SAM SUCCESSES AND A MIG DEBACLEdivizyon ranges might account for both planes’ being claimed twice. Dayan con-
firmed in 1973 that “we lost three Phantoms” in this action.^49 In addition, an
upgraded Super-Mystère was hit by anti-aircraft gunfire on the night of Popov’s move
(31 July), and this time the pilot did abandon it over Israeli territory; this may be the
Mirage that Popov claimed later.^50 Both Popov and Kutyntsev were first recom-
mended for the Order of Lenin and ultimately made Heroes of the Soviet Union,
even though the latter’s battery had been responsible for the early shootdown of an
Eg yptian Il-28. Their commander Smirnov listed a total of 166 officers and men who
received various decorations for combat in Kavkaz.^51
By the time Popov’s divizyon was relieved for rest and refitting at its base camp near
Lake Qarun in the rear, the ceasefire had gone into effect and, as the brigade politruk
Logachev relates, “UN checkpoints were posted on the highways. But officially we
weren’t present in Eg ypt at all. Therefore the divizyon pulled back not on the
Ismailia–Cairo highway but over caravan trails.”^52 The Soviets would be less reticent
about moving other SAM units into the canal zone.