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127-500: Egyptian front International front The Ofira Air Battle was one of the first air battles of the Yom Kippur War . On 6 October 1973, Egypt launched a massive surprise attack on Israel that included over 200 Egyptian aircraft participating in an opening airstrike. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) Base Ofira at Sharm el-Sheikh came under attack by 20 Egyptian Air Force MiG-17s and their eight MiG-21 escorts. Not realizing

254-517: A Sidewinder missile. He turned back toward the base and crossed the path of two MiGs bombing it. These rose and flew away. The base's MIM-23 Hawk battery held fire to avoid hitting the Israeli aircraft, and two MiGs dived down to destroy it. Nahumi started to chase the leading MiG flying as low as possible and fired his M61 Gatling gun but missed. The MiG aborted its bombing mission. Nahumi tried to chase it, but found out his left engine had suffered

381-457: A compressor stall , presumably following a cannon burst. After a short period of flying on one engine he managed to restart the engine and broke away from the MiG to attack its partner's tail. The MiG turned sharply toward him. Nahumi pulled up until he was facing the MiG and shot it down as it passed by. The second MiG fled. Nahumi then saw another pair of MiG-17s attacking a communications unit near

508-534: A Middle East war, and on 6 October 1973, Kissinger sent a further dispatch discouraging a preemptive strike. Israel was totally dependent on the United States for military resupply and sensitive to anything that might endanger that relationship. At 10:15 am, Meir met with American ambassador Kenneth Keating to inform him that Israel did not intend to preemptively start a war and asked that American efforts be directed at preventing war. Kissinger urged

635-554: A cautious counterattack for the following day by Avraham Adan 's 162nd Armored Division . The same day, the IAF carried out Operation Tagar , aiming to neutralize Egyptian Air Force bases and its missile defense shield. Saad El Shazly Saad el-Din Mohamed el-Husseiny el-Shazly ( Arabic : سعد الدين محمد الحسيني الشاذلي , IPA: [sæʕd edˈdiːn elħoˈseːni eʃˈʃæzli] )‎ (1 April 1922 – 10 February 2011)

762-515: A defensive line called Bar Lev Line that was strengthened with several fortresses at the eastern bank of the Suez canal that is separating the Israeli army from the Egyptian one. It also built a sand barrier 17 meters high at the canal shores to refrain any attempt to cross the canal by the Egyptian army. At 2 pm 6 October 1973 , under General Shazly's command, 200 Egyptian aircraft skimmed low over

889-543: A directive clarifying the manner in which soldiers perform their combat duties during the October 1973 war. Guidance 41 is what was implemented in October war operations, and the plan succeeded with overwhelming success. This directive started by placing all problems and difficulties of Egyptian plan to cross the canal and destroy the Bar Lev Line in front of the working group which had to set solutions to each problem. It

1016-633: A foothold on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal and use it to negotiate the return of the Sinai Peninsula . The war started on 6 October 1973, when the Arab coalition launched a surprise attack on Israel during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur , which coincided with the 10th day of Ramadan . The United States and Soviet Union engaged in massive resupply efforts for their allies (Israel and

1143-502: A halt by a fresh ceasefire on 24 October. Anticipating a swift Israeli armored counterattack by three armored divisions, the Egyptians had armed their assault force with large numbers of man-portable anti-tank weapons— rocket-propelled grenades and the less numerous but more advanced Sagger guided missiles, which proved devastating to the first Israeli armored counterattacks. Each of the five infantry divisions that were to cross

1270-633: A junior officer proposed using high pressure water cannons. The idea was tested and found to be a sound one, and several high pressure water cannons were imported from Britain and East Germany. The water cannons effectively breached the sand walls using water from the canal. At 2:00 pm on 6 October, Operation Badr began with a large airstrike. More than 200 Egyptian aircraft conducted simultaneous strikes against three airbases, Hawk missile batteries, three command centers, artillery positions, and several radar installations. Airfields at Refidim and Bir Tamada were temporarily put out of service, and damage

1397-586: A limited scale after the Six-Day War and escalated into the War of Attrition , an attempt to wear down the Israeli position through long-term pressure. In December 1970, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had signaled in an interview with The New York Times that, in return for a total withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, he was ready "to recognize the rights of Israel as an independent state as defined by

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1524-473: A mixed unit of one infantry battalion, two Sa'ka (Thunderbolt) battalions, and one tank battalion. Following the initial air raid and subsequent superiority of the Israeli Air Force (IAF), the Egyptian command had given a chaotic order for all of its troops to retreat westward which would cause most of them to be mopped by the IAF, especially after most communications were lost between the troops and

1651-457: A natural barrier, while the transportation lines through the bridges erected in the canal will be at the mercy of the Israeli air force. After lengthy discussions between Shazly and Muhammwd Sadiq, Shazly reached a compromise, which is the preparation of two plans, the first aimed at occupying the Straits, which he called Operation 41 and the second aimed at seizing the Bar Lev Line and called it

1778-419: A permanent peace settlement and a demilitarization of the returned territories. This decision was not made public at the time, nor was it conveyed to any Arab state. Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban has said that it had been conveyed, but there seems to be no solid evidence to corroborate his claim; no formal peace proposal was made either directly or indirectly by Israel. The Americans, who were briefed of

1905-796: A reprisal against El-Al aircraft en route to South Africa and back and therefore maintained fighter aircraft on quick reaction alert (QRA) at Ofira . These aircraft were also meant to counter the threat posed to the small Israeli Navy Red Sea flotilla and the Hawk missile batteries guarding the Red Sea straits from Egyptian MiGs at Hurghada . Base commander at the time was Ya'acov 'Yak' Nevo. Two IAF 107 Squadron F-4E Phantoms were present at Ofira on Yom Kippur , October 6, 1973, when war broke out. These were manned by four airmen: pilot Amir Nahumi with navigator Yossi Yavin and pilot Daniel Shaki with navigator David Regev , all relatively inexperienced at

