Tel Saki in southern Golan Heights is the site of one of the most famous battles of the Yom Kippur War. Every battle is hard and shocking, and this battle has become famous both because of a series of crazy events that happened in it and also because it was recently commemorated in the TV series "Sha’at Neyila".
In October 1973, when the Yom Kippur war broke out, Syrian forces broke through the border in the direction of the hill. A bloody horrific battle took place there in which 32 IDF soldiers were killed. 28 soldiers managed to hide in a small bunker. One of the wounded there who was injured and became deaf shouted that he wanted water. They tried to shout back at him to keep quiet because the Syrians would find them, but he did not hear and kept shouting. The commander decided that they should strangle him to save everyone. In the resourcefulness of the last minute, one of the fighters wrote on a note that the Syrians were surrounding them. Only when the deaf wounded read it, did he stop shouting.
The Syrians attacked the bunker, and the IDF commander asked the uninjured to come out and announce surrender. Corporal Yitzhak Nagdaker, who came out, lied to the Syrians that there were only 4 soldiers in the bunker and that he was the only one left alive. They believed him and so he saved all the soldiers hiding in the bunker.
The tour of the place is fascinating, important, and sad. Next to the bunker (which was replaced by a new bunker after the war), there is a monument in memory of the fallen. With the help of the flashlights on the phone, you can wander the underground part of the hill. In one of the rooms, there is a memorial room for the fallen. At the top of the hill, there is a 360-degree perimeter view of the entire area with a very clear view of Syria across the border.
For more trips in the area press here.
