16 The attack had a “traumatic effect” on the Israeli Navy whose leaders set about enacting immediate reforms. Israel’s navy traditionally had an inferior status domestically compared to the other military services and the deaths of 47 sailors on the Eilat reinforced that public opinion. Egypt sank the Israeli destroyer Eilat with anti-ship missiles from its small, maneuverable, and heavily-armed missile boats. While 1967 was an overwhelming victory for the army and air force, the navy found itself outgunned by Egypt’s Soviet-built missile boats. The Israeli Navy was the only service prepared to fight and win the war from its initiation. 13,14 American military aid flowed into Tel Aviv to avert an international crisis and potential nuclear war, and within a few days Israel again had the upper-hand in the conflict. Some records indicate that nuclear weapons were prepared, and on 9 October Prime Minister Golda Meir intended to fly to Washington, D.C. 12 The night of 8 October, during which Egyptian anti-tank missiles destroyed an entire Israeli armor division in the Sinai, was one of the worst situations Israel has ever faced.
YOM KIPPER WAR FREE
Their leaders believed, “there was no chance for an Egyptian victory, thus no rational reason to resort to force.” 11 Without a capable air force to negate the IAF’s advantage, leaders in Tel Aviv assumed they would be free from Egyptian military action until at least 1974. Israel and its military were caught unprepared for the attack. 10 Together, with an impressive misinformation campaign, Soviet support for resupplies, and close coordination with Syria, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a successful surprise invasion of Israel on the night of 6 October 1973. 9 Egypt also obtained new anti-tank weapons like Sagger missiles and armored vehicles to mitigate Israel’s superiority in armor assets and neutralize their counterattack capabilities in the Sinai. 8 The AA umbrella could both deter Israeli preemptive strikes and protect Egyptian forces while crossing the Suez Canal and invading the Sinai. 7 With the help of Soviet surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems like the SA-2, SA-3, and SA-6, Egypt created a “layered anti-aircraft missile defense force” and increased its anti-aircraft (AA) missile force fourfold. Most of the Egyptian Air Force (EAF) was destroyed on a single day in 1967 and Egypt’s air defenses were incapable of defending against the advanced Israeli planes. The main barrier to their plans was the Israeli Air Force (IAF). 6Įgypt carefully planned for a limited war to achieve modest gains and reset the balance at the negotiating table. 5 The Egyptian population demanded “redemption” for their humiliation in the 1967 war. 4 In Egypt, Anwar Sadat faced domestic unrest from a serious lack of state revenue due to the loss of the Suez Canal. 3 The new territory gave Israel the defensible borders and strategic depth it previously lacked and it refused to give them up.
2 Israel occupied the Golan Heights from Syria and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Arabs knew their territory could not be recaptured via direct conflict. The overwhelming Israeli victory in the 1967 Six-Day War created a political stalemate in which both sides were unwilling to negotiate from their resultant positions. The origins of the Yom Kippur War lie in the Arab humiliation during the previous war with Israel, nearly six years earlier. The battles proved the effectiveness of missile and anti-missile systems to control the seas, and ushered in the missile age of naval warfare. They did, however, initiate a technological and tactical maritime revolution.
Militarily, the naval battles of the Yom Kippur War played almost no part in its outcome.
Politically, the war reset a diplomatic stalemate between the Arabs and Israel and led to the negotiations at the Camp David summit. Israeli Defense Force (IDF) complacency led to days of panic as Egyptian and Syrian forces threatened the very existence of Israel and triggered the potential “demise of the ‘third temple.'” 1 Emergency American aid supported the Jewish defenders and averted a possible superpower confrontation reminiscent of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The 1973 Yom Kippur War shocked Israel and the world.