2032-458: A stage that surpasses the enemy in the equipment and combat efficiency of its soldiers, only then can it carry out a massive offensive operation that destroys Israeli forces in the Sinai and advances to the straits and from there to Gaza. Shazly's response to his proposals was that he would like this, but this opinion is not in line with the actual capabilities of the armed forces for the weakness of

2159-542: The AT-3 Sagger anti-tank guided missile from the Soviet Union and improving its military tactics, based on Soviet battlefield doctrines. Political generals, who had in large part been responsible for the rout in 1967, were replaced with competent ones. The Soviets thought little of Sadat's chances in any war. They warned that any attempt to cross the heavily fortified Suez Canal would incur massive losses. Both

2286-516: The Agranat Commission , Brigadier General Yisrael Lior (Meir's military secretary/attaché) claimed that Mossad knew from Marwan that an attack was going to occur under the guise of a military drill a week before it occurred, but the process of passing along the information to the prime minister's office failed. On the night of 5–6 October, Marwan incorrectly informed Zamir that a joint Syrian-Egyptian attack would take place at sunset. It

2413-495: The Gaza Strip , for example, and expressed its willingness to reach an accord if it also implemented the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 . This was the first time an Arab government had gone public declaring its readiness to sign a peace agreement with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir reacted to the overture by forming a committee to examine the proposal and vet possible concessions. When

2540-648: The Israeli–Palestinian peace process , leading to the 1978 Camp David Accords , when Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty , the first time an Arab country recognized Israel . Egypt drifted away from the Soviet Union, eventually leaving the Eastern Bloc . The war was part of the Arab–Israeli conflict , an ongoing dispute that has included many battles and wars since

2667-655: The Ramadan War , the October War , the 1973 Arab–Israeli War , or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War , was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria . Most of the fighting occurred in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights , territories occupied by Israel in 1967 . Some combat also took place in Egypt and northern Israel . Egypt aimed to secure

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2794-756: The Security Council of the United Nations ." On 4 February 1971, Sadat gave a speech to the Egyptian National Assembly outlining a proposal under which Israel would withdraw from the Suez Canal and the Sinai Peninsula along with other occupied Arab territories. Swedish diplomat Gunnar Jarring coincidentally proposed a similar initiative four days later, on 8 February 1971. Egypt responded by accepting much of Jarring's proposals, though differing on several issues, regarding

2921-469: The Sinai Desert with two armies (both corps-sized by western standards, included the 2nd Infantry Division in the northern Second Army). By the following morning, some 850 tanks had crossed the canal. In his account of the war, Saad El Shazly noted that by the morning of 7 October, the Egyptians had lost 280 soldiers and 20 tanks, though this account is disputed. Most Israeli soldiers defending

3048-556: The Third Army for a period exceeding three months. In those memoirs, he also accused Sadat of giving up the victory and agreeing to withdraw most of the Egyptian forces to the west of the canal in the first disengagement negotiations. He ended his book with a report to the Attorney General accusing President Sadat of abusing his powers. This book led to his trial in absentia during the era of Hosni Mubarak . In 1983, he

3175-637: The founding of the State of Israel in 1948. During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel had captured Egypt's Sinai Peninsula , roughly half of Syria's Golan Heights , and the territories of the West Bank which had been held by Jordan since 1948 . On 19 June 1967, shortly after the Six-Day War, the Israeli government voted to return the Sinai to Egypt and the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for

3302-696: The "High Minarets" plan: This plan was drawn up due to the weakness of the Egyptian Air Force and the weak capabilities in the Egyptian Air Defense Command , which prevented a major offensive operation. However, a limited operation could be carried out to cross the Suez Canal, destroy the Barlev Line and occupy 10 to 12 kilometers east of the canal, which was the maximum range of Egyptian air defense, and then switch to take defensive positions. The philosophy of this plan

3429-551: The American response was a call for a cease-fire in place. The Egyptian units generally would not advance beyond a shallow strip for fear of losing the protection of their SAM batteries, which were situated on the west bank of the canal. In the Six-Day War, the Israeli Air Force had pummeled the defenseless Arab armies; this time, Egypt had heavily fortified their side of the ceasefire lines with SAM batteries provided by

3556-602: The Arab countries. In 1960 (during the unity with Syria), President Gamal Abdel Nasser sent a parachute battalion as part of the United Nations forces to Congo, led by Colonel el Shazly, at the request of Prime Minister Lumumba and in coordination with the United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, to maintain security and law and with the aim of preventing Belgium from returning to occupy his country, which became independent on 30 June 1960. The Arab Parachute battalion

3683-491: The Arab states, respectively), which heightened tensions between the two superpowers. Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed their respective ceasefire lines with Israel, advancing into the Sinai and Golan Heights. Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal in Operation Badr and advanced into the Sinai, while Syrian forces gained territory in the Golan Heights. After three days, Israel halted the Egyptian advance and pushed

3810-719: The Armed Forces, who had been referred for retirement in the late days of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who showed him Shazly has old differences, but they committed themselves to working with each other to prepare for the October war. Colonel Shazly and Colonel Ahmed Ismail Ali coincided with the presence in the Congo in 1960, during which Ahmed Ismail attempted to impose his administrative and military domination on Shazly by virtue of his higher military rank, despite their different tasks and two references. Shazly rejected this logic, and both exchanged rough words until they almost reached

3937-448: The Bar Lev Line became casualties, and some 200 were taken prisoner. In the subsequent days, some defenders of the Bar Lev Line managed to break through the Egyptian encirclement and return to their lines or were extracted during later Israeli counterattacks. For the next several days, the IAF played a minimal role in the fighting, largely because it was needed to deal with the simultaneous, and ultimately more threatening, Syrian attack in

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4064-606: The Cabinet's decision by Eban, were not asked to convey it to Cairo and Damascus as official peace proposals, nor were they given indications that Israel expected a reply. Eban rejected the prospect of a mediated peace, insisting of the need for direct negotiations with the Arab governments. The Arab position, as it emerged in September 1967 at the Khartoum Arab Summit , was to reject any peaceful settlement with

