Night of the Monsters (Battle of Bir Lahfan-3) - The Arab-Israeli Wars

06 JUNE 1967, BIR LAHFAN - JEBEL LIBNI ROAD, 3KM SOUTH OF BIR LAHMAN JUNCTION:

By capturing Bir Lahfan junction Israeli forces virtually divided Egyptian Northern Sinai command into three pieces. Without the control of North-South axis, Egyptian commanders were unable to maintain coherence between the forces located at Al-Arish, Abu-Agheila and Jebel Libni.

Late in June 6, the Egyptian high command realized the gravity of its mistake in not having anticipated a major operational maneuvre along the route to Bir Lahfan. As a result of this error, the Egyptians faced two major Israeli forces descending on Jebel Libni, one from Bir Lahfan and the other from Abu Agheila, with only a part of the Egyptian 4th Armoured Division left to conduct an immediate counter-attack.

General Abdel Hakim Amer -in a state of panic- ordered the available forces to attack Bir Lahfan and establish contact with the 7th Division at Al-Arish. Armored elements of the both sides collided into a large tank battle near Bir Lahfan. The result of this engagement was pretty much to decide the fate of the Sinai Campaign.