The work of Israeli frogman commandos who attacked Egyptian shipping and prevented Egypt from using its ground rockets from naval launching pads was revealed here today for the first time.
In an action seen as audacious, Israeli frogman commandos, under the leadership of Yochai Bin-Nun, 43-year-old former commander-in-chief of Israel’s Navy, struck In the early hours of June 5, The commandos used limpet mines. They struck primarily against the Egyptian naval base at Ras Tin, at Alexandria, and attacked other Egyptian naval installations along the entire northern coast of Egypt as far as Port Said and Port Tawfiq south of Suez.
Combined units of frogmen and paratroopers trained for marine warfare thus knocked out the Egyptian Navy which had been prepared to send its rockets and missiles against the Israel coast. In the actions, all but two of Egypt’s submarines were crippled, while Nasser’s flotilla of high-speed, missile-carrying patrol boats was destroyed before they were able to fire a single rocket against Israel. The commando raids thus relieved Israel’s ground forces of one of its major concerns, since Israel’s long coast and thin hinterland were highly vulnerable to rocket attacks from the sea.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
