The War in October: The Battle and Beyond (Part 3) | Featured Documentary

New York Saturday the 6th of October 1973 the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the early hours American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is woken in his suite with news of military activity in the Middle East two hours later at 2:00 p.m. Middle Eastern Time Egypt and Syria launched a war against Israel on two fronts after three years and power Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had grown tired of peace initiatives that seemed to be going nowhere you know fair mediators had not been successful in solving the problem and the United States was the main supporter of Israel so it was clear that if you wanted to solve the problem you would have to do two things either go to war or try to convince the Americans to move in the right direction two weeks into the war and with the opposing forces locked in a stalemate Henry Kissinger arrived in Moscow his goal was to agree a UN ceasefire acceptable to Egypt Soviet allies [Music] the Russians had presented us with a resolution that was unacceptable so we had to rewrite it and Henry and I stayed up from midnight on to write it and get it all done we presented the next morning within two days the draft of UN Security Council resolution 338 had been accepted by both the Soviets and the Americans but instead of returning direct to Washington Kissinger made a stopover in Tel Aviv for a few hours that's after noon 22nd of October he would give his blessing to Israeli plans to violate the ceasefire even before it had begun on the sixth of October 1973 the Egyptians mounted a lightning attack across the Suez Canal their goal to liberate the Sinai Peninsula occupied by Israel six years earlier in the six-day war two field armies a hundred thousand men had established bridgeheads ten kilometres deep into sinai during the first week of war the israelis had lost equipment at an unprecedented rate 500 tanks and 50 aircraft to an Egyptian army equipped with the latest Soviet weaponry handheld anti-tank rockets [Music] and sophisticated surface-to-air missiles right it was a political situation the Soviets we're trying to impose their will in the Middle East to regain their positions they had supplied massive amounts of arms to the Arab world the United States had to respond and it had to make sure that his weapons were not perceived as being inferior the Soviet Union by the 14th of October a massive American airlift had begun to carry weapons to Israel the operation was codenamed nickel gross electronic equipment was sent which was helped to neutralize the SAM sites to anti-tank missiles were sent the strange thing is that the really important material it was sent was the most basic 105 millimeter ammunition they sent that by the thousands of tons and and it was fired off almost immediately the mala koola me c'mon kimochi throughout the whole war we were receiving ammunition crates of ammunition which came straight off the planes and ships and no one even tries to make it look like it's Israeli there was US Army on it so it was clear what role America took in keeping Israel alive reinforced with American arms the Israelis now formed a bold plan to cross the canal at a gap that identified between the two Egyptian field armies the plan was called stout-hearted men [Music] during the second week of the war and after fierce fighting the Israelis succeeded in crossing to the Egyptian mainland on the west bank of the canal [Music] three armored division's some 600 tanks formed an Israeli bridgehead in an area called devil swath [Music] and some lucky ellipses say we had to get to all the anti-aircraft bases and take them out and hit the retreating Egyptian forces and cut off the Egyptian troops that had crossed to the eastern side of the canal so it was a complicated mission the Egyptians confused and unsure what was going on began to restrict the release of information about the Israeli presence on the western side of the canal what sort of hot interior was weird the moment the Egyptian said that four or maybe even eight Israeli tanks had penetrated to the western side of the canal and were being dealt with I told the friends the Egyptian command have started making false statements up till then all the Egyptian statements were truthful and the Israelis were lying now I said it's the other way around the Egyptians are lying and the Israeli statements are correct on the other hand the Israelis were working closely with Western journalists many different forces just 5 miles further on box do in purely military terms it was a brilliantly conceived plan the Israelis managed to see more with the Israeli thorough troops in Egypt international correspondence accompanied Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan on visits to Israeli forces west of the canal president Sadat claimed the Israeli operation in Davis WA was a mere television stunt an attempt to cover up his railey failures in the first week of war come on in fact it was a really serious problem I knew it was not just a media operation that Israeli breakthrough was a personal