{"product_id":"the-yom-kippur-war-isbn-9780805211245","title":"The Yom Kippur War","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn updated edition that sheds new light on one of the most dramatic reversals of military fortune in modern history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe easing of Israeli military censorship after four decades has enabled Abraham Rabinovich to offer fresh insights into this fiercest of Israel-Arab conflicts. A surprise Arab attack on two fronts on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, with Israel’s reserves un-mobilized, triggered apocalyptic visions in Israel, euphoria in the Arab world, and fraught debates on both sides. Rabinovich, who covered the war for \u003ci\u003eThe Jerusalem Post,\u003c\/i\u003e draws on extensive interviews and primary source material to shape his enthralling narrative. We learn of two Egyptian nationals, working separately for the Mossad, who supplied Israel with key information that helped change the course of the war; of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan’s proposal for a nuclear “demonstration” to warn off the Arabs; and of Chief of Staff David Elazar’s conclusion on the fifth day of battle that Israel could not win. Newly available transcripts enable us to follow the decision-making process in real time from the prime minister’s office to commanders studying maps in the field. After almost overrunning the Golan Heights, the Syrian attack is broken in desperate battles. And as Israel regains its psychological balance, General Ariel Sharon leads a nighttime counterattack across the Suez Canal through a narrow hole in the Egyptian line -- the turning point of the war.\u003ci\u003eList of Maps \u003c\/i\u003exi \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003ePreface to the Revised Edition \u003c\/i\u003exiii \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003ePreface \u003c\/i\u003exvii \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003ePrologue \u003c\/i\u003e3 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1 Footprints in the Sand 5 \u003cbr\u003e 2 The Man in the Peasant Robe 10 \u003cbr\u003e 3 Dovecote 17 \u003cbr\u003e 4 Badr 28 \u003cbr\u003e 5 Illusions 36 \u003cbr\u003e 6 Summer Lull 44 \u003cbr\u003e 7 A Royal Visit 52 \u003cbr\u003e 8 Sword from the Scabbard 60 \u003cbr\u003e 9 Countdown 73 \u003cbr\u003e 10 Yom Kippur Morning 95 \u003cbr\u003e 11 The Egyptian Crossing 115 \u003cbr\u003e 12 The Humbling of the Tank 122 \u003cbr\u003e 13 Mobilization 144 \u003cbr\u003e 14 Syrian Breakthrough 161 \u003cbr\u003e 15 Darkest at Dawn 193 \u003cbr\u003e 16 The Fall of the Southern Golan 205 \u003cbr\u003e 17 The Beanstalk 212 \u003cbr\u003e 18 The Battle for Nafakh 219 \u003cbr\u003e 19 Cut Off 232 \u003cbr\u003e 20 Hand on the Tiller 243 \u003cbr\u003e 21 Failed Counterattack 264 \u003cbr\u003e 22 Bomb Damascus 285 \u003cbr\u003e 23 Touching Bottom 302 \u003cbr\u003e 24 Golan Counterattack 318 \u003cbr\u003e 25 Iraqi Intervention 347 \u003cbr\u003e 26 Powers That Be 361 \u003cbr\u003e 27 Change in Command 370 \u003cbr\u003e 28 Decision to Cross 381 \u003cbr\u003e 29 Stouthearted Men 391 \u003cbr\u003e 30 The Chinese Farm 415 \u003cbr\u003e 31 The Bridges 434 \u003cbr\u003e 32 Crossing into Africa 452 \u003cbr\u003e 33 Breakout 471 \u003cbr\u003e 34 Kissinger to the Fore 501 \u003cbr\u003e 35 Cease-fire 514 \u003cbr\u003e 36 Suez City 530 \u003cbr\u003e 37 Nuclear Alert 540 \u003cbr\u003e 38 Aftermath 563 \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNotes \u003c\/i\u003e581 \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eA Selected Bibliography \u003c\/i\u003e593 \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eIndex \u003c\/i\u003e603\"Never before has the Israeli experience in the Yom Kippur War been so sensitively and intricately documented . . .  A seamless, riveting narrative [that is] both compelling and intelligent.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post Book World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The best general history of the Yom Kippur War. The writing is clear, compelling, and precise and offers a good understanding of both the military operations and the political developments. At both levels it was a fascinating war. . . .Outstanding.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eHa'aretz\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Rabinovich's extra efforts to get inside the minds of Arab generals are especially welcome. . . . sheds light on a conflict that altered the psychology and diplomacy of the Middle East down to the present day.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times Book Review \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Superbly written. . . .\u003ci\u003e The Yom Kippur War\u003c\/i\u003e is easily the best and most complete general history of the conflict.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eParameters \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Truly striking. Rabinovich's book is brilliant, sweeping and insightful.