forces. Meanwhile, the 81st Battalion reached Serabaeum where they established defenses, mainly at a position south of the railway station, at a hill called Orcha by the Israelis. At this point, only these two paratrooper battalions were positioned between Sharon's division and the Ismailia Canal. During the afternoon that day, Egyptian Chief-of-Staff Saad el-Shazly arrived at Second Army Headquarters in Ismailia, at President Sadat's request. Shazly sought to assess the situation and to work with Khalil on a plan to counter the Israeli advance. They agreed to withdraw the 15th Armored Brigade from the east bank and keep it north of Ismailia as a reserve force, and to have Egyptian forces on the east bank attack southward to sever or at least narrow the Israeli corridor to the canal. Azmy's brigade meanwhile would continue defending the area south of the Ismailia Canal, and additional Sa'iqa units would be committed. Shazly also solved a major problem concerning anti-tank weaponry. Azmy's brigade was almost completely lacking anti-tank weapons; it had been stripped of its anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) battalion, equipped with AT-3 Saggers and RPG-7s, which was sent to the east bank to support the initial offensive. This battalion, and a second belonging to the 118th Infantry Brigade, were now withdrawn from the east bank throughout October 18 and brought back to their units. Shazly and Khalil carried out these orders in relative secrecy, as they were disobeying direct orders from Sadat and the Minister of War, Ahmed Ismail, not to withdraw any units from the east bank. Several measures decided upon were not implemented however. Second day Amnon Reshef's armored brigade completed its crossing that morning, and joined Sharon's division, just as the latter received actual approval to begin an offensive toward Ismailia. In the meantime, the 85th Battalion had completed reorganizing at Inshas Base and returned to Ismailia, where it was placed under Azmy's command once again. The 129th Sa'iqa Group retreated to Abu Suweir, north of Ismailia, to reorganize, and Heikal was also informed of his group's new area of operations, with the objective of defending the Upper Bridge, and the crucial Cairo-Ismailia Desert Road that incorporated the bridge. Sharon ordered Matt to push northward to Serabaeum again, where paratroopers of the 81st Battalion were occupying defenses. The attack failed once more, and Sharon now sent Reshef on Matt's left flank. Using a battalion of some thirty tanks with