YOM KIPPUR WAR

The Yom Kippur War was fought from October 6 to 26, 1973, between Israel and a massive coalition of Arab states backing Egypt and Syria. The war began with a joint surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism . . .

A great set of photos and maps . . . from DoubleTapper . . . via Theo Spark's Last of the Few . . .

. . . Israel initially fell back all the way across the Sinai, then in massive counter-attack operations regained lost terrain in the Sinai. In an audacious move, Israeli tanks crossed the Suez Canal and wrought havoc on Egyptian towns and cities, while up north IDF forces wrested the Golan Heights back from Syria.







There are many anecdotes about the Yom Kippur War. As the war raged, American war stocks were shipped from depots in Germany to Israel, along with advisors and logistical personnel. According to some sources, Israeli forces were advancing so swiftly that in the end, US troops were pulling the lanyards on the artillery pieces.

According to modern myth, the Yom Kippur war reportedly eventually ended when Soviet Premier Breshnev picked up the Kremlin / Whitehouse hotline and said to Nixon, "This has gone far enough; you can call off your boys now."


I had a schoolmate who participated in this war; Meier G__ graduated high school, went home to Israel, then showed up a year later (I was still in school) explaining how he had entered the IDF to do his mandatory military service, and then . . . the war broke out! My friend Meier rode an M-113 APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) across the Sinai. The way he told it, the Egyptians were throwing down their weapons and equipment and running for their lives. He explained that the Israelis would then stop and pick everything up; while he was saying - "Over there! We have to go over there! They're getting away!"

Meier's sister taught me to read a little Hebrew. They were good people; the beginning of my long association with the State of Israel. - S.L.


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