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Naval History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"As no one before, Abraham Rabinovich recounts the whole story of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, that most elusive round of the Arab-Israeli conflict.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMiddle East Quarterly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Superb. I have found few works of military history so difficult to put down.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eJerusalem Report\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Rabinovich displays his keen comprehension of military tactics and strategies with detailed, fast-paced accounts. His eye for political and diplomatic maneuverings is equally sharp.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—History Book Club\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Impossible to put down.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Gershom Gorenberg, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eDays of Awe\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Its revelations are astonishing. Its prose is gripping. Its conclusions, richly documented and austerely objective, are intensely relevant to the Middle Eastern crisis of our own day.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Professor Howard M. Sachar, author of \u003ci\u003eA History of Israel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Abraham Rabinovich has written an exceptionally exciting book.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Professor Edward N. Luttwak\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eABRAHAM RABINOVITCH, \u003c\/b\u003ea United States Army veteran, worked as a reporter for \u003ci\u003eNewsday \u003c\/i\u003ebefore joining \u003ci\u003eThe Jerusalem Post\u003c\/i\u003e. His writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, \u003c\/i\u003ethe \u003ci\u003eInternational Herald Tribune,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe New Republic\u003c\/i\u003e, among other periodicals\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e He is the author of five previous books, including \u003ci\u003eThe Battle for Jerusalem \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e The Boats of Cherbourg. \u003c\/i\u003eBorn in New York City, he lives in Jerusalem.\u003cb\u003e1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCapt. Motti Ashkenazi was not a man to accept a per­ceived wrong without protest. The outpost in Sinai that his unit of reservists was taking over two weeks before Yom Kippur 1973 was in an advanced state of neglect. Barbed wire fencing had sunk almost entirely into the sand, trenches were collapsing, gun positions lacked sandbags, and the ammunition supply was short. When the com­mander of the unit he was relieving asked him to sign the standard form acknowledging receipt of the outpost in good condition, Ashke­nazi balked. Without this formality, the unit being relieved could not depart. When Ashkenazi refused an order from his own battalion com­mander to sign, the exasperated commander signed the form himself.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe battalion was part of the Jerusalem Brigade, which had never before been assigned to a tour of duty on the Suez Canal. Unlike the combat units that were normally assigned to the forts of the so-called Bar-Lev Line, the Jerusalem Brigade was a second-line unit which included men well into their thirties. Some were immigrants who had received only a truncated form of basic training. A sprinkling of younger reservists with combat experience stiffened the ranks and officers too were generally veterans of combat units.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe assignment of such a unit to the Bar-Lev Line, once considered hazardous duty, reflected the relaxed situation on the Egyptian front. It was six years since Israel had reached the canal in the Six Day War and three years since the intense skirmishing across the waterway—the so-called War of Attrition—had ended.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe reservists grumbled as usual upon receiving their annual call-up notices for a month’s duty, particularly since their tour was beginning on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and would last through Yom Kippur and the subsequent Sukkot holiday. However, by the time they boarded the buses that would take them to Sinai, many had reconciled themselves to a month of camaraderie, far from the routine of work and home. The men brought books and board games, finjans for brewing coffee, even fishing rods. Ashkenazi, a thirty-two-year-old doctoral student in philosophy at Hebrew Uni­versity in Jerusalem, took along his four-month-old German shepherd, Peng, because he had nowhere to leave him.