1973 Middle East Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields



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This programme contains some scenes

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which some viewers may find upsetting.

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The Middle East was a battlefield for most of the 20th Century.

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But one of the hardest fought wars of all was in 1973,

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when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel

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on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

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For three weeks,

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the battle swung violently from side to side.

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It brought each within sight of victory and defeat

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and it brought the superpowers - America and the Soviet Union - close to a nuclear showdown.

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The Israelis were in no doubt they were fighting for their country's very survival.

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For the soldiers of Syria and Egypt,

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it was a battle for Arab territory and Arab pride.

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In this programme, I'll be revealing how Arab and Israeli commanders

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astonished each other with the boldness of their strategy.

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And I'll be finding out how both sides

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used the latest weaponry... with shattering results.

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No 20th-century conflict has been as lasting and bitter

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as the struggle between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

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This is the story of the biggest battle between them.

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It's still such a sensitive subject in Egypt

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that they wouldn't let us film there.

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This is the story of the October War of 1973.

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This concrete security barrier here runs through Jerusalem

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and hundreds of miles to the north and the south.

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On this side live predominantly Muslim Palestinian Arabs,

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on this side the largely Jewish population of Israel.

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The 8m high barrier, which the Israelis started building in 2002,

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is the most powerful symbol of the hostility between Jews and Arabs,

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which still remains after nearly a century of conflict.

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The Israelis say they built this barrier to keep out Palestinian terrorists.

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The Palestinians say it's just Israel's way of grabbing more of their land.

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And that's what this conflict has always been about - land.

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Land known, at the beginning of the 20th century, as Palestine.

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Back in 1917, the British controlled Palestine

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and they promised the Jews a homeland here.

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The problem was there were more than ten times as many Arabs as Jews already living in Palestine.

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And as hundreds of thousands more Jews poured into the country,

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open fighting broke out between them.

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By 1947, things were so bad the United Nations stepped in with a plan.

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This is how Palestine looked then.

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Lying on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean,

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it was bordered by Lebanon, Syria, Transjordan and Egypt.

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The United Nations suggested partition.

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The Palestinians would keep land here, here and here

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and the Jews would have the rest.

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Jerusalem would be an open city shared by everyone.

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The Jews accepted the plan and, in 1948,

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they declared their independence as the State of Israel.

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But the Palestinians and the neighbouring Arab countries rejected partition.

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War followed and the borders changed once more.

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The Israelis took over Arab lands here in the north and along the Egyptian border,

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ending up with most of Palestine and most of the key city of Jerusalem.

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Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled

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or were expelled from their homes.

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These refugees headed to neighbouring Arab countries

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creating a refugee crisis that lasts to this day.

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One night, everyone was awakened to the sound of people.

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"Go, go! The Jews, the Jews are coming."

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I can still recall the voice and the ensuing chaos.

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Within a short period of time, the entire village was marching out,

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carrying bare essentials, bedding on a mule,

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some clothing, and some food.

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The Arabs refused to recognise this new state of Israel

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and their resentment at the loss of Palestinian homes and land grew.

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For their part, the Israelis felt vulnerable,

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surrounded on all sides by hostile Arab enemies.

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Over the next 20 years, there was regular fighting along the borders.

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In 1967, things finally came to a head.

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On the morning of June the 5th, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt.

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It was followed hours later by attacks on Egypt's allies - Syria and Jordan.

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It would become known as the Six Day War.

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Almost 200 pilots of the Israeli Air Force

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took part in an incredibly ambitious air strike.

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Their mission was to wipe out the Egyptian air force - the largest in the Arab world.

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In just under two hours, Israeli bombs destroyed almost the entire Egyptian air force

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before it had even got off the ground.

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Next, Israel launched strikes on the air forces of Jordan and Syria.

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By the end of the day, Israeli pilots had won total control of the skies.

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Not very far away,

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there were some military bases and, um...

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they'd been attacked early in the morning. There was nothing announced

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and we didn't know what was going on.

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Defeat was unfolding right there.

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Israeli ground troops stormed into Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

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At the same time, other Israeli troops made a bid

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to capture Arab-held Jerusalem.

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On June the 7th, just two days into the war,

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Israeli paratroopers charged through this gate into the Old City.

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But as they pushed through these narrow streets,

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they came under fire from Jordanian snipers,

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who'd taken up position in the upper storeys of the buildings on either side.

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The Israelis pushed on.

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It took them a few hours to clear out these last pockets of resistance

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but by early afternoon, the whole of Jerusalem was in Israeli hands.

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I took out the Israeli flag,

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which I carried with me the whole time, and waved it.

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I hung the flag on the fence.

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My commander, who was the toughest among us, was standing next to me.

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He burst into tears underneath his steel helmet.

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Another friend was weeping, a chain of bullets wrapped around his neck.

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In the days that followed, Israeli troops drove back the soldiers of Jordan, Syria and Egypt.

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In six days, the Israelis had won the war.

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The defeated nations counted the cost.

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It's estimated that Egypt lost 80% of its military capacity

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and, along with Syria & Jordan, suffered over 30,000 dead and injured.

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People didn't really know what was going to happen next.

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I mean, people were scared.

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The whole country was at a total loss of what to do.

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The fighting may have been over, but it hadn't created the conditions

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where the two sides could come together.

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Peace was as far away as ever.

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For the Arabs, the Six Day War was an utter disaster.

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Before this whirlwind campaign,

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Israel had been a tiny wedge of land,

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squeezed between Arab states,

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only nine miles wide at its narrowest.

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Suddenly, it was a Middle East superpower and five times the size.

