Yom Kippur War 1973 - Sinai Front DOCUMENTARY

[Music] peace in the middle east would not last in the aftermath of israel's decisive victory in 1967 and the continued hostilities would lead to the yom kippur war of 1973 a conflict which would have global implications for decades to come welcome to our first video on the 1973 arab israeli war and the sinai clash with egypt if you're interested in the history of this era don't forget to check out our second channel the cold war the link is in the top right corner shout out to the sponsor of this video war thunder this free to play online military vehicle combat game is available on pc ps4 and xbox and in cross play between the platforms with no purchase necessary just download and play great graphics music sound effects and realistic physics and damage models fully immerses more than 20 million players worldwide into the massive battles three different modes allows everyone to select the level of realism suitable for them the developers are very active and constantly provide free major updates to the game and add new features vehicles and maps so what are you waiting for play war thunder for free on pc playstation 4 and xbox one support our channel and get a premium aircraft tank or ship and a three-day account upgrade as a bonus by clicking the link in the description in the aftermath of the six-day war victorious israeli forces began to construct fortifications along the suez canal in order to protect sinai known as the bar lev line it stretched around 100 miles from the gulf of suez in the south to the mediterranean in the north along the line were 30 strategically placed strong points known as maozim each screened by a sand bank several metres high to the east of the canal two roads the artillery road and the lateral road permitted easy transport of forces throughout the front the egyptians responded to this construction by launching sustained artillery strikes on the new israeli positions and sending commando raids into israel beginning the so-called war of attrition israel responded with its own commando operations and an airborne offensive directed at the egyptian air defense system an assault designed to pressure egypt into accepting a ceasefire president nasa realized the threat of israeli air superiority had to be solved and flew to moscow to obtain more advanced sa2 and sa-3 surface-to-air missiles technicians and combat pilots from the soviets august 7 1970 saw a six-month ceasefire brokered by the u.s preserving the status quo in the region the war of attrition had drained israeli morale and proved that the israeli air force could be countered nasa wouldn't live to see the results as he died on september 28 1970 and was succeeded by anwar sadat sadat signed a 15-year treaty of friendship with the soviets and tried to make peace with israel asking them to redeploy the idf 32 kilometers east of the suez canal beyond these strategic passes the israelis refused and sadat settled on a war as the only option left by may 1971 though the soviets continued to ship armaments to egypt including numerous scud missiles the hesitance of brezhnev to support egypt and relatively warmer relations between the ussr and us in this period resulted in the eventual expulsion of soviet personnel from egypt by mid-1972 sadat then turned to syria's president hafez al-assad and persuaded him that the lands lost in 1967 should be returned pledges of financial aid from oil rich saudi arabia and qatar were secured along with promises of troops and aircraft from the saudis algeria libya morocco sudan and iraq though most of these contingents wouldn't arrive in time sadat was realistic and knew that his army wouldn't be able to utterly defeat the idf in the field and so wanted a limited war instead he and his allies would launch a surprise attack across the suez canal and golan heights break israel's myth of invincibility and use diplomatic pressure to secure a favorable peace the yom kippur war was preceded by events on each front which adversely affected israeli perceptions of the military situation on september 7th 1973 syrian fighters were scrambled to intercept an israeli reconnaissance aircraft and a battle developed 200 kilometers northwest of israel over the mediterranean the dogfight which resulted in 13 downed syrian planes and no israeli aircraft allowed the syrians to concentrate its forces on the golan heights without suspicion they appeared to just be showing force after the aerial skirmish in the south egyptian armies concentrated their forces along the suez canal under the cover of a training exercise the image of normalcy was also maintained in an attempt to deceive the idf soldiers walked along the canal without wearing helmets they continued to fish in the canal and false criticisms of egyptian used soviet equipment were planted in cairo newspapers nevertheless idf observation still noticed unusual amounts of military activity in the area when this situation was discussed by israeli high command on september 30th intelligence chief major general eliza era assured the government that the probability of war was low after details of the egyptian offensive known as operation bada were received at 0-400 hours on the morning of october 6 preparations began for mobilization but it was far too late just before 2 p.m on yom kippur the holiest day in judaism's calendar more than 200 egyptian aircraft flew low over the suez canals launching strikes on israeli hall surface-to-air missile batteries airfields command posts and other infrastructure in sinai the attacks were successful but egypt lost 40 aircraft to air combat and ground fire at the same time two tu-16 bombers flew over the mediterranean and launched as5 celt missiles at tel aviv to show the israelis any attempt at strategic bombing would be met in kind in sinai fourteen more tupolev bombers successfully attacked targets in the sinai desert the bombardment on land began at the same time as over two thousand