The 1967 Arab-Israeli war came about as a continuation of hostilities stemming from the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, and the Suez war of 1956. President Nasser of Egypt, still angry from his defeat at the hands of Britain, France, and Israel during the war, kept the Israel issue alive in the Egyptian press, and made it a focal point to draw attention away from other problems which threatened to undermine his regime. The Egyptian press conducted an ongoing, anti-Semitic campaign, with the aim of getting the Arab world united against Israel. Nasser hoped to start a war, which would remove Israel as a country once and forever. Syria had her own problems with Israel. Israel was formulating a plan to divert water from the Sea of Galilee to the Negev desert in an effort to create an agricultural zone to increase the fertile area she possessed. Syria, afraid that Israel would draw off water needed by the Arab nations, initiated her own plans to divert the headwaters of the Jordan River before they entered the Sea of Galilee, rendering the Israeli plan obsolete. This resulted in ail escalation of skirmishes from 1964-1967. This usually took the form of long-range tank fire aimed at destroying the Syrian construction equipment, thereby preventing the diversion of the Jordan River. The third major catalyst was the PLO, which began conducting over the border raids against Israeli civilian targets from Syria and Jordan. This led to counter raids from Israel, and the situation continued to escalate. Syria, in an effort to get the ball rolling, fed Egypt information that Israel had 11 brigades of troops massed upon the Syrian-Israeli border (they actually had a company). During May, 1967, Egypt transferred two divisions into the Sinai desert, causing the Israelis to mobilize a reserve brigade. Nasser then had the UN observers removed from the Sinai, and on May 20th, announced that Egypt would close the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, knowing this would precipitate an attack from Israel. Only the promise of the United States to intervene with Egypt on Israel's behalf prevented the start of the war. On May 30th, King Hussein of Jordan flew to Cairo to sign a joint defense pact with Egypt. Iraq and Saudi Arabia announced intentions to send troops and tanks to attack Israel through Jordan. By this time, Israel had fully mobilized its armed forces, which was causing a severe economic drain on its economy. Arab Coalition Israel now found herself arrayed against the following Arab forces. Egypt had deployed 9 divisions on the Sinai front including 800 tanks plus 100 reserves (300 T-34/85, 400 T-54/55, 100 SU-100, and 100 JS-3 and T-10). To counter this, the Israelis deployed 7 armored battalions (350 Centurions/ 105 mm, 200 Shermans, 100 AMX-13/75mm, and 100 M-48A2 Patton), 5 mechanized infantry battalions, and 8 artillery battalions (7-105mm & 1-155mm). On the Jordanian front, the Jordanians deployed nine infantry brigades, and two armored brigades with a total of 150 M-47 & M-48 Pattons (90mm gun), and 100 Centurion MK-5 (83mm gun). The Iraqi also deployed an armored brigade with 100 T-34/85's. The Israelis countered with 5 infantry brigades, I mechanized brigade, and three armored battalions with 100 Shermans, and 50 AMX-13/75mm. The Syrians deployed six infantry brigades, I mechanized brigade, and 2 armored brigades with 220 T-54/55, 150 T-34/85, 50 SU-100, and 30 Pzkw-IVG with an additional 200 tanks in reserve, mostly T-34/85. The Israelis were able to deploy four infantry brigades, I mechanized brigade with 25 Shermans, and an armored brigade with 25 Shermans and 25 AMX-131 75mm. In addition, the Arab confederation could send about 850 modern jet aircraft against the Israeli's 350 aircraft, of which only 200 were considered modern jets. The flight time to Israeli airspace was a matter of minutes for the Arab air forces. As the scope of the Arab deployment became apparent, the Israeli government concluded that only a preemptive strike would ensure the survival of the state of Israel. On June fifth, 185 aircraft headed for the Egyptian airfields. The strike was timed to arrive after the morning fighter patrol had landed, and about fifteen minutes before the Egyptian general staff reported. For the loss of 19 aircraft, the Israeli Airforce destroyed 197 Egyptian aircraft, made 6 airbases inoperable, and took out 16 radar stations. The aircraft were rearmed and refueled in an average of 7 1/2 minutes and again sent against Egypt. The second strike attacked fourteen of the remaining airfields, destroying an additional 107 aircraft. The only airbase not put out of action during these two attacks was at El Arish, which was taken by Israeli ground forces 48 hours later and used by them to stage to the canal. Later airstrikes were turned towards the Jordanian and Syrian fronts, and by the end of the day, the entire Arab Air Forces were destroyed, and Israel had complete control of the air for the rest of the war. The ground war was initiated simultaneously with the first air strikes. Israel regarded Egypt as its main threat, and placed severity five percent of its forces (including its best troops and equipment) on this front. The Egyptians had previously relied oil Great Britain for their military equipment, organization, and training, had turned to the Soviet Union after the 1956 war, adopting both Soviet equipment