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The borders had been pushed back

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to swallow a piece of Syria up here, called the Golan Heights.

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To the east, Israel had seized the West Bank

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and, in the south, it now occupied Egypt's entire Sinai peninsula,

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a huge expanse of desert.

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From this new-found position of strength,

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Israel's leaders demanded that the Arab world recognise the State of Israel.

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Arab leaders met in Sudan to formulate their response.

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They were emphatic. They would not recognise Israel

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and insisted on a total Israeli withdrawal

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from the territories it had just occupied.

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Over the next few years, both sides became entrenched.

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And nowhere was this more visible than along the new border with Egypt.

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The Suez Canal.

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The canal is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes,

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allowing ships to pass between Europe and Asia without sailing round Africa.

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But after the Six Day War, this international water way was closed to shipping

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as sporadic fighting between both sides continued to flare up.

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The Israelis and the Egyptians now faced each other

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eyeball to eyeball across the canal.

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The Egyptians could never accept that this was a permanent frontier.

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But the Israelis were equally determined.

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Egyptians now watched in horror as the Israeli military machine went to work.

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All along the Suez canal, the Israelis built

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a massive network of walls, forts and trenches

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that became known as the Bar Lev Line.

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Israel resolved that Egypt would never force its way back into the Sinai.

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But they weren't just relying on the Bar Lev Line for defence.

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The Israelis also had a system for rushing troops to the frontline.

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Israel has a small population and can't afford a large standing army.

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So every male Israeli does three years national service,

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and remains a reservist into his forties or fifties, ready to be mobilised in times of war.

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Today, females also do national service and they can also be called up if war breaks out.

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30 years ago, an army of 250,000 men could be mobilised within 72 hours

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if the Arabs showed signs of attacking.

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But after the Six Day War, that didn't seem likely.

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The Israelis had practically destroyed Arab air power.

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Israeli intelligence was now sure the Arabs wouldn't try anything

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until they'd rebuilt their air forces.

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And that would take another ten years.

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The Israelis were now supremely confident

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that if their neighbours so much as twitched,

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they would batter them into submission once more.

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But in Cairo, something had happened

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that the Israelis hadn't reckoned with.

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A new Egyptian President with a new sense of purpose -

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Anwar Sadat. When Sadat came to power in 1970,

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Egypt was still a demoralised country,

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smarting from the loss of the Sinai.

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Sadat was considered a moderate by many,

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but one of the first things he did was appoint

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a dynamic and popular new military commander - General Saad El Shazly.

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Shazly was given the job of revitalising

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Egypt's poorly-trained and under-equipped army.

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Because Sadat was determined to do what the Israelis least expected -

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fight back!

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Sadat had decided that the only way to win back the Sinai from the Israelis was to make war on them.

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His plan was to launch a spectacular crossing of the canal

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and retake a strip of land in the Sinai.

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Sadat hoped that this would force the Israelis to negotiate a withdrawal from the rest of Sinai.

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But for this plan to work, Sadat was going to need help.

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Sadat found a willing ally in the Soviet Union, as the Israeli's had with the USA.

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In the 1970s, both the United States and the Soviet Union

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were adamant that neither superpower would dominate the oil-rich Middle East.

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The Soviets provided Egypt with the latest surface-to-air missiles, called SAMs.

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These missiles, supported by thousands of conventional anti-aircraft guns,

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could effectively paralyse the Israeli Air Force.

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The Egyptian commander, General Shazly,

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would not have to rely on his weakened air force to deal with Israeli warplanes.

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Nor would Sadat attack alone.

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Another of his allies, President Assad of Syria, would be joining in the fight.

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The key to the Egyptian plan

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was a surprise co-ordinated ground attack on Israel.

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The Syrians would attack on the Golan, at exactly the same moment

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as the Egyptians struck along the entire length of the Canal.

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But Shazly knew that, no matter how stunned the Israelis might be by this two-pronged offensive,

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they would soon counter-attack with their most lethal weapon - their air force.

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And that was where the SAM missiles came in.

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Shazly concentrated his SAMs along the Suez Canal.

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These missiles could bring down any Israeli planes that came within 15 miles.

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The SAMs and regular artillery guns would create a protective umbrella,

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shown here in red, under which Egyptian boats and infantry could cross safely.

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They would then seize the forts of the Bar Lev Line

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and secure a strip of land a few miles deep into the Sinai.

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The date of the attack was set for October the 6th,

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when the tides would give the most favourable conditions for crossing the canal.

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But October the 6th was also the holiest day of the Jewish year -

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Yom Kippur - when Israelis would be at home or the synagogue.

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With their plans in place, the Egyptians and their Syrian allies

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set about ensuring that the Israelis had no idea

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they were about to be attacked on two fronts.

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The Egyptians put into effect a complicated deception plan

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to try and lull Israeli military intelligence into complacency.

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They had been gradually mobilising their reserves.

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But at the beginning of October, they demobilised 20,000 men and sent them home.

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From what the Israelis could see, it didn't look like the Egyptian Army was gearing up for war.

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As for the Egyptian soldiers based beside the canal - they were told to act as if nothing much was up.

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They could go swimming and bask in the sun

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in full view of the Israeli troops in the forts of the Bar Lev Line.

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Any military activity the Israeli look-outs did spot appeared to be just another regular exercise.

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By day, they watched as Egyptian troops came close to the canal to carry out manoeuvres.

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At night, they appeared to head back inland to their barracks many miles away.

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Hundreds of miles to the north, the Syrians on the Golan appeared to be doing the same.