blow to me as a commander of the second army Davis work the area now coming under Israeli control was rich agricultural land totally different from the waste desert of Sinai Egyptian special forces working in small groups use the lush undergrowth to set ambushes for the Israeli troops why was I so confident because I knew they were up to the job I had faith in the paratroops and commanders I had lived with them for a long time I was the commander of the paratroops for three years and I knew them to be brave fighters real men and reliable Egyptian chief of staff general sada says Lee realized the war plan was on the verge of disaster anti-tank squads were desperately needed on the western bank of the canal to help stop the Israeli advance but in ordering them to cross back from Sinai chesley was breaking presidential orders so that Sadat had set his mind on the fact that since we had taken bridgeheads on the eastern side of the canal we should never leave the east whatever happened he thought at least now we're on the eastern side of the canal so he gave orders that not even one rifle should be pulled back from east to west so how can we stop them how can we stop them how can we stop the enemy when we have no troops and 90% of our troops are on the eastern side of the canal not fighting and have nothing to do anyway at the end it was the president and the war minister on one side and sadly on the other whose orders are going to prevail you figure it out Chesley who had masterminded egypt's initial success was sidelined from now on Sadat and his war Minister General Ahmed a smile would take all the decisions when the Israeli forces crossed to the western side of the canal they inflicted massive damage to the logistical units in the rear which were untrained units so what was their goal just to create as much terror as possible now the Egyptian High Command was running out of options Air Force commander firstly Mubarak ordered his pilots into the air I remember once I was entering the operation room and I heard general Hosni Mubarak on the radio speaking to our brigade commander Hassan famine saying sir don't you see what it's like Mubarak replied Hassan scramble they are dangerous enemy targets but you have to scramble don't you if you didn't scramble what would happen the Israelis will advance and everything you've done would be in vain Egyptian pilots also found themselves facing a new threat from the Israelis from the ground from occupied territory west of the canal Adobe d'Ivoire Ghana they came across with a mobile air defense system Hawk missiles those missiles brought down many of our aircraft me and colleague we were attacked by Hawk missiles it took me by surprise and I say to myself Oh God sweets is firing at me and I'm one of her sons after more than two weeks of war it seemed all this bloodshed was about to come to an end on the 22nd of October the UN Security Council adopted resolution 338 calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East situation which has been created in the maintenance of international peace at 18:52 Middle Eastern time the fighting would stop in desperate battles on the western side of the canal Egypt had lost hundreds of men [Music] - but senior commanders brigadiers amida buddha Zoomer and Ibrahim if I had died in the fighting but despite these losses the Egyptians had stopped the Israelis from achieving the strategic goal of stout-hearted men [Music] today just south of the city of is Malia Israeli tanks remain at the point where their advance was stopped in its tracks they'd be working at that point the kind of Suez Road had not been cut and neither the third nor the Second Army was besieged but then who said anything about Israel respecting UN Security Council resolutions as the hour of the ceasefire approached American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger arrived in Tel Aviv the ceasefire he had just orchestrated with the Soviets had come too soon for Israel they were desperate to fight on to consolidate their position Kissinger agreed to turn a blind eye we can say that Israel had a greater interest in the ceasefire in death kicking in right at that moment but it still had work to do so territory it wants to capture as morning broke on the 23rd of October Israeli forces went into action as though no ceasefire existed two armored divisions commanded by General Zod raha Madan and kalman Magon raced southwards bypassing Egyptian resistance points in a - towards Suez oh man that had the sawdust the Seaforth illness to get to within 80 kilometers of Cairo with three divisions I think that considering where we started from to reach where we did it was a huge achievement but we paid the price in blood in my battalion 67 of my soldiers were killed almost a hundred injured will officiate Gundel by nightfall on the 23rd the Israelis had managed to cut the Cairo Suez road and bypassed Suez City to reach the port of adobea the Egyptian Third Army dug in on the eastern side of the canal now found itself under siege surrounded by Israeli troops on every side there was a state of bewilderment and fear of the 1967 scenario that what