4191-665: The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces after the killing of Lieutenant-General Abdel Moniem Riad on 9 March 1969). Shazly submitted his resignation to the office of the Minister of War, Muhammad Fawzi. Ahmed Ismail would have contacted him again through the new position, but President Gamal Abdel Nasser intervened and sent his son-in-law, Ashraf Marwan, to Shazly, where he persuaded him to return to work after he confirmed to him President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s promise not to contact Ahmed Ismail with him. Indeed, Ahmed Ismail did not set foot during

4318-473: The Egyptian Army conducted military exercises near the border, and Ashraf Marwan inaccurately warned that Egypt and Syria would launch a surprise attack in the middle of May. The Israeli Army mobilized with their Blue-White Alert, in response to both the warnings and exercises, at considerable cost. These exercises led some Israelis to dismiss the actual war preparations—and Marwan's warning right before

4445-487: The Egyptian Army to participate in these exercises. Two days before the outbreak of the war, on 4 October, the Egyptian command publicly announced the demobilization of part of the reservists called up during 27 September to lull Israeli suspicions. Around 20,000 troops were demobilized, and subsequently some of these men were given leave to perform the Umrah (pilgrimage) to Mecca. According to Egyptian General El-Gamasy, "On

4572-447: The Egyptian assault force of 32,000 infantry began crossing the canal in twelve waves at five separate crossing areas, from 14:05 to 17:30, in what became known as The Crossing . The Egyptians prevented Israeli forces from reinforcing the Bar Lev Line and proceeded to attack the Israeli fortifications. Meanwhile, engineers crossed over to breach the sand wall. The Israeli Air Force conducted air interdiction operations to try to prevent

4699-485: The Egyptian command which ordered him to immediately retreat west of the Suez Canal. He responded with one of the most difficult maneuvers executed in the history of the Egyptian–Israeli conflict, a night march (with mechanized units and tanks accompanying) in the desert and through enemy lines. His unit managed to cover about 60 miles of ground throughout the Sinai, without any air support or intelligence. As dawn broke,

4826-548: The Egyptian command; Shazly, however, took the most unbelievable of chances and headed eastward through thin passages, invading Israel itself. He eventually positioned himself in the Negev desert, behind most enemy lines. This feat made him one of the few Arab generals to ever successfully take and hold territory inside Israel. He stayed there with his battalions under the cover of two mountains to avoid IAF bombing for two days, 6 and 7 June. Finally, he succeeded in making contact with

4953-540: The Free Officers in 1951, and Shazly welcomed the idea and joined them, but he did not participate in the night of 23 July 1952 directly, as he was in a college course Pillars of the war. At the rank of major, he traveled to the United States of America on an advanced training mission in 1953 to specialized in parachutes and was one of the first officers to receive the Rangers School course. He then became

5080-427: The Golan Heights. Egyptian forces then consolidated their initial positions. On 7 October, the bridgeheads were enlarged an additional 4 km ( 2 + 1 ⁄ 2  mi), at the same time repulsing Israeli counterattacks. In the north, the Egyptian 18th Division attacked the town of El-Qantarah el-Sharqiyya , engaging Israeli forces in and around the town. The fighting there was conducted at close quarters, and

5207-462: The LT General, Muhammad Ahmad Sadiq, opposed the plan on the pretext that it does not achieve any political or military goal. From the political point of view, it will achieve nothing and 60,000 square kilometers of Sinai will remain under Israeli control, but militarily it will create, for the Egyptian army a difficult position instead of the current one since it depends on the Suez Canal to act as

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5334-588: The Nile Delta, on 1 April 1922, in an upper-middle class family. His father was a notary, and his family owned (70) acres. His father is Hajj al-Husseini al-Shazly, and his mother, Mrs. Tafidah al-Jawhari, is the second wife of his father. He was named after the 17th Prime Minister of Egypt , Saad Zaghloul . His father was one of the owners of agricultural lands who married twice and had nine children with first wife: Muhammad, Hamid, Abdel-Hakim, Al-Hussaini, Abdel-Salam, Nadhima, Farida, Bassima and Morsyah. As for

5461-534: The Operation Badr, but Muhammad Ahmed Sadiq was not convinced and from his point of view, Egypt would not tolerate another defeat. On 26 October 1972, Anwar Sadat dismissed Lieutenant General Muhammad Sadiq of the Ministry of War for his disagreement with his vision of liberating the land, his conviction to see Shazly and appointed Field Marshal Ahmed Ismail Ali as Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of

5588-453: The Shazly team was reviewing the offensive operation plan to storm the Suez Canal and destroy the Bar Lev Line, and it was found that there are many problems that hinder and affect the planning of the offensive operation. He ordered his formation of a special committee to prepare this directive as a method for the war plan. After completing this directive, it became the detailed plan for crossing

5715-400: The Sinai with Kelt missiles , while another two Egyptian Tupolevs fired two Kelt missiles at a radar station in central Israel. One missile was shot down by a patrolling Israeli Mirage fighter, and the second fell into the sea. The attack was an attempt to warn Israel that Egypt could retaliate if it bombed targets deep within Egyptian territory. Under cover of the initial artillery barrage,

5842-404: The Sinai. Shazly's account was disputed by Kenneth Pollack, who noted that for the most part, the forts only fell to repeated assaults by superior forces or prolonged sieges over many days. The northernmost fortification of the Bar Lev Line, code-named ' Fort Budapest ', withstood repeated assaults and remained in Israeli hands throughout the war. Once the bridges were laid, additional infantry with

5969-500: The Soviet Union. On 9 October, the IDF chose to concentrate its reserves and build up its supplies while the Egyptians remained on the strategic defensive. Nixon and Kissinger held back on a full-scale resupply of arms to Israel. Short of supplies, the Israeli government reluctantly accepted a cease-fire in place on 12 October, but Sadat refused to do so. The Soviets started an airlift of arms to Syria and Egypt. The American global interest

