Chapter 11
The soldier often regards the man of politics as unreliable, inconstant and greedy for the limelight. Bred on imperatives, the military temperament is astonished by the number of pretenses in which the statesman has to indulge. The terrible simplicities of war contrast strongly to the devious methods demanded by the art of government. The impassioned twists and tums, the dominant concern with the effects produced, the appearance of weighing others in terms not of their merit but their influence — all inevitable characteristics in the civilian whose authority rests upon the popular will — cannot but worry the professional soldier, habituated as he is to a life of hard duties, self-effacement, and respect for services rendered.
The sharp turn temporarily threw the gunner on Captain Saada's tank to the left and away from his sight. Even Saada, braced in anticipation of the sudden maneuver, momentarily lost his footing, causing him to teeter to the left. Both men had no sooner adjusted themselves to compensate for the left turn than the driver centered the steering T-bar, throwing Saada and his gunner in back to the right. Rather than being upset, however, Saada was more than satisfied with his driver's wild maneuvering. The last turn had brought the M-60A3 tank and its main gun to bear on a column of Libyan tanks, now moving perpendicular to Saada's deploying tank company.
"Enemy tank ahead!" The gunner's voice betrayed both excitement and surprise. If he was surprised at the sudden appearance of several Libyan tanks in his sight, the performance of his duties didn't suffer. While Saada glanced to his left, then quickly to his right, to watch the remainder of his company complete the action he had ordered, the gunner prepared to engage. Placing the aiming dot of his primary sight onto the center of mass of the nearest Libyan tank, he announced that he was lasing at the same instant that he depressed the laser range finder's thumb switch.
Even though his commander had not issued a proper fire command, the loader took his cue from the gunner. Standing back, out of the path of the main gun's recoil, the loader armed the gun by pushing the safety lever forward and announced that he was ready.
This announcement caused Saada to lean over to his left and look down into the loader's hatch. The loader had by now flattened himself against the left turret wall and was watching the breech of the main gun, waiting for it to fire and recoil. Straightening up, Saada looked down at his gunner. He too was ready, his eye glued to his sight, oblivious to anything but the enemy tank. Dropping down, Saada brought his eye up to his own sight, careful to avoid hitting his broken nose and swollen eye on the brow pad. In his sight a Libyan tank, unaware of the danger that it was in, continued to move off to the east.
The Libyan tanks Saada was preparing to engage were part of a counterattack force moving forward to seal off a penetration of the Libyan main defensive belt by the Egyptian 14th Armored Division. Saada's company, now the spearhead of that effort, had rushed forward through the breech in Libyan lines in search of the Libyan counterattack force. Saada had found that force, moving to the east along the spin of a ridge. Without hesitation, anxious to avenge his honor and his broken nose, Saada had turned his company into the attack.
Pulling his head away from the commander's sight, Saada looked at the range returns. Almost without thought he selected the button marked "last" in order to input the laser range return into the fire control system. Putting his uninjured eye back at the sight, he watched the gunner track the Libyan tank that would be their first target. Despite the bucking and bouncing of the tank over the rough surface, the tank's fire control stabilization system and the gunner were maintaining a steady sight picture on the Libyan tank. Satisfied that he and his crew were ready, Saada gave the order to fire.
The fifty-three-ton tank gave only a slight shudder when the gun fired and began to recoil. Saada and his crew did not feel the heat or shock wave of the muzzle blast created when the armor-piercing projectile left the gun tube. Nor did they hear the sharp report of the 105mm rifle cannon firing. The only noise perceivable above the roar of the engine was the clanking of the steel shell casing from the expended round as it was automatically spit out of the gun's breech, slammed against the turret guard, and dropped to the floor.
Though his vision was momentarily obscured by the muzzle blast and the sand it kicked up, the gunner maintained the gun's position and his own position at the sight. Saada's tank quickly moved out of the obscuring dust cloud. As soon as it did, the gunner's sight was filled with the bright flashes and explosions of a Libyan tank in its death throes. Their round had hit true.
For a moment Saada watched the sheets of flame leap from the stricken tank as onboard ammunition destroyed it and its crew. He had his revenge. The embarrassment he had suffered because of his accident on the first day of war could now be forgotten. His company had led the exploitation force through the break in the Libyans' line and had found the enemy counterattack force. In a matter of minutes it would all be over.
With the greatest of effort Saada pulled his eye away from the sight, stood upright and out of his hatch, and panned the field of battle. There was no need to worry about Libyan artillery. Even if the Libyan commander had the presence of mind at that moment to request artillery fire, the odds of hitting Saada's moving company were slim — very slim. So he exposed himself, standing waist high and upright in his open hatch. He scanned the scene from horizon to horizon. On his left and his right, other Egyptian tanks were firing. To his front, on the ridge, half a dozen Libyan tanks, victims of the first volley from Saada's tank company, were already burning. Of those that survived, half had stopped and were in the process of turning their turrets toward Saada's attacking company. Some of the Libyan tank commanders had turned their tanks and were charging head-on into Saada's formation. A few had turned and disappeared behind the far side of the ridge, a faint diesel-smoke plume marking where they had disappeared. It was obvious that the Libyan commander had lost all command and control, if ever he had had it. All that remained for Saada's company to do was to press home their attack with violence.
"Enemy tank ahead!" Saada's gunner had another target. Looking over to the loader to make sure he was ready, Saada dropped down. He didn't even look through the sight this time. He merely looked at the range, again pressed the last-retum button, and ordered the gunner to fire. Saada was standing upright when the gun fired.
This time he was pelted with sand kicked up by the muzzle blast.
He felt the wave of heat pass over him as the projectile cleared the main gun and released the expanding propellant gases. The gases, suddenly free of the confines of the gun tube, sped past the just-fired projectile, creating for an instant an orange ball of fire. In the twinkling of an eye the flash was gone.
And so was another Libyan tank. Saada watched as his round impacted on its target on the far ridge, creating a bright white flash. The Libyan tank shuddered and halted; black smoke began to pour from its engine compartment. But it did not explode, as the first tank had done. Not satisfied with a mobility kill, Saada ordered the gunner to reengage the tank. Without hesitation the gunner did so — to good effect: the second round ripped through the hull just below the turret ring, igniting fuel and ammo.
As their second victim began to bum, Saada all but bounced up and down with joy. All the fireworks displays he had ever seen as a boy paled in comparison to the spectacle before him. The sight of his tanks charging forth, throwing up great clouds of dust as they fired, the dazzling colors of red and orange created by burning and exploding tanks, and the resulting jet-black pillars of smoke from destroyed tanks against the brilliant blue sky produced a scene of beauty and destruction no artist could ever capture. In an instant Saada knew why veterans spoke of war in such reverent tones. It was the most awe-inspiring thing he had ever witnessed.