and doctrine. The equipment was as good or better as that used by the Israelis, but the Soviet doctrine at this time was geared towards offensive operations with massed armor. The Egyptians used this offensively oriented organization, and set up a series of battalion and brigade sized outposts in the Sinai desert, attempting to control the important road junctions and passes through the hills. These generally were based upon infantry formations, with trenches, gun positions, minefields, and barbed wire, augmented by mortars, artillery pieces, and anti-tank guns. Other than the SU-100 assault guns and the Archer tank destroyers, the armor was held in the rear, far enough away to offer timely support. While there were several anti-tank assets in these formations, their tank killing ability was generally poor. The Israeli ground forces crossed the border with the first airstrike, advancing upon the major road net, along the coastal road to the north, through the Mittla passes, and down towards Sharm-el-Sheikh in the Gulf of Aqaba. The key battle of the war was the defensive works at Abu-Agheila, a brigade sized defensive compound, arranged in a Soviet style defense in depth. Three infantry battalions were spread across a five-kilometer front, with three defensive trench lines, augmented by bunkers, dug in tanks and guns, concrete fortifications, minefields and barbed wire. They were supported by six battalions of artillery, with a tank brigade situated six kilometers to the rear. Both flanks were protected by sand dunes considered impassable by the Egyptians. To take this the Israeli's attacked with three battalions of paratroopers, supported by six battalions of artillery, and directly supported by Sherman tanks. They airlifted a commando unit behind the position, which was able to attack and neutralize the Egyptian artillery. A battalion of Centurion tanks with superior cross-country mobility was able to cross the sand dunes on the north side and set up in the rear of the position. This enabled them to ambush the Egyptian armor as it rolled forward, and also enabled the position to be attacked from the rear. After a long, hard fight, the third trench was breached, and the Egyptians fled into the desert. Once this defensive line had been breached, the Israelis fanned out over the road net, and along with the airforce, were able to destroy the various Egyptian formations that tried to stem the tide. On the 6th of June, the Israelis attacked the main Egyptian armor base at Bir Gafgafa, and in the final large armor battle of the campaign, defeated the Egyptian 4h Armored Division. With each defeat, the Egyptian morale crumbled. The Egyptians fled, attempting to cross the canal. By the third day, June 7th, the Israeli columns had reached the canal, and the only fighting was a mopping up action against Egyptian stragglers. Jordan and Jerusalem The Israelis had sent the Jordanians a message that if they would not attack Israel, they would not be drawn into the war. Jordan chose to believe some wildly optimistic reports from Nasser, and launched airstrikes into Israel, and started his armored columns towards the border. Israeli airstrikes decimated his armored brigades as well as those of the Iraqi expedition force, and prevented any attempt by Jordan to cross the border. The Israelis did take advantage of the Jordanian incursion to launch an attempt to recapture the old city of Jerusalem, which they lost to the Arab Legion during the War of Independence in 1948. The Israelis transferred several paratroop units from the Sinai, where they were no longer needed, to the Jerusalem sector for this particular purpose. With a few Sherman tanks in support, they fought their way into the city and drove the Jordanians out. The two Jordanian battalions assigned to defend Jerusalem were the elite units of the Jordanian army, and it took a great deal of hard fighting and a lot of casualties before the city was secured. The two most important battles were for the Jordanian Police Station, a masonry fortress, and the battle for Ammunition Hill, where the defending Jordanian force died to a man, rather than surrender. Only the timely arrival of a few Sherman tanks at the end of the battle enabled the position to be taken. These battles were quite small, and generally fought with mostly infantry, and would make good skirmish battles, or company/platoon level engagements. The final part of the campaign was the assault on Samaria and the Golan Heights north of Jerusalem. As with the recapturing of Jerusalem, the Israelis took the opportunity to create a buffer zone between the coastal settlements and the Jordanian and Syrian armies. The Jordanian held city of Tulkarm was only 8 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. The Israelis felt that the Jordanians could cut the country in two any time they wanted to. Samaria, or the West Bank of the Jordan River, as is it better known, was defended by the Jordanian 25th Infantry Brigade, with support form two companies of 12'h Tank Battalion (M-47 Pattons), and a regiment of artillery. As Israel launched her attack, Jordan began to shell the Israeli territory the bordered the Mediterranean Sea, taking several air bases under fire, and generally making life miserable for the Israeli Army. As such, the Israeli mounted an attack, on the evening June 5'h against Jordanian positions in the Dotan valley. Against the