Motivation in the eyes and a desire to win: Colonel Benny Aharon, commander of the 401st Brigade, was on vacation when the rockets began flying on the communities near the Gaza Strip. Very quickly the report of terrorist squads infiltrating Israel reached him. He realized that this was a big event and went on a conference call with other commanders.
The entry of terrorists from the Gaza Strip into the envelope
A few minutes later, when more and more reports began about terrorist infiltration throughout the envelope, Colonel Aharon decided not to wait for orders 8 or orders and to declare a transition from routine to emergency and combat format.
Did not wait for orders 8
"I ordered the tanks to be prepared and the fighters alerted. My brigade consists of battalions of regulars and battalions of reservists. At the same time that the tanks were loaded onto transporters, we ordered the tanks that were at the Nahsholim base to travel on caterpillars to the Gaza envelope. On the road, on the ground, the main thing is to get there as quickly as possible. I got into vehicles and drove with my fighters to the Gaza envelope."
At the same time, Col. Aharon began calling friends serving on the Gaza border and understood from them that the communities in the envelope were being occupied by hundreds of terrorists.
"His fighters got into vehicles and moved towards the Gaza envelope. We called more fighters and reservists to a gathering place, loaded them together with military vehicles onto a Hercules plane that landed at one of the air force bases in the south, and from there we began driving towards the envelope."
Day of fighting near the Gaza Strip – exchanges of fire, roadblocks and falls // Photo: Shmuel Buchris
"We loaded equipment onto trucks, tanks, buses. Everything that was available. I explained to the soldiers that there was no need to wait for an orderly order, that we were in a state of war and that we had to get to the field. To strive for contact when the first task is to kill the terrorists."
Non-stop shooting
Colonel Aharon arrived at Sa'ed Junction and noticed a tank from the 77th Battalion. "I got on the tank and we started moving, all the way we were getting shot by terrorists who were scattered around the area. We fired back at them and killed many of them. We drove on the road from Sa'ed Junction to the area of Be'eri Grove. We saw a lot of terrorists and fired at them, but then the tank ran out of gas. I got out of the tank and met some Givati soldiers there. I phoned Battalion Commander Shaked and we continued driving. On the way, we spotted our tank that had come under anti-tank fire and was abandoned."
"We went inside and he was a dead soldier. The rest of the tank crew were not there. I called my friend from reserve brigade commander Nissim Hazan. He arrived quickly and together we repaired the damaged tank. Some of the soldiers we met didn't have weapons. They had to take the weapons of the dead soldiers we saw on the ground."
IDF soldiers in the village of Gaza, photo: AP
"We evacuated the dead and got on the tank and started driving towards the Gaza envelope. We realized that there was a very significant event in Bari and we drove in that direction. There were a lot of terrorists there, they shot us, so we ran over some of them and entered the community, firing at us with RPGs. We saw a lot of terrorists in the neighborhood. The darkness had already fallen and Nissim Hazan took it upon himself to conduct the fighting."
By that time, the transporters of the tanks loaded in the north had already reached the south. Col. Aharon found several soldiers from the company and asked them for a ride to Sa'ed Junction to join his fighters and reservists.
"We started assigning tasks. The division commander called me and told me that there were a lot of terrorists at the Sderot police station. I picked up the phone to a friend and asked him to get me a tank. And indeed, after a short time we reached the Sderot junction, where a tank was waiting with fighters, reserve soldiers I don't know. We started driving on the main bush and joined the SWAT unit. We arrived at the police station, which was full of terrorists who had barricaded themselves there."
Soldiers in the village of Gaza, photo: AFP.
"They fired at us nonstop, we fired 20 shells at them. It took us four hours until all the terrorists were destroyed. All the way I fought with people I don't know but who are motivated people, tankists, squeaks, cops. People went for the bad guns and decided to win."
Even now, four days after the war began, Col. Benny Aharon is on the ground with motivation in his eyes and mainly a desire to win. "We are motivated in heaven. We want to fight, we are ready to fight. It is important that the parents of our fighting children know that they are in the right place and that they are heroes and that the mission must be completed."
"We want to win, defeat Hamas and we promise to do it. We have a national responsibility on our shoulders, we have a burden of 200 tons on our shoulders and we will win."
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