Immediately after the UN imposed cease-fire, Egypt, Syria, and Israel all began to plan for the next round of fighting. For the Israelis, they had gained territory to use as a buffer zone against any future Arab attacks. They held the Sinai up to the east bank of the Suez Canal. On the Golan Heights, their lines extended from Mount Hermon in the north, to the old quarter of Jerusalem in the south. To bolster their defenses on the Golan Heights, they created all antitank barrier consisting of an anti-tank ditch, barbed wire, minefields, and prepared firing positions, running the length of their new border with Syria. In the Sinai, they put up a 60' wall of sand to hinder any crossing of the canal, and set up observation posts to monitor Arab activity, confident in their ability to detect any Arab buildup.
The Arabs, and in particular put a great deal of study into what they had done wrong in the previous wars, were they had failed so dismally. Every battle was analyzed in detail down to the company level. The Egyptians went as far as to draft college graduates into the army, greatly increasing their small unit leadership. The losses of the 1967 war were made good by the Soviet Union, and by the end of 1968, the Arabs were as strong as they were previously were, with the most modern equipment the Soviets could offer. Along with the hardware, Russian advisers by the hundreds were went to Egypt and Syria, and a complete makeover in the Soviet image was started. This being the height of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, both superpowers spared no expense in keeping their clients modernized. The Arabs received the new T-62 for their armored divisions, relegating the T-54's and t55's to the battalions of the infantry brigades.
What remained of the Su-100's, T-34's, and other old equipment were sold or given to other secondary Soviet satellites, including the PLO. The airforces were rebuilt with the latest version of the Russian aircraft industry, including, Mig 17's, 19's, and 21's, and SU-7 ground attack aircraft. Two other weapons systems that would have the most effect on the upcoming war were also bought in great quantity. A complete interlocking anti-aircraft system consisting of SAM guided missiles, and radar guided anti-aircraft guns, created a defensive umbrella to keep the Israeli Airforce from interfering with its ground forces. The second weapon that would cause the Israelis to change their tactical theories was advent of the Anti-Tank Guided Missile. Egypt had possessed a few Snapper ATGM's during the 1967 conflict, but there is no record of their use. But with the advent of the latest ATGM, the Sagger, the Egyptians felt they could effectively deal with the Israeli armored forces. Coupled with the hand held RPG-7 replacing the RPG-2 used earlier, and adding platoons of both the 83mm and 107mm recoilless rifles to the mix, created a Soviet style anti-tank barrier, that was certain to cause the Israelis severe problems trying to penetrate it.
The Jordanians still continued to purchase their military hardware from the West, switching from Great Britain to the United States as their primary supplier. While still purchasing the Centurion tank, they continued to use the M48A2, which was in plentiful supply, as several European countries upgraded their tank forces to more modern tanks, and sold the old ones off. In addition, they traded their wheeled English APC's for the more modern M-113. Larger and better artillery was ordered including the new M-109 SPG.
The Israelis continued to modernize as well. They continued to purchase M-48's on the world market, and well as refurbish a large number of Jordanian vehicles captured on the 1967 battlefields. These were brought up to M48 A3 standards, with diesel engines, and the 105mm L7 gun, built under license from Britain. The Centurions received the same treatment with the 105mm D gun, as well as a new diesel engine and co-incidence range finder The airforce received the A-4 Skyhawk and F-4 Phantom, both of which dramatically increased their ability to stri~e at enemy armor. The old ex-French aircraft were retired or sold off. New M-113 APC's from the USA replaced thie M-3 half-tracks in the first line units, although the M-3's and upgraded Shermans still made up a large share of the reserve armored brigades. The Israelis felt that they would be able to hold off the Arabs with their qualitative edge in equipment and training.
War of Attrition
Between 1968 and 1970, the Egyptians started what was known as the War of Attrition on the East bank of the Sinai desert. They daily bombarded the Israeli observation posts with long range artillery, trying to inflict casualties on the defenders. Commando raids were launched deep into the desert through helicopter borne raids, and well as infiltration raids. These served to harass the Israelis, and cause casualties, to which the Israeli public was very sensitive. In addition, they kept Israel mustering more of their reservists for longer periods of time, putting a severe strain on the Israeli economy.
The Israelis countered this artillery barrage by building outposts along the length of the canal. These originally were small sandbagged outposts, sole occupied with spotting Egyptian intrusions into the Israeli held territory. As the artillery barrages grew in strength and number, the Israelis were forced to build larger and stronger positions to protect the inhabitants. As the Egyptian commando raids grew in intensity, security troops were added as protection. Outdated tanks, especially those captured during the 1967 war were dug in to allow return fire across the canal.