artillery pieces including howitzers heavy mortars and even katyusha rocket launchers began to hammer the bar lev line supplemented by specially placed tanks atop the sand ramps during the first minute of operation bada it's estimated that around 10 500 shells hit the first line of israeli defense shortly after the bombardment began specialized egyptian tank hunter squadrons armed with rpgs and malutka anti-tank missiles crossed the suez canal and occupied ambush positions at pre-planned israeli tank emplacements behind them were two egyptian armies the second was in the north commanded by major general ma'am and the third was to the south led by major general wessel together they were composed of five infantry two armored and three mechanized divisions along with a number of independent brigades the infantry formations especially possessed units with massive quantities of anti-tank weaponry designed to counter israeli armor-heavy assaults assaults across the entire front began in waves at 2 40 pm and the engineering corps breached the high sand banks by utilizing high pressure water hoses at the same time deployment of soviet-made folding bridges began in order to facilitate the crossing of egyptian armor and artillery over the coming days israeli air force jets would be bogged down constantly attacking these bridges suffering massive losses from the egyptian air defense umbrella in the process in essence the israeli's greatest weapon was made virtually useless the waves of infantry pushed several kilometers in land and established a defensive front while specially trained units dealt with the maozim strong points which were gradually captured or surrendered along almost the entire line idf armoured columns instinctively rushed to the front in order to relieve the strong points but were badly mauled and repulsed by the aforementioned anti-tank squadrons lurking in ambush israeli headquarters was in utter confusion at the startling egyptian success and by dawn faced tens of thousands of enemy soldiers hundreds of tanks and vast quantities of both land and anti-aircraft artillery batteries as well as sam sites on the eastern bank on the 8th an armored idf counter-attack by two tank divisions was launched under major generals avraham adan and ariel sharon but was again repulsed with devastating losses at the hands of artillery fire and anti-tank infantry although fierce fighting continued after the assault the idf managed to stabilize the sinai front by october 9 with ariel sharon's almond division intelligently maneuvering and destroying 50 egyptian tanks a day later sudan's armies had achieved their limited objectives and had repulsed an israeli counter-attack with massive losses but pressure on the similarly active syrian front on the golan heights necessitated a further egyptian offensive to relieve it as israel had concentrated its forces there the idf high command had been paralyzed with indecision before this point but knowledge of this upcoming egyptian attack made the course of action very clear block it crush it and counter-attack on october 14th hundreds of heavy guns opened up along the artillery road while fighter bombers attacked israeli ground targets in preparation for the attack in the northern sector the egyptian 18th infantry division and a brigade of t-62 tanks attacked from alcantara to ramali here adan's division threw the egyptians back to their origin point destroying at least 50 tanks in the centre ariel sharon's division bore the brunt of the 21st armored division's assault leading from ismailia which met similar punishment to its northern counterpart in this fighting the 14th armored brigade destroyed 93 tanks of the egyptian first armored brigade essentially destroying it as a fighting unit south of chiron an egyptian armored thrust by the fourth armored division and third armored brigade was aimed at the giddy and midla passes only to be turned back at the cost of 60 tanks and was almost totally annihilated by the iaf the egyptians were advancing and lost their anti-air umbrella leaving them dangerously vulnerable to air attack further south an egyptian task force consisting of an infantry and tank brigade attacked towards rasidar along the gulf of suez but was repulsed with ease by major general yashiya gavish the attacks turned into a massive armored battle in just two hours the catastrophic egyptian offensive had been decisively defeated of the 400 tanks committed to it 260 had been destroyed and the way was clear for a massive israeli counter-attack they had lost just 20 vehicles the tide of the war had shifted and the egyptians were hemmed back into their beachheads the israelis now favored the idea of crossing the suez canal and forcing egypt into a ceasefire something which was made increasingly plausible because of usaid in the form of operation nickel grass a broadly outlined plan named stonehearted man or operation gazelle had been drawn up before the war for this very scenario after it was tuned for the situation it called for laying two bridges across the canal near fort matsmed a location which was in a mile wide gap between the egyptian second and third armies when this was done and the israelis had crossed they should capture a 50 mile wide area between mount attacker and the outskirts of ismailia before preparing for a thrust on cairo the operation's main thrust would be conducted by the maverick tank commander ariel sharon's 143rd division which at 1600 hours on the 15th of october began its attack tuvier revive's 600th reserve armoured brigade was sent out on a frontal diversionary assault along the tasa ismailia road while amnon rasheff's 14th brigade approached the turto lexicon crossroads from this point sections of his force began experiencing fire at the hands of stubborn egyptian defenders who were stalwartly entrenched at an agricultural facility known as the chinese farm just north of the planned corridor to the canal israeli-armored columns attacking