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But in fact, these troops weren't withdrawing every evening.

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Under cover of darkness, more and more Arab soldiers were massing on both fronts.

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We started to train with real ammunition.

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We were also told we were going to Suez.

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We started to take our tanks, our amphibious unit

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on the railroad at night only, so the civilians couldn't see.

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Reports of all this Egyptian activity

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were given to the heads of Israel's military intelligence.

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There'd been a number of false alarms in the past

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and they were convinced that this was just another one.

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But they were wrong.

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At 4.30am on the 6th of October, the day of Yom Kippur,

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the phone rang at the home of the Israel's Military Chief.

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General David Elazar.

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Elazar had been made Israeli Chief of Staff

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after a long military career and a host of victories.

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The call from Israeli military intelligence informed him

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that both Egypt and Syria would launch an attack in hours.

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Elazar's immediate thought was to send his air force

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to hit the Arabs before they had a chance to strike.

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But that decision could only be taken in the halls of power by Israel's politicians

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and ultimately, that meant one person -

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Israel's Prime Minister Golda Meir.

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This 75-year-old was seen as the Iron Lady of Israeli politics.

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But she said no to air strikes.

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She argued that, if Israel was to win international support after the Six Day War,

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it had to be seen not as the aggressor but the victim.

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Elazar was appalled at his leader's reaction.

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He was only given permission to mobilise a fraction of the reservists he needed.

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And yet, within a few hours, his country would face invasion on two fronts.

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Egypt and Syria were poised to launch their attack.

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Just before two o'clock, the Egyptians put their part of the plan into action.

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Their assault across the canal, on the forts of the Bar Lev Line,

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was such a momentous event in Egyptian history, it was later re-staged for the cameras.

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Thousands of Egypt's best-trained commandos

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crossed the Suez Canal in rubber dinghies.

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They landed on the East Bank in the gaps between the forts of the Bar Lev Line.

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The Egyptian commandos then scrambled up the high sand ramparts.

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They attached rope ladders to make it easier for the soldiers following on behind them.

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Behind this first wave were 100,000 Egyptian infantry

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and more than a thousand tanks waiting to cross the canal.

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But the biggest obstacle to them were the giant sand ramparts on the Israeli side.

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These were as much as 60ft in height.

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It was impossible for the Egyptian tanks and heavy artillery to climb up and over them.

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The Egyptians experimented with using dynamite to blow holes in them,

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but this was found to take far too long.

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But then, one junior engineer officer had a flash of genius.

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He suggested using high-pressure hoses

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to blast the ramparts with water from the canal.

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It was an extraordinary idea, which would have to work

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if the entire Egyptian assault was to be a success.

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Four hours into the attack and with fighting raging around them,

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the Egyptian engineers finally broke through the ramparts

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and the first tanks started to pour through.

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I never believed I would see the day

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when I was in Sinai, but this was actually Sinai.

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I looked back at the West Bank and all the green on the other side.

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And to the East all I could see is desert.

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It was a good feeling.

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The eastern bank of the canal now became a battlefield.

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The Israelis manning the forts sprayed machine gun fire

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at their Egyptian attackers to try and stem the tide.

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But within two hours, 23,000 of Egypt's infantry

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were on the East Bank and advanced up to one mile into the Sinai.

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The fort was surrounded by Egyptian forces

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and was under constant fire. We made repeated calls for help.

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We fired from time to time and reported back what we saw.

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But mainly, we tried to keep up our morale.

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But the Israelis were sure that their air force would come to the rescue.

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The first Israeli jets were sent in at 4pm,

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flying low over the desert.

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But as they approached the canal, they found themselves under attack from the ground.

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The Egyptian SAM missiles and anti-aircraft guns caused havoc.

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As Israeli planes were shot down that afternoon, it soon became clear

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that Egypt's elaborate air defence umbrella was working.

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Israel's single greatest weapon - its air force -

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was virtually powerless to hold back the Egyptian onslaught.

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The most immediate hope for the Israelis surrounded in the forts

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were Israeli tanks stationed just a few miles away.

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The Israeli tanks raced towards the canal.

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They thought they'd throw the Egyptians back as easily as they had done in 1967.

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But as they got closer, they found themselves

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coming under attack from a weapon they'd never faced before.

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The Sagger missile.

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This Soviet-made weapon was specifically designed

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to punch through the thick metal armour of tanks.

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Yet it was small enough to be carried onto the battlefield in a backpack.

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Unlike bigger anti-tank guns, the Sagger could be set up in moments.

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This light-weight piece of kit was made all the more lethal

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because the missile could be steered onto its target.

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'Today, Dan and I have come to the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre in Devon.

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'We're going to find out why Egyptian foot soldiers

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'found the new generation of anti-tank weapons so useful.'

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'A modern-day equivalent of the Sagger is called the Javelin.

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'It costs £75,000 to fire one missile, so I'm being shown the ropes on a simulator.'

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OK, so as your looking through the eye piece now

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hopefully you're seeing exactly the same pictures

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I'll see on the computer screen.

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'Rather than firing off a real missile,

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'the Javelin trainer uses a laser system.

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'If I hit the target, it will show up on the control panel.'

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-Good scan.

-There's one, up there on that ridgeline.

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So it's well-pinned, well-spotted, that one.

0:26:550:26:59

Another one's coming straight towards me.

0:26:590:27:02

-So make that your priority target, cos it's a direct threat to you.

-OK.

0:27:020:27:06

Activate the seeker and release.

0:27:060:27:08

He's going behind a few little hillocks and things, but...

