"I shouted 'You are bombing our forces'": Back to the 931st Battalion | Israel today

40 years since the most serious bilateral shooting incident in IDF history:

Today, four decades ago, on June 10, 1982, 24 fighters were killed and 108 wounded, when the Israeli Air Force accidentally bombed a convoy of Nahal fighters from the 931st Battalion and an armored force from the 572nd Battalion.

"At 12:05, 40 years ago, the June sun was burning and I was returning with 350 battalion soldiers from the attack at dawn on the Syrian anti-tank compound," recalled Maj. Gen. Yom Tov Samia, who was commander of the 931st Battalion in the First Lebanon War. From the APCs, thirsty and hungry and mostly satisfied to the sky with the success of the cracking of the Syrian compound. And from that sky, out of nowhere appeared four phantoms. The Star of David under the wings gave a fraction of a second of pride, and then ... Of fire, smoke, explosions, screams and especially shock, "he wrote.

Reconstructed documentation from the First Lebanon War // Photo: IDF Archives at the Ministry of Defense

"I, as a battalion commander under the age of 27," stop "our run 300 meters from the inferno. They came again, went down low. The alarm was picked up a split second before more bombs were dropped. They soared in pain and we ran to the inferno. Three hours of an aerial train evacuated and locating soldiers hiding among the rocks. .

"The brigade and division commanders went online and asked both of us to evacuate back to Israel. I vehemently refused and insisted on leaving the battalion on the battlefield and entering the attack that evening at 18:00. The tank battalion commander accepted the offer and returned to Israel," he said. - The soldiers and commanders who followed me to the next battle - prevented hundreds of battle and post-traumatic injuries in this act.

Very few line up in it.

And to this day we embrace the 13 bereaved families of our battalion.

May their memory be blessed forever and their heritage a candle in the ways of future generations. "

Maj. Gen. Samia, Photo: Dudu Greenspan

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