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eUnlike the other Bar-Lev forts, which were built along the canal bank, Ashkenazi’s outpost, code-named Budapest, was ten miles east of the canal on a narrow sand spit between the Mediterranean and a shallow lagoon. The outpost’s purpose was to guard against an Egyptian thrust along the sand spit toward the coastal road leading to Israel. Budapest was the largest of the Bar-Lev Line fortifications, incorporating an artillery battery and a naval signals unit which main­tained contact with vessels patrolling off the coast.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eToward evening on the day of his arrival, Ashkenazi, a deputy company commander, climbed the fort’s observation tower and looked west along the sand spit. This northwest corner of Sinai was the only part of the Sinai Peninsula Israel had not gotten around to captur­ing in the 1967 war. Ashkenazi could make out a string of Egyptian outposts stretching toward Port Fuad, which, together with Port Said, straddled the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. The outpost clos­est to him was only a mile away. Since the canal did not separate them, the only thing that could inhibit an Egyptian raid was a minefield that Budapest’s previous commander had pointed out to him during their tour that morning.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAs Ashkenazi watched, a pack of wild dogs emerged from the Egyp­tian lines and trotted down the sands in his direction. They appeared to be heading toward Budapest’s garbage dump at the western edge of the position. As they approached the minefield, Ashkenazi braced for explosions. But the dogs passed through unharmed. Tides wash­ing over the sands had apparently dislodged or neutralized the mines. Ashkenazi decided to contact battalion headquarters in the morning to request additional fencing and sandbags.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e###\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMaj. Meir Weisel, an affable kibbutznik, was the most senior company commander in the battalion which moved into the Bar-Lev Line. In previous tours of reserve duty, his unit had clashed with Palestinian guerrillas along the Jordan River and taken casualties. “This time,” a Jerusalem Brigade officer had told him when he reported for duty a few days before, “I’m sending you to the canal and you can rest.” His company took over four forts in the canal’s central sector. He posi­tioned himself in Fort Purkan, opposite the city of Ismailiya on the Egyptian-held bank. The officer whom he replaced pointed out a villa across the canal that he said had belonged to the parents of Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban’s wife, Suzie, who was from a prominent Egyptian Jewish family. It was not clear who lived there now but some­one watered the plants every day. “As long as you see the gardener working there,” said the officer, “everything is okay.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe limited forces Israel deployed on both the Syrian and Egyptian fronts opposite vastly larger enemy armies reflected a self-assurance stemming from the country’s stunning victory in the Six Day War. Israel believed it had attained a military superiority that no Arab nation or combination of nations could challenge. The euphoria that followed that lightning victory in 1967 over the Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian armies gave Israel a sense of manifest destiny similar to that which impelled the United States westward in the nineteenth century. The Six Day War had been launched from within Israel’s narrow bor­ders that Eban had termed “Auschwitz borders,” an allusion to their vulnerability. The post–Six Day War cease-fire lines for the first time provided Israel strategic depth.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIsrael had twice as many tanks and warplanes in 1973 as it had in the Six Day War. Its largest armor formations were no longer bri­gades with a hundred tanks but divisions with three hundred. Veteran armor officers permitted themselves to fantasize commanding a divi­sion deploying into battle—two brigades forward, one to the rear, as they swept into the attack.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe armies of Egypt and Syria had grown more than Israel’s in absolute numbers but the overall ratio in the Arab favor remained 3 to 1. Given the proven fighting ability of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), this ratio was considered acceptable in Israel. The General Staff, in fact, was preparing to reduce the thirty-six months of service required of its conscript soldiers by three months. Convinced that it could hold its own against an Arab world thirty times its size, Israel was waiting for the Arabs to formally recognize the Jewish state and agree to new borders.