6096-657: The Soviets and Americans were at that time pursuing détente and had no interest in seeing the Middle East destabilized. In a June 1973 meeting with American President Richard Nixon , Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev had proposed Israel pull back to its 1967 border. Brezhnev said that if Israel did not, "we will have difficulty keeping the military situation from flaring up"—an indication that the Soviet Union had been unable to restrain Sadat's plans. Between May and August 1973,

6223-495: The Soviets to use their influence to prevent war, contacted Egypt with Israel's message of non-preemption, and sent messages to other Arab governments to enlist their help on the side of moderation. These late efforts were futile. According to Kissinger, had Israel struck first it would not have received "so much as a nail". The Egyptians had prepared for an assault across the canal and deployed five divisions totaling 100,000 soldiers, 1,350 tanks and 2,000 guns and heavy mortars for

6350-448: The State of Israel. The eight participating states—Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, and Sudan—passed a resolution that would later become known as the "three nos": there would be no peace, no recognition and no negotiation with Israel. Prior to that, King Hussein of Jordan had stated that he could not rule out a possibility of a "real, permanent peace" between Israel and the Arab states. Armed hostilities continued on

6477-529: The Suez Canal and storming the Barlev line of the armed forces entirely. In mid-1973, a few months before the war, Shazly team visited the College of Leaders and Staff and began discussion with students from eight in the morning until seven in the evening. The discussion was completed in two days. This guidance included a detailed plan for the transit of forces; Starting with the number of soldiers in each boat and

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6604-482: The Syrian army. These activities were considered puzzling but not a threat because Israeli intelligence suggested they would not attack without Egypt, and Egypt would not attack until the weaponry they wanted arrived. Despite this belief, Israel sent reinforcements to the Golan Heights. These forces were to prove critical during the early days of the war. On 27 to 30 September, two batches of reservists were called up by

6731-664: The Syrians back. Israel then launched a counteroffensive into Syria, shelling the outskirts of Damascus . Egyptian forces attempted to push further into Sinai but were repulsed, and Israeli forces crossed the Suez Canal, advancing toward Suez City. On 22 October, a UN-brokered ceasefire broke down, with both sides accusing each other of violations. By 24 October, Israel had encircled the Egyptian Third Army and Suez City, coming within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of Cairo. Egypt successfully repelled further Israeli advances in

6858-458: The War. In his memoirs, Lieutenant General Shazly accused President Anwar Sadat of making wrong decisions despite all the advice from the generals around him, and his continuous interference in military plans during the course of operations on the front, which led to causing the breach and misleading the people by concealing the truth of the breach , The destruction of the missile wall , and besieging

6985-540: The Western combat doctrine under which Israel operates at the lowest levels of the commanders allows the use of air support, which will lose it because the Egyptian forces will be in the protection of the Egyptian air defense, and from here, the process of neutralizing Israeli aviation takes place during the battle. Lieutenant General Saad el-Shazly, Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces (41) issued

7112-401: The air force and the lack of a mobile air defense that protects the advanced forces. Shazly started to develop an offensive plan according to the capabilities of the armed forces, which required the recovery of 10 to 12 km in the depth of Sinai. He built his opinion that it is important to tailor the war strategy to your capabilities and according to the capabilities of the enemy. However,

7239-447: The arming of each soldier and the size of the ammunition he carries either for himself or for the supporting forces, and the matter reached the timing of the entry of transit equipment to the canal area from rubber boats to bridges equipment and method of protection and locations of smoke generators and air defense etc. The guidance focused on every subtle detail and left leaders with only careful execution. The Israeli army previously made

7366-416: The attack was launched—as another exercise. In the week leading up to Yom Kippur , the Egyptian Army staged a week-long training exercise adjacent to the Suez Canal. Israeli intelligence, detecting large troop movements towards the canal, dismissed them as mere training exercises. Movements of Syrian troops towards the border were also detected, as were the cancellation of leaves and a call-up of reserves in

7493-591: The attack. Kenneth Pollack wrote that 18 Egyptian aircraft were shot down, and that these losses prompted the cancellation of the second planned wave. In one notable engagement during this period, a pair of Israeli F-4E Phantoms challenged 28 Egyptian MiGs over Sharm el-Sheikh and within half an hour, shot down seven or eight MiGs with no losses. One of the Egyptian pilots killed was Captain Atef Sadat , President Sadat's half-brother. Simultaneously, 14 Egyptian Tupolev Tu-16 bombers attacked Israeli targets in

7620-399: The battle, but they never did provide their own version of what happened. One of the Egyptian pilots killed was Egyptian President Anwar Sadat 's half-brother, Atef . In the summer of 1973, Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 accidentally flew over the Sinai. It was intercepted by the IAF and ordered to land but refused and was subsequently shot down. IAF high command feared this might lead to

7747-410: The battles of Ismailia and Suez . A second ceasefire was imposed on 25 October, officially ending the war. The Yom Kippur War had significant consequences. The Arab world, humiliated by the 1967 defeat, felt psychologically vindicated by its early successes in 1973. Meanwhile, Israel, despite battlefield achievements, recognized that future military dominance was uncertain. These shifts contributed to

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7874-476: The bay. These were startled to encounter Nahumi and one of them fired its air-to-surface missiles at the Phantom. The Phantom shot down that MiG with a guided missile from a distance of 600 meters. Shaki, meanwhile, had shot down three planes and was looking for the fourth, when MiG-21s attacked. One of them found itself in an inferior position and descended at a speed of 500 knots (930 km/h) to sea level, hit

8001-453: The best opportunity to reach peace since the establishment of the state." Israel responded to Jarring's plan on 26 February by outlining its readiness to make some form of withdrawal, while declaring it had no intention of returning to the pre-5 June 1967 lines . Explicating the response, Eban told the Knesset that the pre-5 June 1967 lines "cannot assure Israel against aggression". Jarring

8128-479: The bridges from being erected, but took losses from Egyptian SAM batteries. The air attacks were ineffective overall, as the sectional design of the bridges enabled quick repairs when hit. Despite fierce resistance, the Israeli reserve brigade garrisoning the Bar-Lev forts was overwhelmed. According to Shazly, within six hours, fifteen strongpoints had been captured as Egyptian forces advanced several kilometres into

