Word: canallers
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Except for scattered skirmishes along the Suez Canal, the guns of war fell silent last week across the Middle East. Almost as abruptly as it had begun, the superpower saber-rattling also came to an end. One week earlier it had threatened to involve the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 18-day war between Israel and its Arab neighbors. The U.S. last week ended a worldwide military alert called to forestall apparent Soviet troop moves into Egypt; after briefly chiding the U.S. for giving in to baseless fears, Moscow then let the matter drop...
Egypt's Third Army of 20,000 men, which had crossed to the east side of the Suez Canal in the first days of battle, was still there. But it was surrounded, trapped and desperately short of food, water and medical supplies. An Israeli task force, crossing the canal in the opposite direction, had surrounded the city of Suez and rolled up the flanks of units protecting the Third Army. As a result of such maneuvers, troops of the United Nations Emergency Force moving into the battlefield area to keep the peace found it hard to find the lines...
...Israelis had thrown three bridges across the canal: two pontoons and one special bridge for heavy traffic. Despite Egyptian efforts, including two suicide helicopter plunges, the bridges were not taken out. When we returned, the procession of heavy equipment to the western bank was continuing. Radar units, prefabricated housing, searchlights, antiaircraft guns, big artillery pieces and more troops moved across...
Although there is frequent shelling, the soldiers were making the most of the area. Some Israelis were swimming in the canal, others were fishing. One group of soldiers guarding the bridge had prepared a delicious fish stew. How do you feel about being across the canal? I asked one of the men. "We'll get used to it," he replied jauntily...
Port Said is a ghost town. The yellow and whitewashed buildings are mute. The Sheherazade nightclub, the new Metropole Hotel and the Bank of Alexandria are scarred by bomb blasts. We were escorted into this canal-side city by Egyptian officers. They kicked down the door of the former British officers' club and led us through a billiards room where the stale smell of dust and decay hung over the neatly racked cues and a picture of the late President Nasser. The rules of the game of snooker in fine curlicued print hung on the wall. The balcony opened...