Correspondent Says 10-35 Soviet Advisers May Have Been Killed in Israeli Air Raids

Between 10 and 35 Russian military advisers in Egypt were reported to have been killed during recent Israeli air raids near Port Said, according to a British correspondent stationed in Cairo at the time, who has now returned to this country and has been writing free of Egyptian censorship. But Donald Seaman, writing in the London Dally Express, pointed out that the Soviet Embassy in Cairo had maintained silence on the reports which he pointed out were the first of that nature since the Soviet Union began to rearm Egypt after the Six-Day War in 1967.

Mr. Seaman reported that while the Soviets were participating in the Four Power talks to try to find a peaceful solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, they were maintaining a peak number of advisers inside Egypt. He said they numbered between 4,000-5,000 and were to be found on every military level from the desert command to training cadres. He said most of the Russian advisers were attached to the Egyptian Army but at least 1,000 were with the Navy and Air Force.

Mr. Seaman said that as a result of Soviet supplies, a large quantitative gap exists between the Israeli and Arab air forces. He said the Egyptian Air Force, supplied exclusively by Russia or Warsaw Pact countries which manufacture MIGs and Illyushin bombers, now numbers 700 planes not including trainers, spares and transports. This means a strike force of 250 bombers, fighter-bombers and MIG 21s on the Sinai front, Mr. Seaman said. Arab air strength on the Eastern front numbers another 250 aircraft in the Syrian and Iraqi air forces. Thus there are 500 front-line planes arrayed against 300 Israeli French-built planes.

Mr. Seaman said that if President Gamal Abdel Nasser visits Moscow soon as rumored, one urgent subject on the agenda of his talks with Soviet leaders will be how to counter the force of F-4 Phantom jets that Israel will receive shortly from the United States. Mr. Seaman said President Nasser “lives like a man in the hands of a pawnbroker. Most of Egypt’s earnings are swallowed by the Communist bloc to pay for arms.” He described Nasser as “the best propagandist since Goebbels.” He said the Egyptian leader recently claimed a big air victory Israel when in fact Egypt lost 19 MIGs against two Israeli Mysteres.