THE WAR THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

Transcription

1 THE WAR THAT CHANGED THE WORLD The 1973 Arab-Israeli War OLLI Fall 2017, Week 7 Frank Chadwick THE END The Israeli Counteroffensive on the Golan, October No More War

2 Week Seven Overview Part 1: Continued Fighting on the Northern Front Israeli counteroffensive Arrival of the Iraqis, stabilization Coordinated Arab counterattacks, stalemate Recapture of Mount Hermon Part 2: No More War Ceasefire and Negotiations with Egypt Cease-fire and Negotiations with Syria The War s Human Cost Peace with Egypt Peace with Jordan

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4 The Continuation of the Northern Campaign Phase One: Israeli offensive up the Damascus Road, October Phase Two: Arrival of the Iraqis, Stabilization of the Front: October Phase Three: Coordinated Arab Counterattacks, October Phase Four: Israeli Recapture of Mount Hermon, October

5 PHASE ONE: Israeli offensive up the Damascus Road 36 th Division in the north leads with the 7 th Brigade. (Replacements and repaired vehicles have increased its strength to 100 tank) Northern wing advances on Mazrat Beit-Jan. Southern wing takes fortified hill Tel Ahmar and then drives on Tel Shams, the main position blocking the Damascus Road. Repulsed in early morning attack on the 12 th. 210 th Division drives up the Damascus road through the fortified village of Khan Arnaba. Sarig s 179 th Brigade will assault the fortified town of Khan Arnaba, heavy casualties (about ¾ of the tanks in the brigade knocked out) The 679 th Armored and 9 th Oded Mechanized brigade exploits through and push toward Damascus.

6 PHASE ONE: Israeli offensive up the Damascus Road *36 th Division in the north leads with the 7 th Brigade. (Replacements and repaired vehicles have increased its strength to 100 tank) *210 th Division drives up the Damascus road through the fortified village of Khan Arnaba. *146 th Division in reserve, holds the southern end of the Golan. Syrian high command finally briefs their Soviet military advisors on the situation at the front, explains their plan for a series of hilding actions to defend Damascus, but asks Soviet officers for their opinion. When the Soviets see the scale of losses the Syrians have suffered, they are appalled. They recommend a complete and immediate withdrawal to the Sasa positions. And attempt to fight forward of there will only result in destruction of remaining forces and open the road to Damascus. Syrians order a general withdrawal to the Sassa positions in the north, with only a few key fortifications left to delay the Israelis. The infantry in the south remains in place to keep communications with Jordan open and force the Israelis to leave a garrison there.

7 Morning, October th Division (7 th Brigade) Northern wing advances on Beit-Jan against very light resistance. Southern wing takes fortified hill Tel Ahmar. 210 th Division Sarig s 179 th Brigade assaults the fortified town of Khan Arnaba, suffers heavy casualties (about ¾ of the tanks in the brigade knocked out)

8 Afternoon, October th Division (7 th Brigade) Northern wing advances on Mazrat Beit-Jan, which is strongly held by elements of the Syrian 7 th Division. Southern wing drives on Tel Shams, the main position blocking the Damascus Road. Repulsed in early morning attack on the 12 th. 210 th Division The 679 th Armored and 9 th Oded Mechanized brigade attack through 179 th Brigade, take Khan Arnaba, and push through.

9 Morning, October th Division repulses attacks by Syrian 7 th Division in the north. Holds at Tel Shams. Troops which held forward deplaying positions filter back to Syrian lines. 210 th Division pushes east and then north toward Knaker, with the intention of turning the flank of the Sassa defense line. Encounters no resistance during the day, as all Syrians in the area have withdrawn north. The battered remnants of the Syrian 1 st Armored Division hold the eastern desert flank but are too weak to launch an attack. As the 9 th and 179 th Brigades approach Knaker, division observation posts on high ground see approaching dust clouds from the southeast. Israeli radio operator who grew up in Iraq identifies the accent of radio traffic as clearly Iraqi. The Iraqi expeditionary force has arrived.

10 Afternoon, 12 October Syrian 9 th Division launches attack north toward Khan Arnuba. Stopped by elements of 317 th Parachute Brigade shifted south. Approaching dust clouds identified as advanced elements of the Iraqi 3 rd Salah ad-din Armored Division. 210 th Division pulls back its two forward brigades to meet threat from south. Israeli 205 th Armored Brigade detached from 146 th Division and sent to reinforce the defenses against the Iraqis.

