A bit of depressing news.....

[frinik]

Speaking of 1973, here in Egypt, where I currently, live October 6th which the is the day the Yom Kippur war started is a national holiday. It's called Army Day. It's marked to celebrate the Victory of the Egyptian army over Israel?? When I learned that I almost choked on my breakfast! The victory of the Egyptian army???When you think when the cease fire was finally agreed upon Ariel Sharon's panzers were a mere 90 kliks from Cairo and if the Soviets had not threaten to intervene the Israelis would have destroyed the remnants of the Egyptian armed forces and camp in front of the Pyramids.... It shows how delusional the Arabic speaking world can be when it comes to reality. The worst part is that the Egyptian people, completely at the mercy of their government control over the media and education, have no clue at all of what really happened and honestly believe that the Yom Kippur war was a complete victory for their arms and that's the reason the Israelis returned the Sinai to them( which is very partly true).

Imagine the Germans celebrating Stalingrad as a great victory for the Wehrmacht!!!

[Kyth]

What're you up to in the desert? Looking for ancient artifacts? 

[whukid]

Speaking of 1973, here in Egypt, where I currently, live October 6th which the is the day the Yom Kippur war started is a national holiday. It's called Army Day. It's marked to celebrate the Victory of the Egyptian army over Israel?? When I learned that I almost choked on my breakfast! The victory of the Egyptian army???When you think when the cease fire was finally agreed upon Ariel Sharon's panzers were a mere 90 kliks from Cairo and if the Soviets had not threaten to intervene the Israelis would have destroyed the remnants of the Egyptian armed forces and camp in front of the Pyramids.... It shows how delusional the Arabic speaking world can be when it comes to reality. The worst part is that the Egyptian people, completely at the mercy of their government control over the media and education, have no clue at all of what really happened and honestly believe that the Yom Kippur war was a complete victory for their arms and that's the reason the Israelis returned the Sinai to them( which is very partly true).

Imagine the Germans celebrating Stalingrad as a great victory for the Wehrmacht!!!

Tactically, it was an Israeli victory of biblical proportions. Strategically, the Egyptians won. They lost the war, but they regained the Sinai by the end of 1974, which was their goal in the beginning. Delusional in application, but not necessarily completely wrong over all.

[frinik]

The Egyptians only won strategically because the Soviets saved their behinds.... Had the S.U. not threatened to intervene forcing the US to put pressure on the Israelis to stop their offensive( by threatening to withhold military supplies and ammo)the Egyptian army would have been totally defeated. I suspect the Israelis would not have tried to enter Cairo as this would have led to the nightmarish possibility of urban warfare and house-to-house combat which the Israelis clearly did not have the manpower to lead not to mention the unacceptably high casualties this would have caused to a small country with a small population. They would simply have sieged the city may be even lay siege to Alexandria and then force the Egyptians into signing a truce. The peace treaty and the return of the Sinai was the result of American pressure as much as the realization by the Israelis that holding on to the Sinai would foster an Egyptian nationalist feeling of revenge and grief similar to what prevailed in France from 1870-1914 after the loss of Alsace-Lorraine( which historically were German lands the French annexed in the 17th century).Still the way history is recounted here reminds me the Marxist-Leninist version of the truth....

[Panzerfaust]

Funny I just watched a program about the Yom Kippur War yesterday. The reason most interviewed Egyptians in this show gave as too why they viewed it as a victory wasn't because they felt like they actually won, but more as a kind of redemption for their military's total humiliation during the Six Day war and sense they had earned a sort of respect from the Israeli military. Sadat took a gamble to try and help out his Syrian allies, who were routed by this time on the Golan Heights and now had Israeli artillery shelling the outskirts of Damascus. By pushing his forces deeper into the Sinai trying to capture two strategic mountain passes he felt it would take the pressure off Syria as Israel would surely divert more forces to the Sinai to counter this move. Only problem was this put his forces well beyond their defensive aerial umbrella that up to that point had kept the IAF off their backs and the Egyptian military paid the price for that mistake. Had the Egyptians stayed put it would have been a very tough slog for the Israeli army to try and eject the Egyptians out of their Sinai beachhead without the IAF playing a major role, a major role that it couldn't play because of Egyptian SAMS and AA. Israeli soldiers are some tough SOB's no doubt, but even their commanders admitted they got way too overconfident on what they could do because of The Six Day War. The Israeli military thought the Egyptian military they were facing in 1973 was the same military they faced in 1967, much to their surprise it wasn't. And when they attempted to remove the Egyptians from the Sinai beachhead they were faced with a major problem that has plagued many combatants since WW2, whoever controls the skies controls the battlefield.
Cheers

[frinik]

What're you up to in the desert? Looking for ancient artifacts?  Grin

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No Kyth; I am on a special mission for Lockie collecting sand for the new Desert mod maps and researching Palm trees to see how tough they really are so he can adjust their armor-maps.......
Pssst a secret: Lockie wants to replace Lenin statue with one of Ramses the Second.......

[Tanker]

What're you up to in the desert? Looking for ancient artifacts? 

Love the chromed cover on the spare and the death's head hood ornament.