HQ near Rehovot gray-blue eyes are studying the maps, calculating and planning. And in a house in Majdal dark brown eyes are looking at the same map - the eyes of the Egyptian division commander
How can one prevent the enemy breaking through to the north, to Tel Aviv, with insufficient forces against his aircraft, tanks, and artillery? One must throw him off balance. How can that be done? By attacking his rear area, his transport and supply routes.
About three kilometers south of Isdud, between Be’er Tuvia and Nitzanim, there is a hill which is labeled with the figure 69 on the map. It is a low, flat hill with three old water towers. It has a controlling view over the road between Isdud, where the Egyptian forces are assembled, and Majdal, where the Egyptian HQ is located.
On 7 June, two days after the fighting around Isdud, a small group of Israeli soldiers climbs this hill in the dead of night and digs in. In the early morning they cut the road. First round to the Israelis.
The Egyptians react to the blow with preparations for a counter blow. Two days later, at dawn, they throw their whole weight against this hill. For the first time, an Israeli position is exposed to a concentrated blow with all modern weapons at the same time: artillery, bombardment from the air, an assault by heavy tanks. The defenders use whatever they have, clawing themselves to the ground with their fingernails. And at this fate-ful moment the chain breaks at its weakest link: a man in a responsible position makes a mistake. The defense collapses. Hill 69 falls to the enemy. The Egyptians have won the second round
The report hits brigade HQ like a thunderbolt. A moment of naked horror. They were all sure that the hill would hold. All military logic said so. But it has fallen.
They can all feel it: in the first real confrontation between Israeli fighter and Egyptian steel, the steel has overcome the human factor. Maybe the spirit is not superior to the material? Was it a mistake to believe that fighting men can overcome fighting machines?
The commander and his deputy stand in their small office and see themselves confronted with a second fact: at this moment the fate of the young state is being decided. If the Egyptians march on against Be’er Tuvia, they will break through the front. There are no Israeli reserve forces there which could stop them. If the Egyptians reach Be’er Tuvia, then the whole front will collapse. The south will fall and then Tel Aviv.