A reporter, visiting one of these outposts, wrote an article dubbing these observation stations as the Bar-Lev ine, and the Israeli public was led to believe it had established a defensive perimeter not unlike the Maginot Line of WW II.
In theory, other than a few combat troops for local defense, there was no ability to counter an invasion. This was to be done by a few regular tank battalions stationed on an Israeli constructed road network about twenty miles east of the canal. This rapid response force was to race to the canal during times of crisis, and buy time for the reserves to be mobilized, and the brunt of the Israeli war machine to be brought up to seal the gap.
In August of 1970 Nasser died of a heart attack, and his successor, Anwar Sadat, took over. The Israelis viewed him as dull and unimaginative, but he continued Nasser plan to regaining the Sinai. The Americans sponsored a cease-fire that ended the War of Attrition. This enabled the Egyptians, along with the Syrians to complete their plan to retake the ground lost during the previous war. The Egyptians in particular had learned there lesson regarding fighting the Israelis. Extensive evaluation of their previous battles, resulted in the Egyptians revising their tactics, and having a limited objective in mind for their offensive. Instead of the destruction of the state of Israel, they would be content to win back a portion of the Sinai, and control of the Suez Canal. The Syrians concentrated on regaining the Golan Heights, although if they were successful in driving the Israelis from the heights, they would continue the offensive and drive to the Mediterranean Sea, cutting Israel in two. The Jordanians and Iraqis, while probably informed of the impending invasion, took no active part at the outset.
By planning their attack at the start of Yom Kippur (Friday evening), and the start of the Jewish Sabbath, the Arabs hoped to prolong the activation of the Israeli reserves. The Israelis only kept a few regular armored brigades on either front to blunt any attack, and would call up the reserve armored brigades for any counter attack.
The Israelis also had an intelligence breakdown. Their intelligence services failed to note the buildup of the Arab forces, and didn't predict the invasion until twenty-four hours before it actually happened. Even then, they assumed that this was to be a limited war of attrition, and not an all out offensive. For all practical purposes, the Israelis were caught flat footed and unprepared for the scope of the invasion when it actually happened.
Egyptian Plans
The Egyptians massed five infantry divisions on the Sinai front ready to cross the canal. Each of these units had additional anti-tank assets attached, all the way down to the squad level. These assets consisted of RPG-7 rocket launcher, the B-10 83mm Recoilless Rifles, the B-11 107mm Recoilless Rifle, and the Sagger guided missile. These weapons have overlapping ranges to give the infantry full coverage out to three thousand meters. The Egyptians were planning an attack along a 100 mile front, planning that the wide dispersal would hamper the outnumbered Israeli's to concentrate and react, and allow them to gain a defensive foothold across the canal. Each division deployed over 900 anti-tank weapons, giving a density of 90 weapons per mile, an exceptionally high concentration.
The actual breaching of the sand barriers had been rehearsed to the last detail on mockups the Egyptians had created. It was found that boats firing high-pressure water hoses could cut through the sand berms in a matter of hours. The Israeli observation posts on either side of a penetration were masked with smoke by artillery, and attacked with commando units to keep them from seeing the breaching operation. After the breach was created, the first wave of infantry went across on rafts, while engineers completed a pontoon bridge for the follow up waves of troops. The SAM missile umbrella extended out to protect the infantry as they advanced. Mobile SAM's and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (ZSU-23's & 57's) crossed over as soon as the bridges were completed to extend and strengthen this defensive belt.
Attack
The Egyptian attack started at 2:00 P.M. and was preceded by a rolling barrage of over 1000 guns, and attacks by 240 Egyptian fighter-bombers, hitting the Israeli airbases and transportation network to prevent the Israeli reserves from moving forward. Within 30 minutes, 8000 Egyptian troops armed with the above mentioned anti-tank weapons were across the 60 breaches that the Egyptians had made in the sand barrier. Several battalions of Egyptian commandos were helicoptered into the Sinai to hold the passes against the expected Israeli mobilization. Most of these were either shot down by Israeli aircraft or eliminated by Israeli patrols as they landed and had very little effect on the outcome. By the next morning, the Egyptians had all five divisions across as well as over 500 tanks. They dug in two miles beyond the canal and waited for the Israeli counterattack.