11 PHASE TWO: Arrival of the Iraqis Iraqi Order of Battle (Dates in parentheses are day arrived at the front) Strength 60,000 men 700 tanks 500 armored personnel carriers 200 artillery pieces 3 rd Salah ad-din Armored Division (MG Mohammed Ameen) 12 th Armored Brigade (October 12) 8 th Mechanized Brigade (October 12) 6 th Armored Brigade (October 14) 6 th Armored Division 11 th and 30 th Armored Brigades (October 19) 70 th Mechanized Brigade (October 19) Separate Brigades Special Forces Brigade (October 15) 5 th Mountain Infantry Brigade (October 18)

12 October 13 Iraqi 13 th Armored Brigade, 100 tanks (only two battalions), attacks north. Lost 50 tanks, and 30 more lost over the next four days and 12 th brigade withdrawn from contact to reorganize, not sent back into action. Iraqi 8 th Mechanized Brigade puts in weak attack further east, driven back. No Israeli tanks knocked out. *(Very poor shooting from the Iraqis.) Later that night, one battalion of Israeli 317 th Parachute Brigade lifted by helicopters, assault Tel Shams from northeast and takes the fortified hill.

13 PHASE THREE: Coordinated Arab Counterattacks October Additional arriving Arab allied troops, including the rest of the Iraqi 3 rd Armored Division, allow the Syrians and Iraqis to plan a coordinated counterattack to take place on October 16. The Israelis pause in their drive and rearrange their forward units to better position them to resist counterattacks by the arriving Iraqi armor.

14 The Plan for October 16 Israelis reshuffle brigades in 210 th Division sector, take over responsibility for Tel Shams and Damascus Road from 36 th Division. 317 th Parachute Brigade s three battalions spread out to reinforce weak shot in the line. The Iraqis plan a coordinated attack from the south using the newly-arrived Jordanian 40 th Armored Brigade, and the Iraqi 6 th Armored and 8 th Mechanized brigades, all under the command of the Iraqi 3 rd Armored Division. The Iraqi Special Forces Brigade, the Saudi 20 th Infantry Brigade, and the Kuwaiti 2 nd Infantry Battalion, arrive in the south and remain in reserve.

15 Dawn October 16 The Jordanian 40 th Brigade attacks on schedule all by itself. The supporting Iraqi artillery mistakenly fires on the Jordanian positions instead of the Israelis. Unengaged Israeli units attack it in flank.

16 Dawn October 16 The Jordanians are driven back to their start line having lost 28 of the 80 tanks committed to the attack.

17 10:00AM October 16 About four hours later the Iraqi 6 th Armored Brigade attacks, also by itself. As it advances across open ground toward the Israelis defending high ground, other unengaged Israeli tank units again envelop its flanks.

18 10:00AM October 16 The Syrian brigade is driven back with heavy losses: 60 of the 120 tanks committed. No Israeli tanks were knocked out. The Iraqi 8 th Mechanized Brigade never got into action. Sometime during the day the Syrian 3 rd Armored division launched its attack in the north against the Uri Orr s 679 th Brigade but with no results. Following the battle the Jordanians insisted on being transferred to the control of the Syrian 9 th Division instead of the Iraqi 3 rd, because of the stunning incompetence of the Iraqi command staff.

19 October The Israelis withdraw the 210 th Armored Division into reserve and replace it with the 146 th Division. Only the two original armored brigades of the 210 th (the first two reserve brigades to arrive on the Golan) are withdrawn. The other two brigades remain in place and are joined by the two brigades of the 146 th. The arrows on the map show the brigades which swapped position.

20 The Arabs plan a joint two-division attack for October 19 from the south. The Iraqi 3 rd Armored Division has reinforced the 6 th Armored Brigade to nearly full strength and will coordinate its attack with the Iraqi Special Forces brigade and 8 th Mechanized Brigade. The special forces and infantry will infiltrate before dawn and the armor will attack at dawn The Syrian 8 th Infantry Division will attack further west with its own 52 nd Infantry Brigade and the attached 40 th Jordanian Armored Brigade. The Iraqi 5 th Mountain Infantry Brigade arrives on about the 18 th of October and reinforces the Sassa line. The Syrian 3 rd Armored Division shifts southwest to follow up any successes in the joint attack

21 2:00 AM, October 19 The pre-dawn attack by commandoes does very well, driving back Israeli outposts and penetrating the Israeli positions. The mechanized infantry join the attack an hour later and also make good progress.