happened in June 67 would happen again and now we are at their mercy in New York at 11:00 p.m. Middle Eastern Time on the 23rd of October the reconvened Security Council issued resolution 339 it called for a new ceasefire to go into effect at 7:00 a.m. the following day but again Israel was to break this second ceasefire ken had Ephraim Medina Rolly say their main target was a big city the conquering of a big city either is Malia or Suez a city with a big name they were fighting more of a media battle but at the same time they wanted to achieve a big political goal [Music] until the Six Day War Suez was a flourishing industrial city and port [Music] but after 1967 the city found itself on the front line between Egypt and Israeli occupied Sinai a target for Israeli attacks it was soon reduced to rubble [Music] a city of a quarter of a million people now lay virtually abandoned [Music] early on October the 24th just as the new ceasefire was scheduled to start Israeli tanks and paratroops moved into the semi deserted city but they soon encountered stiff resistance from a small city militia [Music] mm dia raha boy their tanks entered the city and Ibrahim Sulaiman hit the first of them süleyman's shell went through the tanks hatch cut the drivers throat and stop the tank that was the first tank to stop in Suez so all the tanks and armored vehicles stopped after that one because it blocked the street they knew very well as we did that if any tank stops in a city it becomes a mobile tomb so they abandoned their tanks and ran to the nearby buildings what a beautiful montage the Israelis were driven from the city losing 80 dead and 120 wounded [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] to this day destroyed Israeli tanks remain a testimony to the courageous resistance in Suez despite the setback Israel's disregard of the ceasefire was buying at precious territory elsewhere causing consternation in Moscow that's also a little beautiful when Israel ignored the UN ceasefire and continued fighting it became clear there were different points of view in the Soviet government some people thought we should put pressure on them and make them adopt the ceasefire make them behave properly [Music] on the 24th of October at 9:35 p.m. Washington time an alarming message arrived from Moscow it said the Soviets were considering taking unilateral action to impose the ceasefire in the Middle East what they were cooking there were some exercises several Airborne Division's were put on alert but I don't think there was a military contingent ready to land the next day in the Middle East it was more likely to be political pressure not military although some people for example our Minister of Defense were very keen on the idea with President Nixon submerged in the mire of the Watergate scandal it was left to Henry Kissinger to handle the crisis Kissinger decided to respond to the Soviet threat with a show of force [Music] at 11:41 p.m. Washington time the American armed forces state of alert was raised to defense condition 3 the highest and peacetime well the question of the u.s. versus Soviet Union always boils down to a mutual annihilation we could have killed everybody in the Soviet Union they could have killed everybody in the United States and the rest of the world would have gone it was an absolutely insane situation the thing that saved it was that each side knew that if a war occurred the leaders themselves would get killed and so when you know that you're gonna get killed in the war and not just some poor peasant soldiers gonna get killed you make different decisions about starting a war faced with the possibility of a spiral towards nuclear war the next day 25th of October the Soviets stepped back the alert was diffused [Applause] we do not consider ourselves in a confrontation with the Soviet Union they do not believe that it's necessary at this moment to have a confrontation in fact we are prepared to work cooperatively towards the realization of the objective which we have a better dough for a full 24 hours the world had stood on the brink of war between the two great nuclear powers but common sense had prevailed on October the 25th the UN Security Council issued Resolution 340 the third in less than four days to finally impose a ceasefire in the Middle East the following day the vanguard of a new UN emergency force arrived at the Suez Front but despite their presence skirmishes continued between Egyptian and Israeli troops on the western bank of the canal so this violation started almost immediately and why because what had happened when the war stopped was that it stopped in the middle of ongoing military operations so there were no natural lines of demarcation the forces were nearly mixed on the battlefield with no clear border lines between forces a major breakthrough was needed to end the fighting and secure the fragile UN ceasefire it would come when Egyptians and Israelis met in negotiations on the battlefield for the first time in the 25-year history of the State of Israel [Music] on the northern front on the Golan Heights the third week of the October war opened with Syrian and Israeli