At 2:00 PM on October 6, 1973, on the whole country is sounding an alarm siren.
The strange hour for the start of the war was not chosen by chance - the day is one of the most important and holy Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur or the Day of Forgiveness, recalls "Friends of Israel in Bulgaria".
During the holiday it is customary not to eat, smoke, drink even water, not to travel by land, air and sea, not to use electronic devices or telephones, etc. It is not an exaggeration to say that on that day the state completely dies.
It is important to mention the fact that according to Jewish tradition, the holidays begin and end at sunset, i.e. fasts begin in this case at dusk on October 5th and must end at the rising of the first star on October 6th.
In other words, the Arabs choose as the moment of attack precisely the hour and time when the Israelis will not have eaten or drunk for as long as possible, when they will have to fight.
Another no less important factor is, of course, the absence of the majority of soldiers and officers, who were on leave due to the holiday.
Practically all private and state institutions, public transport, post office and media are not working. Very few households still own private telephones.
The number of emergency calls is kept to a minimum; radio and television also do not work on this day, which makes announcing the war and mobilizing reservists even more difficult.
The Arab coalition is powerful. Participate
Egypt:
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800 thousand soldiers, of which 300-420 thousand take part; 2,000-2,400 tanks (T-10/34-85/54/55/62, IS-3, as well as self-propelled PT guns from the USSR - PT-76 and about 100 SU-100/122), about 2,400 armored vehicles and APC (BTR-40/152/50/60 and BMP-1), over 1100 pieces of artillery over 100mm (2A18 and M1937 howitzers, SZO BM-21 and heavy mortars), 690 aircraft (Mig-17/19/21/25 , Su-7B, Tu-16, Il-28/14, An-12 bombers), 161 Mi-6/8 helicopters, 104 ships.
Syria:
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150 thousand army, of which about 60 thousand take part, 1350-1400 tanks (similar to Egyptian models), 800-900 armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 600 artillery barrels over 100 mm, 350 planes, 36 helicopters and 21 battleships.< br />
Iraq:
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He sends a corps of about 60 thousand soldiers (of which only 18-20 thousand manage to arrive on time), 500-700 tanks (of which about 300 arrive on time), 300-500 armored vehicles, 200 pieces of artillery (54) and 73 the plane.
The other participants:
Jordan
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King Hussein, probably the most unenthusiastic participant, sends two of his elite tank brigades, the 40th and 60th, as well as three artillery batteries to the Syrian front.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
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help financially and also send symbolic expeditionary forces (a Saudi brigade of 3,000 men participates in the defense of Damascus).
Morocco
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sends 3 brigades; Palestinians in Arab countries form volunteer units.
Gaddafi of Libya
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sends Egypt over $1 billion in financial aid, along with Mirage fighter jets and several mechanized brigades.
Algeria
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sends several squadrons of fighters and bombers, mechanized infantry brigades and several dozen tanks.
Tunisia sends a corps of 1,000 men,
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Sudan - corps of 3500. people
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Lebanon is not actively involved, but its radar installations are used by the Syrian Air Force,
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Against all this military power, the young 25-year-old state of Israel has:
About 400-420 thousand regular soldiers and reservists in total; 1300-1500 tanks (M-48/50/60, Centurion, AMH-13 and about 200 captured and modified T-54/55); about 3,000 armored vehicles and APCs (mostly American M-2/3 half-tracks from the Soviet Union and a certain amount of M113); over 900 pieces of artillery over 100mm (including howitzers M-101/114 and self-propelled M-109/110); 561 aircraft (A-4 "Skyhawk", F-4 "Phantom", "Mirage" 3, Nesher, etc.), 84 helicopters and a fleet of about 35 small ships (in fact, the number of battleships quoted here even include minesweepers, tugboats and other unarmed ships, with real warships being about 1/3).
In view of the overwhelming numerical superiority, the surprise at the strategic and tactical level, and also the technical advantage in some aspects (most clearly expressed in the infrared devices for night vision of the tanks), the Arab armies by all indicators and projections would they had to win this war easily, in a minimum of time.
And despite everything, it doesn't happen.
Battles on all fronts are life and death.
Israeli crews have a clear superiority in training, they adapt quickly, commanders know how to improvise and do not hesitate to act in case of need of their leader.
But no less important is the simple, most motivating element: unlike the Arabs, Israeli soldiers know that this is a life and death struggle, for the very existence of their state, or as historians say - "not for victory, but for survival".
Diane calls the 1973 war "a war of fathers and children" and in this expression there is actually a huge dose of truth - those who were young when the state was created in 1948 are still serving as reservists in 1973, but now their sons and daughters are with them.
In the 1970s, the IDF was, by accident, almost certainly the most experienced army in the world: virtually all of its officers and a large proportion of its soldiers had fought in four victorious wars (none of which were started by Israel) and countless "unofficial" skirmishes and ambushes for 25 years, something that cannot "boast" no modern army.
The mobilization is extremely high - the reservists do not even wait to be called, the vast majority just grab their bags and head north in their cars; often without equipment, even in civilian clothes they sit in the tank.
There is no time to form battalions and brigades, nor even organic crews - they are organized in dozens, companies and platoons are formed and thrown into battle. There is no time to install machine guns either, often even the guns are not synchronized.
In the south, the Egyptians lost part of Sinai (which was later returned to Egypt after a peace treaty was concluded with it)
To the north, Syria loses the entire Golan Heights. The line defined by the UN remains a border to this day and formally the two countries are at war to this day. However, the Blue Helmets created a demilitarized zone and this is one of the few cases of successful UN intervention - the buffer actually ends the daily artillery fire and air duels over the border.
Casualties from the fighting are heavy for both sides.
Especially for Israel.
As a percentage of the population (which at the time barely exceeded 3 million), more people died in the Kippur War than the US lost in the entire period of the Vietnam War. Israel gives about 2,800 killed and 7-8,000 wounded. 400 tanks were completely destroyed, 600 were damaged and returned to service. 102 (or 104) planes were shot down, almost all by air defense.
Arab armies give figures of about 8,500 killed and 20,000 wounded. The more popular estimate, however, is 10-15 thousand killed and 30 thousand wounded, and some analyzes point to even 20-30 thousand killed and 50 thousand wounded. Equipment losses are estimated at 2,250 tanks destroyed or captured (Syria lost almost all of its initial 1,400 tanks in the fighting) and 432 aircraft shot down.
At the beginning of 1974, Israeli troops were withdrawn from the west bank of the Suez Canal. Egypt finds itself back in the starting position from before the war.
The search for the culprits begins in Israel. Very soon it became clear that it was a failure of military intelligence, as well as of individual politicians: the military preparations of Egypt and Syria had been observed since 1972, but were interpreted as maneuvers or attempts to deceive the enemy. Prime Minister Golda Meir and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan resigned, Army Chief of Staff General David Elazar retired.