22 Dawn, 19 October The Iraqi armored attack at dawn is poorly coordinated, however, as on schedule, but the Jordanians and Syrians further west do not. The Iraqi armor does not coordinate its attacks with the infantry, hits the Israeli high ground positions headon (instead of flanking them as was planned). Artillery support is poor, largely falling on empty desert. The unengaged Israeli forces further west drive into the open flank of the Iraqis.

23 7:00 AM, October 19 The Iraqi armor fell back to its start line, allowing the Israelis to concentrate on the Iraqi special forces and mechanized infantry. The infantry force was driven back with heavy losses.

24 9:00 AM, October 19 The Jordanians and Syrians finally launch their attack. The Syrian infantry is stopped by a battalion of the Israeli 317 th Parachute Brigade. The Jordanians split their brigade, with about 60 tanks total, into two wings, each of which is defeated in detail by an Israeli brigade.

25 9:30 AM, October 19 The Syrians and Jordanians fall back to their starting positions with comparatively light losses (about seventeen Jordanian tanks out of the 60 committed were lost). The Israelis lost four or five tanks in this action.

26 10:00 AM, October 19 The Iraqi armored brigade of the 3 rd Division regroups and launches a second attack on the Israeli positions around Tel Antar. This time there is no accompanying infantry.

27 12:00 AM, October 19 The Iraqi armored brigade penetrated the Israeli positions and for two hours engaged in close combat with Israeli armor. Eventually they retreated with even heavier losses than in the first attack.

28 2:00 PM, October 19 The Iraqi armored brigade of the 3rd Division regrouped again and launched a third attack, to the amazement of the watching Israelis. Again the Iraqis penetrated the positions of the 205th Armored brigade, but at the height of the battle one Israeli company commander managed to flank the Iraqis and begin rolling up their line.

29 4:00 PM, October 19 The Iraqi armored brigade of the 3rd Division retreats for the final time, leaving over 70 tanks behind (out of about 100 committed to the attack), and is no longer combat effective.

30 Dusk, October 19 The Iraqi 3rd Armored Division is finally exhausted and incapable of offensive operations. The fresh Iraqi 6th Armored Division arrives from the west. The Jordanian 192nd Armored Brigade begins moving north into the theater of war as well. The Israelis conclude that no further offensive advances are possible on this front.

31 PHASE FOUR: Israeli Recapture of Mount Hermon The Israeli observation post on the slopes of Mount Hermon was a key intelligence-gathering position for the Iraelis before the war. It had fallen on the first dya of the war to a mixed force of Syrian paratroopers and commandoes, who had assaulted down the mountain slopes from the Syrian positions higher up. A battalion of the Golani Infantry Brigade had attacked on October 8 th but had been stopped by the Syrian commandoes and paratroopers, suffering 25 killed and 57 wounded. With a ceasefire imminent and the main front in the north stabilized, the Israelis again launched an attack to retake the position.

32 The attack would have two parts. The 317 th Khgitivat (COL Haim Nadel) Parachute Brigade would land two battalions by helicopter on the Syrian side and capture the original Syrian positions. The 1 st Golani Infantry Brigade (COL Amir Drori) would assault with one battalion and the brigade reconnaissance company up the western slope, following the road, and take the original Israeli position. Six tanks would support the infantry along the road, where practical. Intelligence and aerial reconnaissance had showed no evidence of Syrian troops in the Israeli positions for the last week. Either they were extremely (almost unbelievably) disciplined in not showing themselves during the day, or they had withdrawn. The commander of the Golani assault battalion told his brigade commander, This is either going to be very easy, or very hard.