forces locked in a stalemate Syria's initial thrust to recapture this territory occupied by Israel in the six-day war had been repulsed in a counter-attack by hastily called up Israeli reservists by the end of the first week of war Syrian troops had been forced to withdraw while the Israelis pushed on across the 1967 ceasefire line towards the Syrian capital I think that stopping 35 kilometers shorter Damascus was smart you must end a war in a position from which the Statesman can start negotiating so our final position was good as the balance shifted in favor of Israel other Arab countries sent troops in support [Music] the Syrian front was strengthened by the arrival of expeditionary forces from Iraq Jordan Saudi Arabia and Kuwait this cocktail of Arab forces would now be used in a counter-attack to drive the Israelis back out of the pocket they had occupied in the Syrian mainland actually in vain on the 21st of October we heard there was a big attack planned it was to be carried out by Iraqi and Syrian forces to reclaim territory and get back to the position on the 5th of October at that stage we hoped we could restore what had been lost on the Syrian front minimally Shariah the attack was set for the 23rd of October but it would never happen on the 22nd Egypt's President Anwar Sadat unilaterally accepted a UN ceasefire that would take effect that evening Syrian President Hafez al-assad now faced the prospect of fighting alone on a single front dynamo Benham as the 23rd drew to a close the Syrians to bow to the inevitable Assad would have no choice but to accept the ceasefire terms but the Israelis were not done with fighting yet a key listening post had been captured by Syrian paratroopers on the first day of war with just a few hours left before the ceasefire Israel's Golani Brigade attacked after facing fierce Syrian resistance they finally secured their prize but only after suffering heavy losses 55 dead and 79 wounded it was really important for Israel to raise the country's flag and the Golani Brigade flag on top of Mount Hermon on the last day of the war and to prevent the Syrians from securing any sort of success from this war on the Suez Canal front things were no better for the Egyptians the Israelis had the entire Egyptian Third Army besieged on the eastern side of the canal 35,000 soldiers cut off from their supply lines the deafhood Mayock victim amman the site at which the rich pay we had with us what was called combat ration three packs of small biscuits and two bars of crustaceans these things could provide you the necessary calories for one day but now it was all the food that was available for a soldier for five days and when that had done there was nothing but the Israelis were also facing a major problem for the first time in the history of arab-israeli conflict Egypt was holding a large number of prisoners of war 230 in total Allen Hall was full I will ask it all must have gained fear of harmony with the arrival of the first prisoners lifted the morale of all our forces straight away Egyptian military intelligence resorted to photographing them and putting those photos in the media to try and boost the morale not only of the Armed Forces but also of the Egyptian people Schalke kulia back in Israel demonstrators soon took to the streets accusing Golda Meir's government of not doing enough to bring home the captured soldiers Golda Meir had some time before offered to have Israeli officers meet their Egyptian counterparts and to discuss what was most important to her the release of Israeli prisoners and I will also talk about letting supplies through to the Third Army but she insisted on a meeting between the Egyptians and the Israelis because until then the Egyptians are attending or Israel didn't exist they wanted no contact with so it came as a surprise when the Egyptians accepted just such negotiations the meeting point was to be a tent erected at the sign marking a hundred and one kilometers to Cairo on the Cairo Suez Road at 1:30 a.m. on the 28th of October and for the first time ever Egyptians and Israelis were about to have direct negotiations but the negotiations quickly became strained as skirmishes continued in the confusion of the battlefield a different sort of battle started after the ceasefire we put into action a plan called revenge and another called total we had orders to keep the defense active not passive meaning we should not give up fighting that would be sick on the 30th of October Israeli prime minister golda meir complicated matters still further when she made a morale-boosting visit to Israeli troops on the western side of the canal on Egyptian soil [Music] meanwhile the effects of this war began to be felt globally Arab oil-producing countries had formulated a plan to use the price of oil to pressure Western supporters of Israel by mid-october several of the biggest producers had unilaterally raised prices by nearly 20 percent people were worried about it it drove futures prices up and people went bananas on the wanting to fill up their cars I think it satisfied a very real and important psychological need amongst the Arabs to have demonstrated