[Jerusalem Post] Rebecca Anna Stoil - Lt.-Col. Effie Deffrin, 35, was leading his troops through Wadi Saluki in southern Lebanon when his tank was hit by a hail of antitank rockets. Wounded in the lungs and head, doctors were not certain he would live through the night. But two weeks later, he was back in command of his battalion, he told the Jerusalem Post on Thursday. On July 20, the Eshet Battalion of the 401st Armored Brigade was ordered to move to the Lebanese border. "It was a Friday when we were called up to the North; people were home on leave, but everybody rushed in and we had 100 percent reporting for duty. They grew up overnight. I never heard a word of complaint from a single soldier during that time. Not a single argument. It was as if they, 19- and 20-year-olds, suddenly rose up to meet the responsibility that had been placed upon them. They fought among themselves to 'go in' and join the operations in Lebanon." The Eshet Battalion was picked to lead the attack across Wadi Saluki during the closing days of the war. After Deffrin was wounded, Capt. Shai Bernstein took command, leading the column. The terrorists struck at the lead tank once again and Bernstein and two members of his tank crew were killed. "This battalion did exceptional work during the war," Deffrin said. "These soldiers went in there knowing that they were going to die for their country. All those slogans that I thought were confined to the pages of history were proven relevant." "There were incidents like the tales you hear from '73. Soldiers ran, exposed, from their own tanks to pull their comrades out of burning tanks, guarding the wounded without any cover for an hour. There were soldiers who collapsed because they had inhaled so much smoke saving others." One combat support soldier from the Ordinance Corps, Dimitri Kamishlin, "jumped out of the tank that he was in, ran without any cover into a burning tank nearby, and pulled out the entire crew."
2007-07-13 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive