Bloddy Crossroads: Race for Bir Lahfan
5 June 1967
Mein Panzer Game scenario
10/03/2026
We had a game day at a good friends house last Saturday. I ran a newly written scenario called "Bloody Crossroads: Race for Bir Lahfan".
Historical background
Bir Lahfan was one of the important armored actions on the Sinai front during the opening 24–30 hours of the Six-Day War. It is sometimes overshadowed by Rafah, El Arish, and Abu Ageila, but operationally it was extremely important because possession of the Bir Lahfan road junction allowed the Israelis to interfere with Egyptian movement between El Arish, Jebel Libni, and Abu Ageila.
Three operationally important approaches met in the area:
- north/northwest toward El Arish
- southwest toward Jebel Libni
- southeast toward Abu Ageila
Whoever controlled Bir Lahfan could interfere with Egyptian forces trying to move laterally between the northern and central Sinai fronts. The Egyptians regarded the path across the supposedly impassable dune belt → Bir Lahfan → Jebel Libni as unsuitable for a major armored advance.
Ugdah Yoffe (31st Armored Division) specifically the 200th Armored Brigade (Col. Yissachar "Yiska" Shadmi) was given this challenge. Brigade moved through the dune region generally associated with Wadi Haridin. The going was extremely slow. Sources describe the brigade taking roughly: 9 hours to cover approximately 35 miles / 50–55 km. The Centurion's cross-country mobility was important, but Israeli reconnaissance and route selection were equally important. Minefields and difficult ground slowed the advance further. This maneuver effectively put an Israeli armored force behind the Egyptian forward defensive system.
By approximately 1845 on 5 June, Shadmi's leading elements were around the Bir Lahfan road network. Reaching the vicinity near darkness and establishing blocking positions across the approaches linking El Arish — Bir Lahfan — Jebel Libni — Abu Ageila. They set up ambush positions catching reinforcement elements from Egypt's 3rd Infantry Division, 4th Armored Division, and 14th Independent Armored Brigade. Egypt was moving these elements north and east to bolster the battles at El Arish and Abu Ageila.
The next day elements from the 7th Armored Brigade driving south from El Arish linked up with the 200th Armored Brigade. The Israeli Airforce (IAF) also joined in driving the Egyptian forces back west. This secured the operations taking place in the northern and southern portions of the Sinai.
My scenario
Bloody Crossroads: Race for Bir Lahfan is a heavily modified version of the historical battle. Meaning pretty much that a battle took place at the location and the forces that fought are represented. Other than that I've monkeyed around a bit with the engagement type and time period of the day.
My scenario is designed to be a meeting engagement (vs the historical ambush) type. The time period is late afternoon/dusk (vs the evening/late night). My reason for this is I wanted a game that I could take to a gaming convention, help new players learn the Mein Panzer rule system, avoid as many advance rules as possible while still giving a "combined arms" feel, and making this as fun for the players as possible. After all who doesn't like killing tanks!!
As this was a playtest game we spent more time on scenario setup and development. This included getting folks like me back into the actual rule interpretation and understanding. (It's been a minute or three since I actually played). At conventions, I generally wing it to keep the game rolling. Here we actually followed the rules! (what a concept, I know) The Egyptians got the the crossroads first but see how there's not a lot of cover were pretty exposed to Israeli fire. The Israeli's didn't know but their mortar fire on a certain hilltop kept the Egyptian infantry pinned w/o actually hitting them. We had to call it a little early due to other time commitments. I'm pretty sure the Israeli force would have given the Egyptians a run once they got up to the crossroads.
The pictures are in the gallery
Couple of my favorite