8255-408: The canal had been equipped with RPG-7 rockets and RPG-43 grenades and reinforced with an anti-tank guided missile battalion, as they would not have any armor support for nearly 12 hours. In addition, the Egyptians had built separate ramps at the crossing points, reaching as high as 21 metres (69 ft) to counter the Israeli sand wall, provide covering fire for the assaulting infantry and to counter

8382-409: The canal, headed deep into Sinai and struck the Israeli key forces, while 2000 artillery pieces opened heavy bombardment on the Bar-Lev forts and minefields, under which cover engineer reconnaissance teams paddled over to check the outlets for the Israeli inflammable liquid that had been blocked from the night before. The first assault wave of 4000 men crossed the Suez Canal and opened 70 passages through

8509-510: The channel with fire and information. LT Gen. Shazly had to collect the combat experience from the Egyptian forces' actions and lessons learned immediately after the event, and it will be distributed to members of the armed forces to benefit from them in any future similar operations, for example, guidance for securing radars in isolated areas after they raid Israeli on one of the isolated radars in Zafarana, and began to issue that directive when

8636-415: The column was spotted by Israeli aircraft, which made low-level passes, bombing and strafing his forces. Lacking anti-aircraft weaponry, his forces could only reply with machine gun and small arms fire. Over 100 of his troops were killed, but the Israeli planes eventually went off in search of other targets, and his column drove on, managing to avoid Israeli ground forces and reaching the Suez Canal. He became

8763-690: The commander of the 75th Parachute Battalion during the Triple Aggression of 1956. He took command of the Parachute Force during the period from 1954 to 1959. During the celebrations of the Revolution Day, which was to be held on 23 July 1954, Shazly suggested to Major General Naguib Ghoneim, the commander of the Cairo military region, to show the parachute corps differently from the rest of the armed forces units that were walking in

8890-693: The committee unanimously concluded that Israel's interests would be served by full withdrawal to the internationally recognized lines dividing Israel from Egypt and Syria, returning the Gaza Strip and, in a majority view, returning most of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Meir was angered and shelved the document. The United States was infuriated by the cool Israeli response to Egypt's proposal, and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Joseph Sisco informed Israeli ambassador Yitzhak Rabin that "Israel would be regarded responsible for rejecting

9017-528: The country. Lumumba managed to escape, but he was arrested and killed in January 1961. Gamal Abdel Nasser then sent a military committee headed by Brigadier Ahmed Ismail Ali to Congo to study what Egypt could offer to advance the Congolese army, but the situation had changed. The new government was eradicating hostility from Gamal Abdel Nasser and demanding the return of the Arab forces. During that period,

9144-507: The daily kidnappings that were taking place against civilians and employees who were taken as prisoners by the Israeli forces as well as stopping the Israeli attacks. On 22 January 1970, Israel attacked the Red Sea island of Shedwan , near the entrance to the Gulf of Suez, 35 kilometers from Hurghada and 325 kilometers from Suez which had a lighthouse to guide ships and a marine radar, secured by an Egyptian thunderbolt, and its military importance

9271-416: The dispute occurred between Colonel Shazly and Colonel Ahmed Ismail Ali. After the killing of Lumumba, Shazly felt in danger and decided unilaterally to leak his soldiers from their positions. He also secured the smuggling of Lumumba's sons to Egypt before the Egyptian battalion withdrew. During the Six-Day War , Shazly showed great merit and tactical awareness. He was positioned in the middle of Sinai with

9398-463: The economic situation would be severely affected in Israel due to the interruption of education, agriculture and industry. Because most of those who worked in these institutions were ultimately officers and soldiers in the Israeli armed forces. The plan had two other dimensions in terms of depriving Israel of its most important combat advantages: The first: denying him the attack from the sides because

9525-418: The extent of the attack, Israel quickly scrambled two F-4E Phantom II fighter jets. The Israeli pilots proceeded to jettison their external fuel tanks and engage all 28 MiGs in aerial combat. In just under six minutes, seven Egyptian MiGs had been shot down and the remaining Egyptian planes disengaged and returned to Egypt. The Israeli Phantoms returned to their base. The Egyptians dispute the Israeli account of

9652-526: The few commandos that did filter through were ineffectual and presented nothing more than a "nuisance". Kenneth Pollack asserted that despite their heavy losses, the Egyptian commandos fought exceptionally hard and created considerable panic, prompting the Israelis to take precautions that hindered their ability to concentrate on stopping the assault across the canal. Egyptian forces advanced approximately 4 to 5 km ( 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 to 3 mi) into

9779-406: The first Israeli armored counterattacks. The Egyptian Army put great effort into finding a quick and effective way of breaching the Israeli defenses . The Israelis had built large 18-metre (59 foot) high sand walls with a 60-degree slope and reinforced with concrete at the water line. Egyptian engineers initially experimented with explosive charges and bulldozers to clear the obstacles, before

9906-490: The forward air controller and decided to land on the parallel runway, which was shorter but less damaged. Once on the ground, they began preparing their planes for another Egyptian attack, which never materialized. The four airmen were later awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for their performance during the battle. According to the Egyptians, Ras Nasrani Air Base, the former Egyptian name of Ofir,

10033-411: The hands clash. After the leadership in Cairo learned about this, the committee called up and the conflict ended, but its effects remained in the depths of both of them. After the return of Shazly from the Congo, there was no direct contact between them as Ahmed Ismail was in the infantry while Shazly was in the parachute corps. On 10 March 1969, Shazly was surprised by the appointment of Ahmed Ismail as

10160-537: The initiative of the operations staff, we reviewed the situation on the ground and developed a framework for the planned offensive operation. We studied the technical characteristics of the Suez Canal, the ebb and the flow of the tides, the speed of the currents and their direction, hours of darkness and of moonlight, weather conditions, and related conditions in the Mediterranean and Red sea." He explained further by saying: "Saturday 6 October 1973 (10 Ramadan 1393)

