only Egyptians could recover immediately from it and turn it from a disaster into defiance.” – Galal Abdo Hashem on the Six Day War
Fig 1.1. After the collapse of several Egyptian points, the failure of counter-attacks and the destruction of its air force, mostly on the ground, Abdelhakeem Amer, Egypt’s Minister of Defense at that time, ordered a full scale unorganized retreat of all remaining forces in Sinai. Thus Egypt lost any chance of holding its remaining ground and made themselves easy targets for the IAF and Israeli ground forces chasing them. This is a picture of the destruction of a convoy at Mitla Pass.
(Source: Arab Israeli Conflicts Facebook Page)
Fig 1.2. An Egyptian airbase that came under attack by IAF jets. (Source: Getty Images).
Fig 1.3. A destroyed truck and knocked out/ abandoned ZSU-57-2. (Source: Group 73 Historians)
Fig 1.4. IDF soldier with a Romat FN FAL standing beside the bank of the Suez Canal. (Source: Group 73 Historians)
Fig 1.5. IDF half-tracks passing by a destroyed half-track on the road. The bulldozer is possibly there to remove the wreckage. (Source: Group 73 Historians)
Fig 1.6. Egyptian prisoners marching under the supervision of their captors. (Source: Alamy)
Fig 1.7. Two Egyptian T-34-85s destroyed in combat. (Source: Group 73 Historians)
Fig 1.8. (Source: beastsofwar.com)
Fig 1.9. A depiction showing Egyptian anti-tank gun crews being flanked by Israeli paratroopers that were inserted via helicopters. (Source: forces.net)
With that, part two comes to an end and stay tuned for the next part!
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