0:27:100:27:13

Now on seeker field of view and you can decide to engage that vehicle,

0:27:130:27:17

so squeeze and hold left hand trigger. Squeeze and release right.

0:27:170:27:22

-Well done.

-EXPLOSION EFFECT

0:27:220:27:24

Let's see how we do.

0:27:240:27:26

Just watching him now - it's a nice time to do anything.

0:27:260:27:30

OK, so that's a good hit.

0:27:300:27:32

-Smack centre of the top of the turret.

-Right on the turret.

0:27:320:27:35

'I was ready to take the simulator out into the field.

0:27:360:27:40

'I'm aiming at a real target.

0:27:420:27:44

'That truck, fitted with a laser detector, that will register a hit.'

0:27:470:27:52

Here we are now in this moving vehicle making a target for Dan,

0:27:520:27:55

very like the Israelis moving forward

0:27:550:27:58

to attack the Egyptians in Sinai must have made for the Egyptians.

0:27:580:28:02

Thank you.

0:28:030:28:04

'For a novice like me, a Javelin is easier to handle than a Sagger.

0:28:040:28:09

'When a Sagger was fired, it trailed a control wire behind it

0:28:090:28:13

'and the operator used a joystick

0:28:130:28:15

'which had to keep steering the missile until it reached its target.'

0:28:150:28:19

I think I can see something now.

0:28:200:28:22

'A hit required good training and a steady hand.'

0:28:250:28:28

I was going to have a pop at them.

0:28:310:28:33

'With the Javelin, all I have to do is get the truck in the sights,

0:28:330:28:36

'lock the guidance system onto it and fire.'

0:28:360:28:40

-He's just popped out. I can see smoke from his exhaust.

-Yeah.

0:28:400:28:43

-Activating the seeker.

-OK.

0:28:430:28:46

-OK, I'm going to go for it.

-Go for it.

0:28:460:28:48

'At least, that's the theory.'

0:28:480:28:51

God, it's tricky with that...

0:28:560:28:58

-that wobble when you try and get the track gates on the target.

-Yeah.

-Did I miss?

0:28:580:29:03

Unfortunately, that's a no result, which means you've missed.

0:29:030:29:07

'I really had no idea where Dan was.'

0:29:070:29:09

This is where your speed of drill matters.

0:29:090:29:12

His state-of-the-art Javelin can hit my vehicle from over 2km away,

0:29:120:29:17

a similar range to the Saggers in 1973.

0:29:170:29:20

No wonder the Israeli tank drivers were taken by surprise as they headed towards the Suez Canal.

0:29:210:29:27

They simply couldn't see the Egyptians lying in wait with the Saggers.

0:29:270:29:31

-Hit - great!

-Well done.

-Ah, brilliant!

0:29:390:29:43

Hello, Dad.

0:29:450:29:47

OK, tell me you missed us?

0:29:470:29:49

I'm afraid to say...

0:29:490:29:50

-I got a hit.

-You didn't?

0:29:500:29:52

Yeah, look right there - hit, 700 metres.

0:29:520:29:55

-Good grief.

-Yeah, I did miss the first time.

0:29:550:29:58

-You have got the most modern guided missile in the world.

-I know.

0:29:580:30:02

Because one thing worth saying is that the Saggers were wire-guided missiles.

0:30:020:30:07

You had to keep the sight on the target all the time the missile was travelling towards it.

0:30:070:30:12

It had to be fixed there. Whereas you just fired it and forgot, yes?

0:30:120:30:15

It's hard enough to get the sight locked onto you

0:30:150:30:18

and to have to keep it there for the entire time the missile's in the air would be incredible.

0:30:180:30:23

You're shaking, breathing, nervous.

0:30:230:30:25

I couldn't have done it if it hadn't had been a lock on and then forget about it.

0:30:250:30:30

Very, very powerful form of anti-tank warfare.

0:30:300:30:32

For the Israelis, quite a new ordeal.

0:30:320:30:35

In 1973, the Sagger was turning the Sinai into a tank graveyard.

0:30:360:30:43

The tanks, which were the pride of Israel's army, were being destroyed by Egyptian infantrymen.

0:30:430:30:50

Israel had begun the war with around 300 tanks in Sinai.

0:30:500:30:54

By the end of the first 36 hours they'd lost approximately half of this number.

0:30:540:30:59

Things were critical for the Israeli soldiers in Sinai.

0:31:010:31:04

But that was only half the story.

0:31:060:31:09

At the same time the Egyptians launched their attack,

0:31:100:31:14

the Syrians had launched their bid to retake the Golan Heights.

0:31:140:31:18

The fertile soil of this battlefront

0:31:430:31:46

couldn't have been in greater contrast to the arid desert of the Sinai.

0:31:460:31:51

The Golan Heights had been a valuable prize when the Israelis captured them in 1967.

0:31:540:32:00

These Golan Heights provided Israel with more than just good farmland.

0:32:000:32:05

They afforded security too.

0:32:050:32:07

This is the Golan here,

0:32:080:32:10

once part of Syria, occupied by Israel since 1967.

0:32:100:32:15

The area is no more than 15 miles wide, and it ends with a steep slope down to the River Jordan.

0:32:150:32:22

To Israelis, the Golan was a vital buffer between their heartland and Syria.

0:32:240:32:30

Despite this, only 170 Israeli tanks

0:32:300:32:33

and 400 soldiers were stationed in the frontline on the Golan.

0:32:330:32:38

Most of the Israeli forces were here in the north

0:32:380:32:41

because Israeli commanders felt this was the most likely place for any Syrian assault.