10287-418: The island", except they came back and confessed at three in the afternoon the next day that fighting was still going on on the island. Maj. Gen. Shazly ordered the attack of the island with the help of a number of fishermen from the governorate, which resulted in the transfer of soldiers and equipment in the dark to Shedwan Island to attack the Israeli forces. On 16 May 1971, after President Anwar Sadat ousted

10414-428: The last military commander to pass from the east of the canal to the west. In the later years, he was highly respected within the Egyptian military for his feats and was eventually granted the command of the combined paratroopers and Sa'ka Forces from which he would move on to be the chief of staff of the Egyptian army and play a major role in the Egyptian major offensive in 1973. During the War of Attrition , Israel

10541-578: The likelihood of Jordan joining in." On the night of 25 September, Hussein secretly flew to Tel Aviv to warn Meir of an impending Syrian attack. "Are they going to war without the Egyptians, asked Mrs. Meir. The king said he didn't think so. 'I think they [Egypt] would cooperate. ' " This warning was ignored, and Israeli intelligence indicated that Hussein had not said anything that was not already known. Throughout September, Israel received eleven warnings of war from well-placed sources. However, Mossad Director-General Zvi Zamir continued to insist that war

10668-478: The mobilization and transportation of the military. Despite refusing to participate, King Hussein of Jordan "had met with Sadat and Assad in Alexandria two weeks before. Given the mutual suspicions prevailing among the Arab leaders, it was unlikely that he had been told any specific war plans. But it was probable that Sadat and Assad had raised the prospect of war against Israel in more general terms to feel out

10795-410: The movement of Israeli reserves to the front. These special operations often led to confusion and anxiety among Israeli commanders, who commended the Egyptian commandos. This view was contradicted by another source that stated that few commandos made it to their objectives, and were usually nothing more than a nuisance. According to Abraham Rabinovich , only the commandos near Baluza and those blocking

10922-505: The nation's despondency. War was a desperate option." Almost a full year before the war, in a meeting on 24 October 1972, with his Supreme Council of the Armed Forces , Sadat declared his intention to go to war with Israel even without proper Soviet support. In February 1973, Sadat made a final peace overture that would have included Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula that he relayed to Kissinger via his adviser Mohammad Hafez Ismail , which Kissinger made known to Meir. Meir rejected

11049-415: The normal step in front of the podium, as is well known. He suggested that the parachute corps parade walk by a quick step in front of the podium, and by that, he was the first to suggest walking in a quick step in the special military parades for the paratroopers, which became associated with the thunderbolt and paratroop forces and what distinguished them from other forces and were subsequently transferred by

11176-655: The onslaught. Facing them were 450 soldiers of the Jerusalem Brigade , spread out in 16 forts along the length of the canal. There were 290 Israeli tanks in all of Sinai, divided into three armored brigades, only one of which was deployed near the canal when hostilities commenced. Large bridgeheads were established on the east bank on 6 October. Israeli armoured forces launched counterattacks from 6 to 8 October, but they were often piecemeal and inadequately supported and were beaten back principally by Egyptians using portable anti-tank missiles. Between 9 and 12 October,

11303-612: The opening airstrike of the war altogether; Saad El Shazly , the Egyptian Chief of Staff, stated that total losses from October 6 up to the morning of October 7 were five aircraft. Another Egyptian commander, Abdel Ghani el-Gamasy , reported just five aircraft losses for the entire air strike as well, as do other sources. Another source mentions the loss of seven aircraft to Israeli fighters and several others to anti-aircraft fire. Yom Kippur War Egyptian front International front The Yom Kippur War , also known as

11430-413: The peace proposal despite knowing that the only plausible alternative was going to war with Egypt. Four months before the war broke out, Kissinger made an offer to Ismail, Sadat's emissary. Kissinger proposed returning the Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian control and an Israeli withdrawal from all of Sinai, except for some strategic points. Ismail said he would return with Sadat's reply, but he never did. Sadat

11557-689: The point of removing Shazly’s name and photos from the official list of the October War. Sadat also ordered the removal of all photos showing Shazly next to him inside the operations room, and replacing them with photos showing Major General Muhammad Abdel-Ghani Al-Gamsi, head of the Armed Forces Operations Authority in At that time. Shazly's reputation was also distorted and attacked, and his memoirs were banned in Egypt, as they were

11684-522: The poles of the Nasser regime, in what he called the correction revolution, he appointed Shazly as Chief of Staff of the Egyptian armed forces , as he was not affiliated with any of the wrestlers on the Egyptian political scene at the time, and for his competence, his military ability, and the rich background he gained from his studies between the United States of America and the Soviet Union in military sciences as well as his long military career. When Shazly

11811-454: The presentations were done, the prime minister hemmed uncertainly for a few moments but then came to a clear decision. There would be no preemptive strike. Israel might be needing American assistance soon and it was imperative that it would not be blamed for starting the war. 'If we strike first, we won't get help from anybody,' she said. Prior to the war, Kissinger and Nixon consistently warned Meir that she must not be responsible for initiating

11938-585: The reason for his imprisonment for two years after he spent 14 years as a political refugee in Algeria. Following his public criticism of the Camp David Accords , he resigned from his post as Ambassador to Britain and Portugal and went to Algeria as a political refugee. This was the plan developed by Shazly to attack the Israeli forces and storm the Suez Canal in August 1971, which he called

12065-510: The region would strengthen Soviet influence. Britain's position, on the other hand, was that war between the Arabs and Israelis could only be prevented by the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 and a return to the pre-1967 boundaries. Sadat also had important domestic concerns in wanting war. "The three years since Sadat had taken office ... were the most demoralized in Egyptian history. ... A desiccated economy added to

12192-425: The relationship between them would be good and much better than the previous relationship between him and LT General, Muhammad Sadiq. Shazly then considered resignation, but two factors prevented him, the first of which was that his resignation would be interpreted as solidarity with Muhammad Sadiq after the president's sacking, and the second being that some may explain his resignation as that he does not want to enter

