Green Island ( ar, الجزيرة الخضراء)

Transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...

as: / / / is a small (145 m long x 50 m) artificial island in the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

at the southern mouth of the Suez Canal. AlJazirahAlKhadraa

History

Green Island was a fortress built by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

(probably by

British Troops in Egypt British Troops in Egypt was a command of the British Army. History A British Army commander was appointed in the late 19th century after the Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882. The British Army remained in Egypt throughout the First World War and, after t ...

or Rear-Admiral, Alexandria, Royal Navy) to protect the Suez Canal from air and sea attack during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. This waterway was of enormous strategic significance for Britain at this time. Located three kilometers south of Port Ibrahim and four kilometers south of the city of

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...

and the mouth of the Suez Canal, the fortress was built on a bed of stable corals and made out of reinforced concrete. It consisted of a one-storey building with a large courtyard. At one end of the island, a concrete bridge jutted out into the water toward a circular five-metre-high tower supporting a radar site and two heavy anti-aircraft machine guns. A wall reinforced with thick rows of barbed wire was built at the water's edge, to deter attack from the sea. Heavy machine guns were emplaced in the roof, and there were over a dozen machine gun nests. A series of concrete bunkers sat atop an seawall, ringed by razor wire three rolls deep. There were several gun emplacements . In 1969, during the

War of Attrition The War of Attrition ( ar, حرب الاستنزاف, Ḥarb al-Istinzāf; he, מלחמת ההתשה, Milhemet haHatashah) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from ...

between

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, the island was heavily defended. Its garrison consisted of approximately 70

ian infantrymen and 12 special forces

commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

s, 14 machine gun positions (14.5 mm to 25 mm), two 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, and four 85 mm anti-aircraft guns. On the night of July 19, 1969 the island was raided by Israeli commandos ( Operation Bulmus 6). The Egyptian facilities on the island were completely destroyed with Israeli casualties of three

Sayeret Matkal General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (formerly Unit 269 or Unit 262), more commonly known as Sayeret Matkal ( he, סיירת מטכ״ל) is the special reconnaissance unit (''sayeret'') of Israel's General Staff (''matkal''). It is the prime special ...

and three Shayetet 13 commandos killed, and 11 wounded—a casualty rate of approximately 50%.

References

* ''Israeli Elite Units Since 1948'' by Samuel Katz, Osprey Publishing 1988
''The Israeli Commando Assault on Green Island'' by Doron Geller
* Ian Black and Benny Morris - ''Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services''. * Samuel M. Katz - ''The Night Raiders: Israel's Naval Commandos at War''. Islands of Egypt Islands of the Red Sea Artificial islands of Africa {{Egypt-geo-stub

History

See also

References