0:32:410:32:47

But when the Syrians made their move,

0:32:470:32:50

their 1,200 tanks and 60,000 men

0:32:500:32:53

attacked all the way along the line.

0:32:530:32:57

Six hours into the battle,

0:32:570:32:58

the Syrians' overwhelming strength was beginning to tell

0:32:580:33:02

and their tanks broke through,

0:33:020:33:04

down here in the more lightly defended south.

0:33:040:33:07

By nightfall, they'd almost reached the western edge of the heights

0:33:070:33:11

where they could look down on the River Jordan.

0:33:110:33:13

If Syrian tanks could now seize the vital bridges across the Jordan

0:33:130:33:18

they'd be able to pour across the river into Israel's heartland.

0:33:180:33:22

For Israeli soldiers in bunkers along the frontline of the Golan Heights,

0:33:260:33:32

the first day of the war had been a disaster.

0:33:320:33:35

Their strong defensive positions had done little to halt the Syrian advance.

0:33:350:33:40

This is one of the Israeli bunkers dug in to the Golan Heights

0:33:480:33:53

and it's got an incredibly strong construction,

0:33:530:33:55

it's deep underground, reinforced concrete, and these steel plates here as well.

0:33:550:34:00

The amazing thing about 1973 is these strong points were so difficult for the Syrians to take,

0:34:000:34:05

they didn't even bother trying.

0:34:050:34:07

They simply by-passed them with their tanks and kept pushing forward.

0:34:070:34:12

By the end of the day,

0:34:130:34:15

the Syrians had taken almost the entire southern half

0:34:150:34:20

of the Golan Heights.

0:34:200:34:22

It was a nightmare situation for Israel.

0:34:260:34:29

It had been caught unawares with far too few troops on both front lines.

0:34:290:34:35

All Elazar, the Israeli Chief of Staff, could do

0:34:350:34:38

was to mobilise every single reservist in the country.

0:34:380:34:42

In towns, villages, and farms across Israel news filtered out that their country was under attack.

0:34:430:34:50

Because it was a holiday, TV and radio was off the air

0:34:500:34:53

and so soldiers on motorbikes had to race through built-up areas calling up the reservists.

0:34:530:34:58

I was in my kibbutz on Yom Kippur

0:35:040:35:07

when I heard the planes taking off from an air force base in the area.

0:35:070:35:12

I drove with another member of my kibbutz,

0:35:120:35:14

who was also a company commander, to our assembly point.

0:35:140:35:18

On the way, we said that whatever was happening,

0:35:180:35:21

we'll probably be back home in a day or two.

0:35:210:35:25

Men and tanks headed out towards both fronts.

0:35:340:35:38

But it would take two long days before they'd be ready to mount a counter-attack.

0:35:380:35:43

Then, on October the 8th, David Elazar announced to the world

0:35:480:35:52

that his army had finally gone on the attack.

0:35:520:35:55

This morning we started our counter-attack.

0:35:550:36:01

And we shall break and destroy completely

0:36:020:36:06

all the attacking forces.

0:36:060:36:10

Elazar's first push was in the Sinai Desert.

0:36:120:36:17

The Egyptians had known that the Israelis would always counter-attack

0:36:170:36:21

and they'd been lying in wait for just this moment.

0:36:210:36:24

As soon as the Israeli tanks came into view

0:36:240:36:26

they let rip with devastating rocket artillery and Sagger missile fire.

0:36:260:36:31

The Israelis suffered heavy casualties all day.

0:37:000:37:04

At least 50 of their tanks were destroyed or disabled.

0:37:090:37:13

To the Israelis it was abundantly clear this was no longer

0:37:130:37:18

the poorly trained Egyptian army they'd fought in the past.

0:37:180:37:21

By the end of the day Israel was facing catastrophe.

0:37:240:37:29

Israelis had believed that once their army was in place, they would be victorious.

0:37:300:37:36

Now they had to face the shocking truth that this hadn't happened.

0:37:360:37:42

Prime Minister Meir sent an urgent request to the Americans

0:37:420:37:46

begging them to re-supply the country.

0:37:460:37:49

Under attack on two fronts, Israelis felt their country was about to be squeezed out of existence.

0:37:510:37:57

It would need a bold change of strategy to save the day.

0:37:570:38:02

The simple truth was that Israel did not have the strength

0:38:020:38:07

to fight this war on two fronts at the same time.

0:38:070:38:10

Elazar had to concentrate his strength on one front

0:38:100:38:13

before he tried to roll back his enemy on the other.

0:38:130:38:16

In the Sinai, the Egyptians were separated from Israel by hundreds of miles of desert.

0:38:180:38:24

But here on the Golan, the Syrians were perilously close

0:38:240:38:28

to Israel's main villages and towns across the Jordan,

0:38:280:38:32

just a few miles' drive away.

0:38:320:38:34

The Golan had to be Elazar's priority,

0:38:340:38:36

so he ordered the army and the air force to put everything they had

0:38:360:38:41

into throwing the Syrians back.

0:38:410:38:43

Some tank units would attack halfway along the Golan

0:38:430:38:48

to relieve the pressure on Nafakh, the Israeli HQ on the Heights.

0:38:480:38:53

Other Israeli tanks had already been ordered to go to the Southern Golan

0:38:530:38:57

where the Syrians were closest to Israel's heartland.

0:38:570:39:01

Their commander had been told bluntly, "You are Israel's last hope."

0:39:010:39:07

But one thing in their favour was that the Syrians had made an extraordinary decision -

0:39:070:39:12

to halt up on the high ground rather than press on towards the River Jordan.