12319-576: The remaining portable and recoilless anti-tank weapons began to cross the canal, while the first Egyptian tanks started to cross at 20:30. The Egyptians also attempted to land several heli-borne commando units in various areas in the Sinai to hamper the arrival of Israeli reserves. This attempt met with disaster as the Israelis shot down up to 20 helicopters, inflicting heavy casualties. Israeli Major General (res.) Chaim Herzog placed Egyptian helicopter losses at 14. Other sources claim that "several" helicopters were downed with "total loss of life" and that

12446-507: The road to Fort Budapest had measurable success. Of the 1,700 Egyptian commandos inserted behind Israeli lines during the war, 740 were killed—many in downed helicopters—and 330 taken prisoner. On 7 October, David Elazar visited Shmuel Gonen, commander of the Israeli Southern Command —who had only taken the position three months before at the retirement of Ariel Sharon—and met with Israeli commanders. The Israelis planned

12573-547: The scene: I decided to take off, and seconds later the runway was bombed. Had we waited any longer we would have been unable to do so. There were seven four-ship formations of MiG-17s and MiG-21s. Soon after the Israeli F-4s took off, the MiGs began bombing the runways. Nahumi ordered Shaki to dump the detachable fuel tanks and to take the west end of the base while he would take the east one. Nahumi then shot down one MiG with

12700-644: The second wife, Al-Jawhari, she is the mother of Shazly. His father's cousin is Abd al-Salam Pasha al-Shazly, who took over the lake directorate and the Ministry of Awqaf. Shazly received sciences in the elementary school in Basioun School, which is about 6 kilometers from his village. After completing his primary education at age 11, his father moved to live in Cairo and he completed the preparatory and secondary levels in Cairo schools. Shazly got married on 13 December 1943 to Zeenat Muhammad Metwally el-Suhaimi, daughter of Muhammad Metwally Pasha el-Suhaimi, who

12827-481: The sides of the Egyptian army will be based on the Mediterranean Sea in the north, and on the Gulf of Suez in the south, and will not be able to attack from the rear, which will be the Suez Canal hence he will have to attack in front of it, and pay the heavy price. The second: The enemy has an important advantage in the confrontational battles, which is the rapid air support of its armored elements, whereby

12954-573: The six months he spent as chief of staff at the Inshas base, in which Shazly worked as commander of the Special Forces (Thunderbolts and Paratroopers) until Ahmed Ismail was referred to retirement by order of President Gamal Abdel Nasser on 9 September 1969, following the incident of the Israeli raid on Zafarana in the Gulf of Suez. On 26 October 1972, President Anwar Sadat dismissed Lieutenant General Mohamed Ahmed Sadiq for their disagreement over

13081-418: The time. At 9:00 AM they were issued a red alert by the controller. At 1:50 PM the sirens were sounded. Several approaching low-flying formations were spotted on radar, yet the controller did not scramble the pair, failing to realise the significance of the attack. No longer waiting for the order to scramble, Nahumi ordered the mechanics to start up the planes and took off. Shaki joined him. Nahumi later described

13208-749: The training exercises, and that the Egyptians had amassed all of their crossing equipment along the canal. He then called General Shmuel Gonen , who had replaced him as head of Southern Command, and expressed his certainty that war was imminent. Zamir's concern grew on 4–5 October, as additional signs of an impending attack were detected. Soviet advisers and their families left Egypt and Syria, transport aircraft thought to be laden with military equipment landed in Cairo and Damascus , and aerial photographs revealed that Egyptian and Syrian concentrations of tanks, infantry, and surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) were at an unprecedented high. According to declassified documents from

13335-482: The transit plan. He appointed Ahmed Ismail as the Minister of War and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces who before that had been recalled from retirement and appointed by President Anwar Sadat as Director of General Intelligence on 15 May 1971. President Anwar Sadat came to Shazly, and it was a bad surprise for him. He told the president the long history of their differences, which made cooperation between them almost impossible. But President Anwar Sadat assured him that

13462-427: The war began. Elazar proposed a mobilization of the entire air force and four armored divisions, or 100,000 to 120,000 troops, while Dayan favored a mobilization of the air force and two armored divisions, or around 70,000 troops. Meir chose Elazar's proposal. Elazar argued in favor of a pre-emptive attack against Syrian airfields at noon, Syrian missiles at 3:00 pm, and Syrian ground forces at 5:00 pm: When

13589-441: The war when the truth was the opposite. In 1978, President Anwar Sadat issued his memoirs "In Search of Identity", in which he accused Lieutenant General Shazly of inaction and held him responsible for causing the breach. He described him as having returned collapsed from the front on 19 October and recommended the withdrawal of all forces in the east. This is what prompted Shazly to respond to Sadat by publishing his own memoirs of

13716-416: The water and bounced back up twice, before pulling up and flying away. Shaki was running out of fuel and decided to land on the damaged runway. Nahumi was then blinded by a flash of light reflecting from another pair of MiGs trying to escape. Nahumi shot one down and its partner fled to the safety of the mountains. Nahumi had also almost run out of fuel and decided not to give chase. Nahumi and Shaki consulted

13843-510: Was already determined to go to war. Only an American guarantee that the United States would fulfill the entire Arab program in a brief time could have dissuaded Sadat. Sadat declared that Egypt was prepared to "sacrifice a million Egyptian soldiers" to recover its lost territory. From the end of 1972, Egypt began a concentrated effort to build up its forces, receiving MiG-21 jet fighters, SA-2 , SA-3 , SA-6 and SA-7 antiaircraft missiles, T-55 and T-62 tanks, RPG-7 antitank weapons, and

13970-702: Was an Egyptian military officer. He was Egypt 's chief of staff during the Yom Kippur War . He is credited with the equipping and preparation of the Egyptian Armed Forces in the years prior to the successful capture of the Israeli Bar-Lev line at the start of the Yom Kippur War. He was dismissed from his post on 13 December 1973. He was born in the village of Shabratna, Basyoun Center, in Gharbia Governorate , in