that they could take some actions now that this regional conflict was beginning to have international ramifications on the 6th of November American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger flew into Cairo for his first-ever meeting with Anwar Sadat they started talking about Israel pulling back to the so-called October 22nd lines where they should have stopped because there says you know we could argue for weeks and weeks and weeks over this and at the end they would still be on your territory it won't have solved lot that if that's what you want we'll do it and Sadat says what's the alternative he said give me a little bit more time and we'll go for a bigger agreement that will get them completely off the west bank of the canal back into Sinai and Sadat said fine let's do the big step not the small four days after this meeting an initial agreement was signed in the tent at kilometer 101 the first step in kissinger's grand plan the agreement guaranteed the Egyptians daily convoys of non-military supplies to the city of Suez and the besieged Third Army for Israel the key point of the agreement was an exchange of prisoners Israeli prisoners arriving back in Tel Aviv were met by huge crowds [Music] prime minister golda meir was moved to tears by the occasion [Music] the reaction if the hability what singing silence it's hard to describe my feelings when I saw the coastline of my country from the plane we landed at a military airbase and once the doors were opened we saw the Israeli soldiers coming in not Egyptians and when you come down the steps and you saw the applause and the cheers an amazing feeling Chocolat they Argos are fantastic as the new year arrived Henry Kissinger returned to the region to hammer out the next step in his grand plan for egyptian-israeli disengagement on the 11th of January he met with Sadat in the southern Egyptian city of Aswan [Music] next day in the afternoon Kissinger left for Tel Aviv to meet up with the Israelis after a week flying between Aswan a city famous for its winter Sun and Tel Aviv experiencing its first ever snowstorm both sides accepted a disengagement agreement a new term had entered the lexicon of international politics shuttle diplomacy all I hope is that this Airport will continue till we reach the peace based on justice disk on the 18th of January General Mohamed el Ganassi Egyptian chief of staff and General David Eleazar his Israeli counterpart signed the agreement in the tent at kilometer 101 it was the first in a chain of agreements that would lead to total Israeli withdrawal from Sinai in April 1982 October the significance of that war the October war was the impact it had not only on the political military and security level but on the Israeli citizen himself in accepting the idea that I can leave the land I occupy to feel more secure the agreement stated that Israeli forces west of the canal would withdraw to the east bank and further east into Sinai a reduced Egyptian force would stay on the eastern side of the canal in positions they had captured during the war UN forces would police the buffer zone between the two armies an entertainment truth came one day to sing for the soldiers on the western bank of the canal and they included in the repertoire a song left over from the six-day war making fun of the Egyptian soldiers running away and leaving their boots in the sand and when they finished the singing the soldiers came up and suggested that they take that song out of the repertoire it is not appropriate anymore by the end of January the Israelis had finished the first stage of their withdrawal from the western side of the canal the road to the city of Suez was opened after almost a hundred days the siege of the Third Army was lifted three weeks later Egypt enjoyed a day of celebration in the Egyptian Parliament siddhart held a ceremony to decorate and promote the heroes of the Armed Forces [Applause] but one name was missing from the role of honor general sada Chesley the man who had formulated the original plan for the war that doesn't matter at all look I seek no position in real life I'm seeking the afterlife Allah willing with what matters to me is Egypt my worst fear is that the mistakes of the October war and there were mistakes despite the undoubtedly glorious achievements that our children and grandchildren will make the same mistakes if we don't learn from it Egypt is what matters to me not seditious Lee I will get my reward from Allah Allah willing by the end of February Israeli troops had completed the final stage of their withdrawal from the western side of the canal the mood as the Israelis pulled out and this I experienced myself and it was a bit like a carnival basically they were relieved why these were reserved soldiers they've been called up for months they wanted to come home [Music] but even as Israel soldiers celebrated the mood back home was different Israel lost 2600 men kill per capita this is three times the death rate of the Americans in Vietnam over ten years this Israel severed in three weeks the public wanted to know how come there's really a civilian and military leadership were surprised