0:39:120:39:17

It gave the Israelis vital breathing room

0:39:170:39:21

to cross the river and move up towards the Golan.

0:39:210:39:24

On the night of October 8th, Israeli tanks stormed the Syrian positions.

0:39:280:39:33

The fighting raged around the clock.

0:39:420:39:45

The Soviets had given the Syrians their latest infrared night-fighting equipment.

0:39:450:39:50

The Israelis had nothing of the kind, and that meant, during the hours of darkness,

0:39:500:39:55

the Syrians could identify the Israeli tanks and cause horrific casualties.

0:39:550:39:59

I scanned the area with my scope

0:39:590:40:02

and picked up a pair of infrared lights coming directly at me.

0:40:020:40:07

I took another look. The headlamps were still approaching.

0:40:070:40:11

The Syrian was targeting in on us. "Driver, back up!" I screamed,

0:40:110:40:15

and the tank rocked back till we came to a stop.

0:40:150:40:18

But as day broke, the Israeli ground troops got some much-needed relief from their air force.

0:40:230:40:29

Throughout the rest of the day, however,

0:40:350:40:38

the Israelis fought desperately to hold the line.

0:40:380:40:41

The Israelis knew that if they gave way here,

0:40:430:40:47

their country faced a real threat of extinction.

0:40:470:40:51

Losses mounted on both sides, but as the battle progressed,

0:40:530:40:57

it became clear that despite some Syrian technological advantages, the Israeli tanks had thicker armour

0:40:570:41:03

and the Israeli crews could fire more quickly and more accurately than their Syrian counterparts.

0:41:030:41:09

After four days of combat,

0:41:100:41:13

I wasn't particularly worried by the Syrian tanks.

0:41:130:41:18

It was enough to locate them and to have them come out to meet us

0:41:180:41:21

and victory would be ours.

0:41:210:41:24

By the 10th of October, four days into the war,

0:41:280:41:32

there was an astonishing turnaround.

0:41:320:41:35

The Syrians were in full flight from here on the Golan.

0:41:350:41:40

Israel's tanks chased them into Syria itself,

0:41:400:41:43

and soon the Israelis were within shelling distance of the Syrian capital Damascus,

0:41:430:41:48

just 30 miles off that way.

0:41:480:41:51

Syrian President Assad sent a message to President Sadat,

0:41:510:41:55

urging the Egyptian leader to do something to relieve the pressure on Syria.

0:41:550:42:01

And now Sadat made a momentous decision.

0:42:010:42:05

Down on the Suez Canal, Sadat ordered his men to thrust way beyond the strong defence line

0:42:050:42:12

they'd established on the east bank of the canal.

0:42:120:42:16

Their objective - strategic passes through these mountains.

0:42:160:42:20

But to get there, they'd have to leave the safety

0:42:200:42:24

of their SAM missile umbrella way behind them.

0:42:240:42:27

It was a high-risk strategy and Shazly was appalled by the decision,

0:42:270:42:33

but Sadat was immovable.

0:42:330:42:35

What followed would be one of the biggest tank battles in history.

0:42:350:42:39

25 miles east of the canal, Israeli tank commanders were well dug in

0:42:490:42:53

on high ground, in good defensive positions.

0:42:530:42:55

Across the open desert,

0:42:570:42:59

they could see the sand being kicked up by hundreds of advancing Egyptian tanks.

0:42:590:43:04

The Egyptians were totally exposed to withering Israeli fire.

0:43:100:43:14

But over the following hours, the Egyptian tank brigades

0:43:200:43:24

repeatedly tried to push further east into the Sinai.

0:43:240:43:27

As the Egyptians moved out beyond the protective cover of their SAMs,

0:43:290:43:33

Israeli aircraft rained down bombs on the exposed Egyptian tanks.

0:43:330:43:38

The Israelis' skilful use of their tank guns

0:43:480:43:52

meant that they pulverised the Egyptians

0:43:520:43:55

exposed down on the open ground.

0:43:550:43:57

The Israelis knocked out an estimated 260 Egyptian tanks.

0:44:030:44:08

They lost only 20 of their own.

0:44:080:44:11

We fought hard, it was a successful tackle.

0:44:130:44:17

And what made it possible was the fighting spirit of our soldiers.

0:44:170:44:22

This battle was a turning point in the war.

0:44:220:44:26

Now the war started to swing in Israel's favour.

0:44:280:44:32

By October 15th, the Americans had responded to Prime Minister Meir's request for re-supplies.

0:44:320:44:39

For days, American planes arrived in Israel with huge numbers

0:44:390:44:44

of tanks, shells and new planes.

0:44:440:44:47

Israel was in a much stronger position.

0:44:470:44:50

Elazar and his commanders were determined to force the Egyptians back across the canal.

0:44:520:44:57

They now planned an exceedingly ambitious and risky operation

0:44:570:45:02

and a man who'd play a key part in it was General Ariel Sharon.

0:45:020:45:06

Sharon would later become Israel's prime minister.

0:45:070:45:10

But in '73, he was one of the country's most dynamic generals and immensely charismatic.

0:45:100:45:16

He'd just left the army that summer, but when war broke out, he was re-called.

0:45:170:45:22

His detailed knowledge of the Sinai, where he'd fought during the Six Day War,

0:45:240:45:29

would prove invaluable in framing Israel's audacious new plan.

0:45:290:45:34

The Egyptians on the East Bank of the canal were split into two armies.

0:45:340:45:39

One in the north and one in the south.