On the Egyptian front, the Israelis had three armored brigades each with about one hundred tanks deployed within twenty miles of the canal. The widespread attack, coupled with the confusion and uncertainty at the Israel HQ delayed their attack. In true Israeli fashion, when released, they charged towards the canal in an attempt to reach the strongpoints on the canal. As they neared the canal, they were ambushed by volleys of anti-tank fire. A few tanks, actually reached the canal, and caused some local disruptions to the Egyptian attack, but for the most part, the Israeli tanks failed miserably, and were forced to pull back. It should be noted that these Israeli formations were all tank formations with no infantry support, and what little artillery was attached to them was destroyed during the initial Egyptian air attack.
The Israelis pulled back to wait for more reserves and supporting arms, while the Egyptians consolidated their positions.
Syrian Front
On the Syrian front, the Syrians had built up behind their lines of defenses, and planned to use this as a launching point on the Israelis. The main defense was an anti-tank ditch that had to be crossed, after which they would have ideal tank country to maneuver and they attacked across the Golan heights, and down into Israel itself Their plan consisted of launching the 5'h, 7'h, and 9"' infantry divisions supported by one thousand tanks would breach an area roughly 20 miles in length. After penetrating the Israeli defenses, the 1st and 3rd armored divisions, each with over three hundred tanks, would burst forth and advance into Israel. These divisions were supported by a similar antiaircraft defense as that deployed by the Egyptians, as well as the best bridging equipment the Soviet Union could provide. As with the Egyptians, there attack would be proceeded by an air strike and artillery barrage from over a thousand tubes. As they had a large tank force, there were not as many additional anti-tank weapons distributed to the Syrian army.
The Syrian forces were opposed by two regular armored brigades with 175 tanks between them. As the initial air strikes attacked the Israeli HQ's, the tanks sped to their prepared firing ramps. The Syrians were already attempting to breach the anti-tank ditch with their bridging equipment as long columns of tanks and APCs lined up to exploit any successes by the bridgelayers. The Israelis concentrated on the bridgelayers, but as they exhausted their ammunition, ihey were forced back by sheer weight of numbers, and the Syrians started forcing their way across the Golan Heights as darkness fell. The Syrians had Infrared night fighting equipment on their Soviet T-62's and T-55's, while the Israelis had only regular searchlights, and were reduced to attempting ambushes from within yards of the Syrian Columns as they rolled by.
By dawn, Israel was down to about six tanks out of the original 175, and the Syrians were within ten minutes of climbing down the road into Israel, when the first mobilized reserve units arrived and counter-attacked the Syrians. The Syrians by this time were also exhausted from the constant fighting since the previous day, and coupled with their losses, began a retreat back towards their defensive lines. This engagement became known as the "Valley of Tears", and was the largest tank battle fought in history, surpassing even Kursk in the number of armored vehicles involved. The other significant engagement on this front involved a helicopter home raid by the Syrians against the observation stronghold on Mount Hermon, a 7000-foot peak that dominated the entire valley. The Syrians easily defeated the fifty-five Israelis defending the position, giving them a clear view of the entire valley, and all subsequent Israeli movement.
It should be noted that when both the Syrians and Egyptians were advanced, the Israeli Airforce immediately attacked the advancing armored columns as in the past. The modem air defense network, established by the Arabs, caused significant casualties to the point that air strikes against the armored attacks were halted. Once both fronts had stabilized, the Israeli Airforce, after consultation with their US allies, as well as the emergency delivery of some antiradiation missiles, dismantled the Arab anti-aircraft system, with the Syrian front the first to be defeated. They took out the main radar units, and then the individual weapon systems. As the various overlapped protection systems were neutralized, the entire system collapsed, and the Israeli airforce once again went over to supporting the ground war.
Israeli Offensive
With the Egyptians content to hold their current positions, and the arrival of several fresh reserve brigades (with artillery and infantry support), the Israelis went over to the offensive. They attacked the three defensive belts that the Syrians had created, and within twenty-four hours, supported by close air support, had breached the defenses, and were on the way to Damascus. Their initial plan was to get close enough to bring the city within artillery range. The Syrians, in an effort to blunt the Israeli offensive, threw in their two remaining armored divisions. These were badly handled by the Syrian command, and the Israelis destroyed them with little loss to themselves. While the Syrians were being destroyed, the Israel armored commander on the right flank, occupying some high ground on the Jordanian border noticed the arrival of a long line of Arab vehicles. This was the 12th Armored Brigade of the Iraqi 6th Armored division, which was completing a thousand-mile drive to get to the fighting. The Israelis maneuvered four tank battalions into a box type ambush. The Israeli ambush destroyed eighty T-62s within the first few minutes, and out flanked the Iraqi troops as they fled back across the Jordanian border, again virtually destroying the unit.