by a mass Arab a two-front attack how come they're there they were caught with their pants down and they also wanted to know why the Army performed so poorly in those first few days less than six months after the start of the war a commission of Investigation headed by Sherman Agri not president of the Israeli Supreme Court would place the blame firmly on the military three army heads would roll Chief of Staff General David Eleazar commander of Southern Command general shmoo al Gonen and head of military intelligence General ELISA IRA the Commission cleared prime minister Golda Meir and defense minister Moshe Dayan [Music] but the Israeli public were not appeased and demonstrations broke out on the streets nine days after the Commission published its report the Prime Minister resigned and accused openly accused and still accuse Golda Meir of killing more than two thousand really soldiers and I don't know how many Egyptian soldiers because of her sheer stupidity and obstinacy yet it would be two months before mrs. Meir would leave office there was unfinished business with the Syrians since the ceasefire of the 23rd of October the previous year the situation on the golan front had remained inflammable skirmish is breaking out regularly the Israelis still occupied a salient deep inside the Syrian mainland not far from the capital Damascus delicacy mmm cooking we went through some hard days and nights then staying strong emotionally was difficult because of the depression the uncertainty the physical conditions also made it difficult to live in the open during the winter and that winter of 73 74 was very harsh in May 1974 Kissinger set out on his second round of shuttle diplomacy this time between tel-aviv and Damascus after almost a month of hard talking he managed to secure a second breakthrough in the region on the 28th of May 1974 the government of Israel approved a disengagement agreement with Syria this is a day that we hope Syrian mothers Israeli mothers Syrian young wives Israeli young wives children on both sides of the border can go to sleep at night without terror dreams of who knows if their dear one is the life today will he be alive again on the next day the agreement stated that Israeli forces would withdraw from the pocket they were occupying in Syria Syrian troops would return to almost the same positions they had started the war from with the UN managed buffer zone between the two kenitra the largest city in Golan would be returned to Syria on the 5th of June 1974 the agreement was signed in Geneva by senior military officers of both sides the war in October was officially over on both fronts after 243 days of fighter tisn't uh persuadable Assad to have a disengagement agreement on the Golan in a sense he tricked Syria into a disengagement agreement on the Golan which was minimal the Syria recovered Quneitra which the Israelis grew up before they left the tiniest sliver of territory but everything else remained in Israeli hands the Egyptians got what they wanted out of it so you know Sadat had realistic goals about recovering the Sinai and the war led to the recovery of the Sinai for Egypt so you got to see that as a win for the Egyptians for the Syrians they didn't recover the goal and so you got to see that as a defeat essentially for the Israelis ultimately they had reversed the course of the war but they had stuff for very heavy casualties so you kind of have to see it as a bit of a defeat for the Israelis in terms of being caught by surprise go shoot a neutral fishable you know a person in his life has three four friends who are close to their hearts and in their souls and none of them returned with me so I definitely don't think there are any winners in war there will be someone who loses more someone who loses less but there are no winners in wars and that's something which has stayed with me since 1973 now Canadair Gotha otra vez who knows what couple in the moon we used the train for our return to Cairo you new soldiers who had died during this or that operation and you know their wives their mothers we knew each other's families very well when I saw them I hid under the crane seat what can you say to them do you get my point you see they're expectant eyes and they look at you sir sir where is he what can you say the suffering shuns you up inside you feel like exploding of course you cry commander or not it's just a human reaction what can you say to them his children what do you say to a wife who comes with two kids waiting for their father instead of all [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Al Jazeera English

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Keywords: October, Israel, Egypt, sinai, jazeera, suez canal, syria, kissinger, The War in October | The Battle and Beyond | Part 3 | Featured Documentary, The War in October, aljazeera, aljazeera english, al jazeera english, al jazeera, The Battle and Beyond, Featured Documentary, Part 3, Battle, War in October, War, Arab-Israeli wars, Documentary, al jazeera live, Battle and Beyond

Id: yU6dkvo5TUY

Length: 47min 49sec (2869 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 18 2013