0:45:390:45:42

100,000 men and about 1,000 tanks well dug in

0:45:420:45:46

and well defended by minefields.

0:45:460:45:49

They looked impregnable.

0:45:490:45:52

But one of Sharon's patrols had discovered a narrow gap,

0:45:520:45:56

just one mile wide, between the two armies at this spot -

0:45:560:45:59

where the Suez Canal joined a large salt lake.

0:45:590:46:04

Sharon was ordered to push through here with his tanks,

0:46:040:46:07

widen the gap and secure a corridor through to the canal.

0:46:070:46:11

The Israelis would bridge the canal and hundreds of tanks would then

0:46:110:46:15

pour across it and fan out north and south

0:46:150:46:18

to cut off the Egyptians from behind.

0:46:180:46:21

The Egyptians' positions on the eastern canal bank would then be untenable.

0:46:210:46:27

For the Israelis the whole operation would be fraught with danger.

0:46:270:46:30

The biggest threat was an Egyptian stronghold here, called Chinese Farm.

0:46:300:46:36

It was just north of the planned Israeli corridor.

0:46:360:46:39

Sharon had to neutralise the Egyptians at Chinese Farm

0:46:390:46:43

if the Israeli plan was to succeed.

0:46:430:46:46

But what the Israelis didn't know

0:46:480:46:51

was just how big the Egyptian presence was at Chinese Farm.

0:46:510:46:56

Large numbers of Egyptian tanks and infantry were gathered there.

0:46:560:47:01

Unaware of how outnumbered they were,

0:47:010:47:03

at dusk on October 15th, the Israeli assault force moved in.

0:47:030:47:08

Sharon's tank crews approached Chinese Farm to make their surprise attack.

0:47:080:47:13

They moved in from three different directions,

0:47:130:47:16

but the Egyptian position was a lot stronger than the Israelis had expected.

0:47:160:47:20

A ferocious night battle erupted between the Israelis and the Egyptians.

0:47:230:47:28

Both sides now faced the same problem.

0:47:280:47:30

The fighting was at such close quarters that it was difficult to tell who was friend and who was foe.

0:47:300:47:36

At one point, when my tank had stopped,

0:47:370:47:40

an Egyptian soldier climbed onto it and asked me in Arabic for a cigarette.

0:47:400:47:45

He thought we were Egyptians.

0:47:450:47:48

I bent down and pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it at him.

0:47:480:47:53

All night the Egyptians put up a stiff defence.

0:47:550:47:58

They disabled Israeli tanks and killed and wounded enemy soldiers.

0:47:580:48:03

The Israelis realised they faced a tough fight to secure the vital road to the canal.

0:48:030:48:08

The Egyptians were spread out like a horseshoe.

0:48:100:48:13

They could shoot at us from three sides.

0:48:130:48:16

It was a carpet of fire, their bullets were everywhere.

0:48:160:48:21

I thought, from here, we are not going to get out alive.

0:48:210:48:25

This is our death place.

0:48:250:48:28

Sharon decided to cross the canal before waiting for the battle of Chinese Farm to be won.

0:48:310:48:37

At midnight he sent 750 paratroopers to sneak across

0:48:370:48:41

and establish the vital toe-hold on the west bank.

0:48:410:48:45

His men had been totally unopposed,

0:48:450:48:48

but to turn this into a major breakthrough,

0:48:480:48:51

the Israelis would need to get thousands more men and tanks across the canal.

0:48:510:48:57

In fact, the Israelis had built a mobile bridge a year before the war for just this purpose.

0:48:580:49:05

The bridge was 180 metres long, weighed 400 tonnes

0:49:070:49:12

and took three days to put together.

0:49:120:49:15

Once assembled it was towed on metal rollers

0:49:150:49:18

through the desert by 12 tanks along the only road down to the canal.

0:49:180:49:23

But there was a problem.

0:49:230:49:25

Because of the fighting still raging at Chinese Farm

0:49:250:49:28

the road to the canal was blocked by a huge traffic jam.

0:49:280:49:31

By daybreak the bridge had only travelled two miles -

0:49:310:49:35

there were another 13 to go.

0:49:350:49:37

Sharon needed to get tanks across the canal to reinforce his troops who'd crossed earlier.

0:49:380:49:45

Without the bridge in place,

0:49:450:49:48

he had to float 50 tanks across on inflatable rafts.

0:49:480:49:52

The sudden appearance of Israeli tanks on the west bank of the canal

0:49:540:49:58

was a huge surprise for the Egyptians.

0:49:580:50:00

Soldiers manning the SAM batteries reported that groups of several tanks

0:50:000:50:05

would show up in the distance,

0:50:050:50:06

open fire at them and then disappear.

0:50:060:50:09

Later that day, on the evening of October the 16th,

0:50:150:50:18

the Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir triumphantly told the Israeli Parliament

0:50:180:50:23

their troops had crossed the canal into Africa.

0:50:230:50:26

In reality, it'd be another two days before the Israelis secured the corridor to the canal.

0:50:260:50:32

It wasn't until October 19th that the bridge was finally in place.

0:50:320:50:37

As Israeli tanks surged across the bridge,

0:50:440:50:47

they came under heavy bombardment from Egyptian artillery and aircraft.

0:50:470:50:53

But the tanks pushed on to their first objectives on the West Bank -

0:50:530:50:58

Egypt's SAM missiles sites.

0:50:580:51:01

Once these missiles were destroyed,

0:51:010:51:04

Israeli warplanes swept into the attack

0:51:040:51:07

in support of the tanks fanning out north and south

0:51:070:51:11

on the west bank of the canal.

