Israel attacked Egypt on October 29, 1956, under a plan coordinated with Britain and France. Anglo-French air attacks and landings followed. The photographs here show the campaign and its aftermath, including scenes from November 1956 through January 1957.
The sequence moves from the carrier force to Port Said and then to withdrawal and prisoner exchange. Several records give only a month or a broad date range; those limits are retained rather than replaced with an invented day.
Topic: Cold War History
01 / 06
The carrier force
HMS Eagle leads Bulwark and Albion, three British carriers involved in the operation against Egypt. The photograph shows the force assembled for the campaign, though its catalog date spans several months. Carrier aircraft gave Britain reach over Egyptian territory; the ships could not provide the diplomatic support the operation lacked.
Royal Navy official photographer / Imperial War Museums, A 33601. Public domain; expired UK Crown copyright.
02 / 06
An aircraft prepared for a strike
A Hawker Sea Hawk of 899 Naval Air Squadron waits to launch from Eagle with rockets mounted beneath its wings. The archive identifies its mission as a strike on an Egyptian airfield. This belongs to the Anglo-French campaign after October 29, when the initial Israeli invasion had already begun.
Royal Navy official photographer / Imperial War Museums, A 33616. Public domain; expired UK Crown copyright.
03 / 06
Smoke beside the canal
Smoke rises from oil tanks beside the canal during the Anglo-French assault on Port Said. The exact date makes this image especially useful: it records the November attack, not the Israeli operation in Sinai a week earlier. The waterway and the inhabited port appear together in the same frame.
Fleet Air Arm official photographer / Imperial War Museums, MH 23509. Public domain; expired UK Crown copyright.
04 / 06
The forces meet in Port Said
British paratroopers and commandos meet near the Coast Guard barracks. Their vehicles include a captured Egyptian SU-100 and a Buffalo amphibious vehicle. The photograph records a tactical linkup in the city. Decisions being made outside Egypt would soon determine how long these troops could remain there.
Photographer not identified / Imperial War Museums, HU 4163. Public domain; expired UK Crown copyright.
05 / 06
Leaving Sinai
The Dutch National Archives identifies this scene as the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Egypt. Withdrawal was a process, not a single day that followed the ceasefire. Different areas were evacuated at different times, with the remaining Israeli departures completed in March 1957 under sustained international pressure.
Anefo’s record places this photograph at an exchange of Israeli and Egyptian prisoners near Rafah. Months after the invasion, the consequences of the war still required negotiations, transport and individual journeys home. The date belongs to the aftermath of Suez and should remain visible when the photograph is reproduced.