The Jordanian 40th Armored Brigade also launched an attack with its Centurion tanks, and this was beat back by the Israelis, destroying twenty Jordanian tanks in the process. The Jordanians and Iraqis then fled across the border to safety. Once within artillery range of Damascus, the Israelis halted and started to shift troops to the Sinai front to take on Egypt. The battle cost the Syrians 1200 tanks destroyed, with the Jordanians and Iraqis losing another 150 tanks. Losses of APCs and other vehicles were at least twice that number. The Israelis lost about 250 tanks, and since they controlled the battlefield, almost all of their tanks were repaired and sent back into service before the end of the war.
Egypt had accomplished its limited set of goals, and was content to let Israel's armor and airforce deplete itself against its defenses. Unfortunately for them, the losses incurred by its Arab partners on the Golan Heights put pressure on them to attack the Israelis and take pressure off of the Syrians. As with the Syrians, the Israeli Air Force had been systematically dismantling the Egyptian anti-aircraft network, and was not able to assist in defeating the Egyptian offensive. On October 14th, the 21st and 4th Egyptian armored divisions with 1200 T-62's between them advance out of the bridgehead. The Israelis still held the high ground, and were once again able to maneuver to the Egyptian flanks and inflict heavy casualties on the attacking tanks, destroying 300 tanks and hundreds of other APCs and other fighting vehicles. The Egyptians withdrew behind their anti-tank screen and awaited the Israeli counter attack.
The Israelis launched operation Gazelle by finding a weak spot in the area around the Great Bitter Lake. The Israelis were able to cross the canal after some of the hardest fighting of the war. Pouring armor across the bridges, they fanned out into the Egyptian rear, destroying the infrastructure, and well as all of the SAM missile sites. They eventually were able to completely encircle the Egyptian 3rd Army. Egyptian morale began to crumble, and the
Israelis were becoming hard pressed to continue the momentum. Under pressure, first from Russia, and then the United States, the combatants met under a UN treaty flag, agreed to a truce, and the war was over.
In the end, the war cost the Arab powers over 2500 modern tanks, destroyed thousands of APCs, guns, and support vehicles. The Arab Air Forces lost 450 aircraft and many of their best-trained pilots, as well as thousands of troops. Under the auspices of a Jihad or holy war, contingents from Morocco, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Algeria,
Sudan, Libya, Kuwait, and Pakistan, joined Egypt and Syria on the Arab side.
Estimates of Israeli losses were harder to determine. As much as half of its tank force wasKnocked out, but as they controlled the battlefield, many of their tanks were repaired and put back into the fighting. They suffered around, 2500 dead, and lost over 100 aircraft. Many other support vehicles were also lost during the fighting.
In the end, the war cost both sides heavily. The Arabs not only failed to regain their martial pride and recover their lost ground, suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of its archenemy. The war caused severe repercussions for the Israelis, as the ruling government was hard pressed to explain how the Israelis were caught unawares by the Arab attack. Many experienced combat veterans from both sides were killed, and the most serious war to date between the Arabs and Israel caused both sides to sit back and evaluate their futures. While Syria and Israel would clash later in Lebanon, the Egyptians eventually recognized Israel through the Camp David Peace Treaty, and have not fought the Israelis since.
One of the sidelights of the war was the participation of the United States and Russia. They were able to test their latest equipment and doctrine in combat conditions. At the same time, they used to war to further their own political agendas throughout the world. The new technologies were evaluated, new tactics studied and devised, and planning for the future began. Once again, both the Arabs and Israelis received replacements for their material losses within months from their respective benefactors. The Egyptians in particular, left the Russian camp over the next years, and started replacing the its Soviet equipment with western equipment (if you can't beat them, join them). Jordan, after being drawn into two wars not of their choosing, never again have gone to war with Israel. As much of the old equipment on both sides was replaced by modern equivalents, this old equipment found its way to the various regional militias, especially in Lebanon, fueling the crisis there in the early eighties, but that is another story.
Another sidelight of the Yom Kippur War, as it came to be known by, was the first naval battle fought with surface to surface missiles, launched from ships. The battle of Latakia involved Israel missile boats against the Syrian Navy's patrol boats. The Israeli Gabriel missile outperformed the Russian Styx missiles, and the Israelis sank several Syrian vessels with no loss to themselves.
The 1973 Arab-Israeli War TO&Es (slow: 245K)
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