The Yom Kippur War 1973

Israel's victory in the 1967 'Six Day War' sowed the seeds of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. At 1400hrs on 6 October 1973 the Egyptian army launched an assault crossing of the Suez Canal. The carefully co-ordinated attack achieved complete tactical surprise. The sand embankments of the Israeli Bar-Lev Line were breached and an Israeli counterattack thrown back with heavy losses. In the second of his two-volume analysis of the Yom Kippur War, Simon Dunstan details the fighting in the Sinai, culminating in Operation Gazelle, the Israeli counterattack across the Suez Canal. Although defeated militarily, Egypt did ultimately succeed in forcing the Israelis back to the negotiating table. The October War, or 'Yom Kippur' War, of 1973 was precipitated by the Arab states of the middle East, primarily Egypt and Syria in an attempt to force Israel to the negotiating table. Protected by the territories she had conquered in the 1967 'Six Day War', Israel had little incentive to negotiate. The carefully co-ordinated attacks launched by Egypt and Syria in the Sinai and on the Golan Heights respectively achieved complete tactical surprise. On 6 October 1973, following massive air strikes and artillery bombardments, the Egyptians launched an assault crossing of the Suez Canal and breached the sand embankments of the Bar Lev line using demolitions and water cannon. An Israeli counterattack was repulsed with heavy losses, and the Israelis dug in. The renewed Egyptian offensive on 14 October was thrown back however and in a lightning counterattack Ariel Sharon's armoured division seized a bridgehead across the Suez Canal. The Egyptians cut Sharon's troops off and in desperate fighting around the 'Chinese Farm' General Abraham Adan's Israeli division broke through to Sharon's bridgeheads. On 20 October the Israeli's broke out from their bridgeheads towards Ismailia and the Suez-Cairo road. Despite an initial failed UN attempt at a ceasefire on 22 October, a ceasefire finally did take effect on 24 October 1973. In the second of his two-volume analysis of the Yom Kippur war, Simon Dunstan details the fighting in the Sinai.