33 The Paratroop attack took the upper position against light opposition. Total casualties one dead, four wounded. The Golani attack ran into a well-concealed ambush by Syrian commandoes (it turns out they had been extraordinarily disciplined about exposing their positions) which immediately wounded five of the six tank commanders, killed the commander of the reconnaissance company, and caused heavy casualties among the infantry. The battalion pushed on without armor support and against stubborn resistance from the Syrian commandoes and paratroopers, but managed to take the position. Total casualties for the Golanis: 55 dead, 79 wounded.

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35 PART TWO No more war. President Anwar Sadat, addressing the Israeli Knesset. November 19, 1977 Cease-fire and negotiations with Egypt Cease-fire and negotiations with Syria The Human Cost Camp David and Peace with Egypt (March 26, 1979) Peace with Jordan (October 26, 1994)

36 Cease-Fire with Egypt When Israel violated the October 22 cease-fire and surrounded Egyptian 3 rd Army, Egypt asked for Soviet intervention Kissinger intervenes diplomatically with two objectives: Move Egypt from Soviet orbit to US orbit (save 3 rd Army) Reduce the chance of further war in the region USSR declines to send troops. Kissinger gives ultimatum to Israel: Let supplies through to 3 rd Army. Destroying that army is not an option. Before US-Israeli conflict comes to a head, Egypt unexpectedly agrees to direct talks with Israel. First meeting October 28 between highranking army officers of both sides.

37 Cease-Fire with Egypt Two weeks after cease-fire, Kissinger begins shuttle diplomacy. Sadat agrees to Kissinger s formal cease-fire proposal, and Israelis soon follow. Agreement signed November 11: Formal cease-fire 3 rd Army allowed humanitarian supplies through UN-manned checkpoints All POWs exchanged Two months later a formal disengagement agreement is signed. Israel withdraws all forces from the west bank and moves back to the passes. Sadat re-opens canal to traffic and begins repopulating the canal cities. Dayan s proposal of three years earlier.

38 Cease-Fire with Syria Syria remained a hot front for several months, a war of attrition similar to the Sinai immediately after the 1967 war. Assad s harder attitude toward Israel makes negotiations slower. May, 1974 Kissinger begins last-ditch shuttle diplomacy to find a deal. In June, Assad agrees to a final concession which lets Kissinger get concessions from Israel as well. Israel withdraws to Purple Line, plus gives up Kuneitra Full POW exchange Forces in the Golan region limited (no surprise attacks) UN observers return Syria agrees to prevent guerrilla incursions (and does)

39 Israel 2,500-2,800 dead (0.09%) 7,250-8,800 wounded 3,137,000 total population Egypt 5,000-15,000 dead (0.04%) c12,000 wounded 37,047,000 total population Syria 3,000-3,500 dead (0.05%) C6,000 wounded 6,908,000 total population The War s Human Cost

40 Peace With Egypt November 9, 1977, Sadat addresses Egyptian Parliament, expresses willingness to go to Israel to find peace. November 19, 1977, Sadat arrives in Israel as guest of Begin government. Meets and jokes with Sharon (then minister of Agriculture). If you come to the West Bank again, I ll have you arrested. Addresses Knesset: No more war Camp David Accords agreed to as preliminary move to peace. March 26, 1979, Israel and Egypt sign comprehensive peace treaty. October 6, 1981, Sadat assassinated by fundamentalist Army officers, but Egypt continues to honor the 1979 peace treaty.

41 Peace With Egypt Provisions of the Peace Treaty. Formal termination of the state of war between Israel and Egypt Formal recognition of the State of Israel by Egypt Complete withdrawal of all Israeli military units and civilians from the Sinai. Egypt to leave the Sinai demilitarized. Israeli ships allowed free passage through the Suez Canal. Egyptian recognition of the Strait of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba as international waterways (no future blockades).

42 Peace with Jordan Jordanian support for its traditional ally Iraq during the First Gulf War ( ) left it an outcast state among the Arab World. Gulf State subsidies cut. Saudi Arabia terminated oil shipments through the Trans Arabian Pipeline Jordanian relations had generally remained good with the west and pragmatic with Israel. July, 1994, Israel and Jordan signed the Washington Declaration, ending hostilities between the two countries. October 26, 1994, comprehensive peace treaty signed between Israel and Jordan.

43 Next Week The War That Changed The World Military Tactics and Operational Art Superpower Confrontation Middle East Balance of Power Israeli Security Israeli Internal Politics Some final observations