and destroyed them in early September 1955. On September 21, Israel sent a force into the zone and evicted Egyptian military personnel stationed adjacent to the UN headquarters, injuring two. The IDF vacated the zone after securing an agreement from the Egyptians not to interfere with the border marking endeavor. However, Egypt now demanded the expulsion of all Israeli presence, civilian as well as military, from the demilitarized zone in order to establish facts concerning sovereignty. Battle By October 1955 tensions along the Egyptian-Israeli border were palpably high. Egypt had initiated a blockade of the Gulf of Eilat, preventing Israeli shipping from entering. She had also signed a military pact with Syria and announced a major arms deal with the Soviets that according to U.S. intelligence estimates, "substantially increased the risk of Egyptian-Israeli hostilities." In addition, Egypt continued to sponsor fedayeen terrorist infiltrations into Israel. Against this backdrop, tensions rose significantly with an Egyptian raid on October 26 against the small Israeli post at Be'erotaim that resulted in the killing of one Israeli soldier and the capture of two others. In addition, a large force of Egyptian soldiers reinforced with artillery, armor and anti-aircraft cannon, took up positions on both sides of the demilitarized zone near Sabcha and Ras-Siram. Elements of the Egyptian force penetrated one kilometer into Israeli territory and entrenched themselves near a strategic hill, code-named “Lilly” by the Israelis. Israel's response to the Egyptian provocation was swift but took place in an unexpected sector. On October 28–29, a force of some 200 IDF soldiers under the command of Ariel Sharon attacked an Egyptian military position at Kuntilla, one-hundred miles south of the Nitzana/Auja demilitarized zone, near the Israeli port of Eilat. The Egyptian post was destroyed. Twelve Egyptian soldiers were killed and another twenty-nine were taken prisoner for the loss of two Israelis. The Kuntilla raid, code-named Operation Egged, merely served as a diversion for the main Israeli assault on Egyptian emplacements in and around Sabcha. Operation Volcano began on November 2 at 20:00 hrs. A force of paratroops from the 890th Battalion augmented by a Nahal company attacked the Egyptian emplacements at Sachba while units from the Golani Brigade's 12th Battalion attacked Egyptian emplacements at Ras-Siram. The attack was supported by mortar and artillery fire. The mission was completed in the early morning hours of November 3 and all the targeted Egyptian emplacements were destroyed. Eighty-one