14097-412: Was appointed as Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces , the Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces at the time was Lieutenant General Muhammad Sadiq, with whom he entered into disagreements over the operational plan for the liberation of Sinai. The LT Gen. Muhammad Sadiq was the first to see that the Egyptian Army should not undertake any offensive operation unless it has reached

14224-479: Was charged with divulging military secrets. He was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor, and his property was placed under supervision. He was also deprived of legal representation and stripped of his political rights. Shazly denied those allegation stating that what he published was government information, not military. He disagreed with Sadat, and publicly criticized the Camp David Accords that Sadat signed with Israel in 1978; The dispute intensified to

14351-535: Was conducting lightning raids on the Red Sea region and daily kidnappings of civilians and the destruction of installations on the Red Sea coasts culminating in the incident of Zafarana on 9 September 1969. Gamal Abdel Nasser saw that General Shazly was the most suitable person who could stop Israel's incursions into the Red Sea region and secure the area and appointed him commander of the Red Sea Military Region in 1970. General Shazly managed to stop

14478-467: Was disappointed and blamed Israel for refusing to accept a complete pullout from the Sinai Peninsula. The U.S. considered Israel an ally in the Cold War and had been supplying the Israeli military since the 1960s. U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger believed that the regional balance of power hinged on maintaining Israel's military dominance over Arab countries and that an Arab victory in

14605-615: Was indeed among several Israeli bases in the Sinai targeted by the Egyptian air strike on October 6, in which around 220 aircraft took part. The MiG-21 aircraft escorting the MiG-17s in the airstrike against Ras Nasrani were part of the No. 25 Sqn of the EAF's 102nd Air Wing. The MiG-21s did not participate in the ground attack, and according to the pilots, no aerial opposition was ever encountered. Egyptian commanders claim that five aircraft were lost in

14732-402: Was inflicted on a Hawk battery at Ophir. The aerial assault was coupled with a barrage from more than 2,000 artillery pieces for a period of 53 minutes against the Bar Lev Line and rear area command posts and concentration bases. Author Andrew McGregor claimed that the success of the first strike negated the need for a second planned strike. Egypt acknowledged the loss of five aircraft during

14859-598: Was launched on 15 October. IDF forces spearheaded by Ariel Sharon's division broke through the Tasa corridor and crossed the Suez Canal to the north of the Great Bitter Lake . After intense fighting, the IDF progressed towards Cairo and advanced southwards on the east bank of the Great Bitter Lake and in the southern extent of the canal right up to Port Suez . Israeli progress towards Cairo was brought to

14986-421: Was made up of 5 companies (4 companies from Egypt and one from Syria), which got the name 'the Arab battalion in the Congo'. The battalion was stationed in the far north, more than 1,200 kilometers from the capital. It was the first Arab force sent to carry out foreign missions under the leadership of the United Nations. Events developed and General Staff chief Mobutu Sese Seko led a military coup that controlled

15113-407: Was not an Arab option, even after Hussein's warning. Zamir would later remark that "We simply didn't feel them capable [of war]." On the day before the war, General Ariel Sharon was shown aerial photographs and other intelligence by Yehoshua Saguy , his divisional intelligence officer. Sharon noticed that the concentration of Egyptian forces along the canal was far beyond anything observed during

15240-453: Was purely because it was an uninhabited rocky island and its area didn't exceed 60 square kilometers. The Israeli forces bombed the island by air and followed it with the landing of the soldiers by helicopter and the landing boats in an attempt to occupy it, and a small garrison of the Egyptian thunderbolt withstood a huge Israeli fire, and the Israelis announced on the evening of the first fighting night that their forces "found no resistance on

15367-410: Was sometimes hand-to-hand. The Egyptians were forced to clear the town building by building. By evening, most of the town was in Egyptian hands. El-Qantarah was completely cleared by the next morning. Meanwhile, the Egyptian commandos airdropped on 6 October began encountering Israeli reserves the following morning. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but the commandos were at times successful in delaying

15494-399: Was that Israel had two weaknesses: The first was the inability to withstand human losses due to the small number of its members. The second was to prolong the duration of the war. In all previous wars, it depended on lightning wars that ended within four or six weeks at the most. Because during this period it mobilized 18% of the Israeli people and this was a very high percentage. Moreover,

15621-627: Was the day chosen for the September–October option. Conditions for a crossing were good, it was a fast day in Israel, and the moon on that day, 10 Ramadan, shone from sunset until midnight." The war coincided that year with the Muslim month of Ramadan , when many Muslim soldiers fast . On the other hand, the fact that the attack was launched on Yom Kippur may have helped Israel to more easily marshal reserves from their homes and synagogues because roads and communication lines were largely open, easing

15748-663: Was the director of the Military College in the 1930s, and had three daughters: Shahdan, Nahid and Samia. His relationship with Gamal Abdel Nasser began when he lived in the same building that Gamal Abdel Nasser inhabited in Abbasiya before the July 23 movement . They had family relations, and in addition to being officers teachers in the School of Administrative Affairs, they met on a daily basis. Jamal Abdel Nasser opened it to

15875-430: Was the most complex problem that the group had met with and it was the earthen embankment on the east bank of the canal, which gave the Israeli side the advantage of controlling the fire, and the remark against the forces crossing, and this led to the suggestion of the need to build high strong points equipped with terraces of tanks on the West Bank of the Suez Canal, allowing the Egyptian side to secure its forces that cross

16002-485: Was this warning in particular, combined with the large number of other warnings, that finally goaded the Israeli High Command into action. Just hours before the attack began, orders went out for a partial call-up of the Israeli reserves . Prime Minister Golda Meir, Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan and Chief of General Staff David Elazar met at 8:05 am on the morning of Yom Kippur, six hours before

16129-451: Was to prove that Soviet arms could not dictate the outcome of the fighting, by supplying Israel. With an airlift in full swing, Washington was prepared to wait until Israeli success on the battlefield might persuade the Arabs and the Soviets to bring the fighting to an end. The Israelis decided to counterattack once Egyptian armor attempted to expand the bridgehead beyond the protective SAM umbrella. The riposte, codenamed Operation Gazelle ,

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