above mentioned troops, the Israelis could only commit one mechanized brigade (two armored infantry battalion, and a tank battalion with Sherman M-50, three 120mm Mortar batteries, and a recon company on jeeps. After defeating, the Jordanians, and over-running the artillery positions, the Jordanians brought in the 401h Armored Brigade with eighty-eight M-48 Patton tanks in a two pronged assault, one battalion frontally, and one from the flank. Ile Shermans managed to stop the attack finally at point-blank range, and with the arrival of the Israeli Air Force, and a reserve mechanized brigade with a battalion of AMX-75's, attacked into the rear of the Jordanian tanks, and sent the Jordanians into a full retreat. Out of the 40th Armored Brigade's original eighty-eight tanks, only eight battered machines crossed the Jordan River to safety. Golan Heights The Syrian controlled Golan Heights ran about 80 kilometers along the border with Israel. The Heights are made tip of volcanic rock, and rose as a steep incline up from the Mediterranean Sea. There are only three passable roads to traverse this area. The Syrians had used these heights to shell the Israeli settlements for years. To this end, they had heavily fortified all three roads, using concrete bunkers, minefields, dug in tanks, and anti-tank weapons. . These fortifications held four infantry brigades, with four armored brigades stationed behind them to exploit the Israeli territory below should war come. Any enemy unit attempting to climb the Golan Heights would me subject to a murderous fire, and the only way to fight was a frontal assault. Due to the nature of the terrain, the Israeli Airforce was unable to destroy the bunkers. The only way was by direct assault. The Syrians, after egging on the Egyptians to start the war, contented themselves with shelling the Israeli settlements. They made one attack against two kibbutzes, that was repulsed. The Syrians then dug in and waited, content to let the other Arab countries bear the brunt of the fighting. As with the Jordanians, the Israelis were not going to miss the opportunity to widen the buffer zone, and remove their settlements from artillery range, destroying the Syrian Army in the process. On June 8th, after the other Arab participants had been routed, the Israeli Airforce turned their attention to the Syrian Army. The four armored brigades behind the lines were literally destroyed in place, but in spite of many sorties against them, the concrete bunkers continued to hold out. Heavy anti-aircraft fire destroyed several Israeli jets, so the task of taking the territory and fortifications fell to the Israeli Army. For this mission, they had available the Golani Infantry Brigade (Israel's most elite infantry formation), 8th Armored Brigade (with one armored infantry battalion in M-3 half-tracks, and 2 Sherman Battalions, not at full strength), and the remnants of the Sherman and AMX-75 Brigade which' had chewed up the Jordanian 40th Armored brigade. The battle was one of frontal assault. The tanks and half-tracks would advance until stopped by enemy fire and minefields. The infantry would deploy and assault the Syrian positions, and once taken, would repeat it up the roads until they finally reached the plateau above the Jordan valley, At this point, the Syrian morale collapsed, and the remnants of the Syrian Army went in full retreat towards Damascus, thirty miles away. At this point, Russia intervened with the UN on behalf of her client states, and a cease-fire ended the war. Summary In summary, the Israeli Army won for several reasons. On their side, they had the initial surprise. This enabled them to eliminate the opposing air forces, and then pin enemy armored units in place and weaken if not outright destroy them. While their tanks and APC's were inferior in general to the Arab equipment, Israeli training, especially in long range gunnery gave a decided edge in the tank vs. tank encounters at every level. The Israeli's, due to the reserve nature of their army, relied on mobility, and were able to be flexible in their approach and change plans as opportunities arose. The Israeli army of 1967 was an armor driven force, with high quality infantry and supporting arms. Their junior officers and NCO's were superior in every aspect to their Arab counterparts, and were able to make tactical decisions on the spot, whereas the Arab armies usually followed a rigid plan of action. Their inability to react to Israeli moves, especially tactically, would result in the collapse of their positions once their defenses were breached. Their attacks, when mounted, were usually uncoordinated, and were easily beaten off by the Israelis. The Arab armies were an infantry-based army. Their infantry and supporting arms usually fought well, and were of better quality and training than their armored forces. The armored units, in spite of better equipment, tended to fail from poor training, poor morale, and inflexibility to the changes required by modern warfare. This war is very comparable to the fall of France in 1940, where a more mobile, highly motivated, highly trained army was able to defeat a larger, static army, with better equipment, in a matter of days. The 1967 Arab-Israeli War TO&Es (very slow: 374K) Back to Dispatch February 2001 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by HMGS Mid-South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com