from the front flanks and rear managed to decisively clear the acovish road allowing a parachute brigade commanded by colonel danny matt and some bridging equipment to get through but stubborn enemy resistance soon closed the road behind reshef's unit the secondary tiata road remained totally blocked by egyptian defenders and israeli logistics began to have problems as a brutal confused night engagement began as the chinese farm ariel sharon ordered his parachutists to cross the channel in boats which they did by 2 40 am on the 16th having been delayed by logistical gridlock on the only open road by 8am matt's bridgehead stretched three miles north of the great bitter lake catching some egyptians on the other bank by surprise and securing some more canal crossings in the process this assisted in ferrying more tanks over to the bridgehead with which the israeli spearhead began to launch raids west to destroy egyptian sam sites and punch holes into the enemy's air defense web egypt's high command was not overly concerned about the crossing but ordered a counter-attack to snap the idf corridor shut nonetheless it would be conducted in the north by the 21st armoured division attacking from the chinese farm and in the south by the 25th armored brigade moving up the lakeshore so on the morning of october 17th egypt's pincer was launched but the israelis already knew they were coming in the north three concentrated idf armored brigades blunted and smashed the egyptian attackers who withdrew after suffering heavy casualties near the great bitter lake kennel rashef's armor managed to ambush and encircle the egyptian 25th pushing it against the water before annihilating it with intense artillery and tank fire by 5 30 pm the same day 85 of 96 enemy t62s had been destroyed and the counter-attack repelled by the 19th of october even the battle at the chinese farm had come to an end when rashef attacked the exhausted defenders conclusively pushing them north after heroic resistance across the sewers additional bridges were slowly brought to bear as the hours passed including a monstrous prefabricated roller bridge which had been painstakingly towed from miles away by more than a dozen tanks this increase in crossing points allowed multiple armored brigades to more efficiently reinforce the bridgehead known now as the agricultural buffer due to the farms and irrigation canals in the area israeli armor also began to mass for a breakout egypt's high command had decisively underestimated the so-called television operation that crossing the canal represented it was instead a serious strategic threat at dawn on october 18th three idf brigades under major general ariel sharon brigadier general calman magan and major general avraham aden burst out of the bridgehead from all angles pushing north west west and south respectively by this point in the war iaf jets were increasingly launching lethal support missions as the egyptian sam sites were hunted by ground troops in the desert while sharon's northern thrust up the sweetwater canal towards ismailia was slow going and met with dogged resistance the forces under aden and megan smashed through hostile lines with relative ease by midday on october 21st egypt's third army in the southern sector was cut off from its rear lines the great powers were now beginning to take note and neither the soviets nor the americans wanted a major war to break out secretary of state henry kissinger and soviet premier leonid brezhnev eventually reached ceasefire terms under un security council resolution 338 which was set to go into effect at 6 pm on the 22nd hostilities came to a halt in the north relatively smoothly with sharon capturing a series of bridges on the ismailia suez road before it did in the south however it took until the 25th for a solid piece to be achieved by which time adden had reached the port of suez while the war's hostilities officially came to an end skirmishes continued unofficially for months though final military victory had gone to israel its government and population were shocked by early egyptian successes the so-called agrinet commission an israeli governmental body appointed to discover the failures which led to these defeats eventually led to the end of multiple political careers including that of moshe dayan and golda meir in addition to many more military figures to the egyptians anwar sadat had gained a famous victory rather than a defeat and his armed forces could hold their heads high in the knowledge that their crossing of the canal on yom kippur had been a maneuver of great skill and bravery war thunder has an unrivaled arsenal of more than 1200 historically accurate tanks planes helicopters and ships from the 1930s to the 1990s playable across 80 major battlefields of world war ii and the cold war support our channel and get a premium aircraft tank or ship and a three-day account upgrade as a bonus by clicking the link in the description we are planning to cover the golan heights front of this war both on kings and generals and our second channel the cold war the link to which you can find in the description or the top right corner so make sure you are subscribed to both we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link in the description this is the kings and generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 1,691,657

Keywords: six day war, kings and generals, full documentary, history lesson, documentary film, animated documentary, world history, extra credits history, war - topic, decisive battles, epic history tv, 1948 Arab–Israeli War, First Arab–Israeli War, Palestine, Israel, Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War, October War, Levi Eshkol, Moshe Dayan, Ariel Sharon, gaza, jerusalem, america, USSR, cold war, Third Arab–Israeli War, DOCUMENTARY, strategy, sinai, golan, yom kippur, suez canal, history channel

Id: 82-lmGuTl_I

Length: 20min 15sec (1215 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 20 2019