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe Arab world, however, refused to accept the humiliation of 1967. In the War of Attrition launched by Egypt in March 1969, hun­dreds of Israeli soldiers died in massive artillery bombardments. Deep penetration raids by Israeli warplanes and commandos forced Cairo to accept a cease-fire in August 1970. Since then, the Suez front had remained quiet. On the Syrian front, there were periodic exchanges of fire—“battle days,” Israel termed them—but no serious challenge to Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe seeming docility of the Arabs encouraged a sense of invulner­ability. In August 1973, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, in a speech to army officers, said that Israel’s strength was a reflection not only of its increasing military potential but of inherent Arab weakness. “It is a weakness that derives from factors that I don’t believe will change quickly: the low level of their soldiers in education, technology, and integrity; and inter-Arab divisiveness which is papered over from time to time but superficially and for short spans.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eA Mossad official, Reuven Merhav, who had been posted abroad immediately after the Six Day War, returned home five years later to find the country transformed. Israel was not just self-assured, he found, but self-satisfied, awash in a good life that seemed as if it would go on forever. Government and military officials traveled now in large cars and wrote off business lunches to expenses, a new practice. Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza Strip provided the working hands the fast-growing nation needed but were politically invisible. The sense of physical expanse was startling to someone accustomed to the claustro­phobia of pre–Six Day War Israel. The border was no longer fifteen minutes from Tel Aviv or on the edge of Jerusalem but out of sight and almost out of mind—on the Jordan River, the Suez Canal, the Golan. People went down to Sinai now not to wage war but to holiday on its superb beaches.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe army had grown not just physically but in its prominence in national life. There was now a layer of brigadier generals, a newly created rank required by the army’s expansion. The Mossad officer sensed arrogance in high places. Some generals ordered their offices redone to reflect their new status, some gave parties with army enter­tainment troupes singing in the background. All of this was foreign to the spartan ways Merhav had known as distinguishing features of Israeli public life only five years before. An attitude of disdain for Arab military capability had etched itself insidiously into the national psyche. The official was as yet unaware of the extent to which this disdain had led to distortions in the professional mind-set of the armed forces.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e###\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSitting in a downtown Jerusalem café a few months before the war, Motti Ashkenazi told a friend that war was inevitable unless Israel accepted Egypt’s demand that it pull back from the canal in order to permit the waterway to be reopened. Now, in command of Budapest, he took his own warning seriously. After two days of badgering bat­talion headquarters, he was informed that his request for sandbags and barbed wire concertinas was being met. The supply vehicle that arrived carried only a fraction of what he had asked for. Nevertheless, he was able to fortify the area around the fort’s gate and the vulnerable approach from the beach.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eA week before Yom Kippur, Ashkenazi was in a half-track mak­ing a routine morning patrol eastward along the sand spit toward his rear base when he saw fresh footprints in the sand on both sides of the road. Whoever made them seemed to have circled the area, as if examining the lay of the land. The road between Budapest and rear headquarters was closed off every night because it was vulnerable to commando landings from the sea. If anyone came down the road by day, Budapest was supposed to be informed beforehand, but there had been no such notification. The footprints, thought Ashkenazi, could have been left by Egyptian scouts landing from the sea, on one side of the road, or coming on foot through the lagoon, on the other side. He radioed headquarters and a vehicle with two Bedouin trackers arrived. They examined the footprints and concluded that they had been made by standard Israeli army boots.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“If I were an Egyptian scout, I would use that kind of boot,” said Ashkenazi.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe trackers laughed. “Do you think they’re that clever?”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Why not?” asked Ashkenazi.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eTwice more in the coming days he would find footprints along the route.","brand":"Schocken","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304835567845,"sku":"NP9780805211245","price":22.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780805211245.jpg?v=1767742363","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-yom-kippur-war-isbn-9780805211245","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}