0:51:110:51:13

Egypt's Third Army, here on the east bank, was soon in danger of being surrounded.

0:51:160:51:20

Shazly urged that some units should be pulled back here to the west bank to fight the Israelis.

0:51:200:51:26

President Sadat replied abruptly, "No retreat!"

0:51:260:51:31

He believed that reducing forces on the east bank would risk losing everything they'd fought for.

0:51:310:51:37

But Sadat WAS ready for a ceasefire.

0:51:370:51:40

It was announced on 22nd of October.

0:51:450:51:49

The Israelis agreed to the ceasefire as well,

0:51:490:51:51

but in reality ignored it,

0:51:510:51:53

and pushed on south to secure more land west of the canal.

0:51:530:51:58

By October 23rd, the Egyptian Third Army was surrounded.

0:52:090:52:15

The supply lines of its 45,000 men were cut.

0:52:150:52:18

With only four days of food and water left,

0:52:180:52:21

it wouldn't be long before they were starved into submission.

0:52:210:52:25

Some Egyptian soldiers were so desperate they surrendered.

0:52:300:52:34

Others hung on.

0:52:340:52:36

No food come to us.

0:52:360:52:38

No munitions come to us.

0:52:380:52:41

No evacuation of any injured.

0:52:410:52:44

No water.

0:52:440:52:46

We didn't need gas because we weren't going anywhere.

0:52:460:52:50

And just when it seemed to be over, the war took a dramatic turn.

0:52:500:52:56

It was at this critical moment that Egypt's most powerful ally,

0:52:560:53:00

the Soviet Union, made one final bid to help the Egyptians.

0:53:000:53:05

The Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev told the Americans,

0:53:050:53:09

unless they agreed to send a joint US/Soviet peacekeeping force to the Middle East,

0:53:090:53:15

he would send Soviet troops on their own.

0:53:150:53:17

The Americans were determined that no Soviet troops would enter the Middle East.

0:53:210:53:26

In a sudden escalation, America put its nuclear forces on alert.

0:53:260:53:32

US nuclear missiles were readied in their silos

0:53:340:53:38

and two aircraft carriers with nuclear strike forces were ordered to the eastern Mediterranean.

0:53:380:53:44

The implied threat of nuclear war

0:53:460:53:48

forced Brezhnev to make a choice - to escalate or to climb down.

0:53:480:53:54

Brezhnev decided to climb down and no Soviet troops went to the Middle East.

0:53:580:54:04

But the flurry of international pressure had made its mark.

0:54:040:54:07

On October 25th,

0:54:070:54:09

the Israelis finally heeded the ceasefire

0:54:090:54:12

and the October War was effectively over.

0:54:120:54:16

It's hard to say who was the clear victor in this war.

0:54:420:54:46

The Israelis, who saw both their fronts shattered by surprise attacks,

0:54:460:54:51

made an astonishing military comeback.

0:54:510:54:54

But the Arabs gave Israel a real shock.

0:54:540:54:58

For many Israelis, the 9,500 soldiers killed or wounded

0:54:590:55:03

during the October War was an unacceptably high price to pay.

0:55:030:55:08

They blamed their government for failing to heed the warnings that war was imminent.

0:55:080:55:13

Israeli confidence was shattered.

0:55:130:55:17

They were no longer the invincible military power that they'd thought they were.

0:55:170:55:22

Despite the fact they'd suffered up to 30,000 casualties,

0:55:220:55:27

perhaps, in the end, the side that gained the most from this war was Egypt.

0:55:270:55:32

The Egyptian crossing of the canal was seen as a major military achievement

0:55:320:55:38

that restored Arab pride and gave President Sadat the confidence

0:55:380:55:43

to make a spectacular bid for peace.

0:55:430:55:46

In November 1977, the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat

0:55:520:55:59

arrived in Israel, and in the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem itself,

0:55:590:56:04

he became the first Arab leader

0:56:040:56:06

to recognise the state of Israel.

0:56:060:56:09

Israel and Egypt were now on the road to peace

0:56:200:56:23

which culminated in 1982 with what Sadat had always wanted -

0:56:230:56:29

a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai.

0:56:290:56:32

But Sadat never saw it happen.

0:56:390:56:43

On October 6th, 1981, the eighth anniversary of the war,

0:56:510:56:55

Anwar Sadat was assassinated by gunmen opposed to his peace treaty with Israel.

0:56:550:57:01

The October War had claimed its last victim.

0:57:010:57:05

The war didn't sort out the fundamental dispute between the Israelis and the Arabs.

0:57:070:57:13

In fact, technically, Israel is still in a state of war with Syria.

0:57:130:57:16

All the treaties and all the talking still haven't brought peace

0:57:180:57:22

to this part of the Middle East.

0:57:220:57:24

And this barrier is a powerful reminder

0:57:260:57:28

that the conflict with the Palestinians over who owns the land

0:57:280:57:32

remains unresolved to this day.

0:57:320:57:34

Next week, 20th Century Battlefields brings you the Falklands War.

0:57:470:57:53

In April 1982, Argentina invaded these remote islands

0:57:530:57:57

and triggered one of the most ambitious military undertakings in British history.

0:57:570:58:02

I look at how the British fought 8,000 miles from home.

0:58:020:58:06

And I'll see how the troops tackled this hostile terrain.

0:58:060:58:10

It was, in a way, one of the century's most bizarre conflicts.

0:58:100:58:14

It's the story of the battle for the Falklands.

0:58:140:58:17

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:58:170:58:19

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