Original subtitles

Subtitled by: EAM

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

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

when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack in Israel,

on the Jewish Holiday of Yom Kippur.

For three weeks,

The battles swung violently from side to side,

Before each with inside of the victory and defeat.

And brought super powers,

America and the Soviet Union,

Close to a nuclear show down.

The Israelis were in no doubt,

They are fighting for their country's very survivals.

For Soldiers of Syria and Egypt,

it was a battle for Arab territory.

And Arab pride.

In this program, I will be revealing how Arab and Israeli commanders

Astonished each other.

With the boldness of their strategy.

And I will be finding out how both sides used the latest weaponry,

With shattering results.

No twentieth century conflict,

Has been as lasting and bitter,

As the struggle between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

This is the story of the biggest battle between them.

It still such a sensitive subject in Egypt.

That they would not let us film there.

This is the story of the October war of 1973.

This concrete security barrier here runs for Jerusalem,

And hundreds of miles the north and the south

On this side live predominantly,

Muslims Palestinian Arabs.

on this side, the largely Jewish population of Israel.

The eight meter high barrier,

Which the Israeli started building in 2002.

Is the most powerful symbol of the hostility,

Between Jews and Arabs which still remains.

After nearly a century of conflict.

The Israeli said they build this barrier,

To keep Arab Palestinian terrorists.

Palestinian said this Israel way of grabbing more of their land.

And that's what these conflicts are always has been about,

Land.

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

Back in 1917 the British controlled Palestine.

And they promised the Jews a home land here.

The problem was for more than ten times as many Arabs as Jews.

Already living in Palestine.

And as hundreds of thousands more Jews,

Poured into the country,

Opened fighting broke out between them.

By 1947 things was so bad,

The united nation stepped in with a plan.

This is how Palestine looked then.

Laying on the east of edge of the mediterranean,

It was bordered by Lebanon, Syria, Trans Jordan and Egypt.

United Nation suggested partition,

The Palestinian would keep land here, here and here.

And the Jews will have the rest.

Jerusalem will be an open city shared by everyone.

The Jews accepted the plan.

And in 1948 they declare their independence as the State of Israel.

But the Palestinians and the neighboring Arab countries rejected Partition.

War followed and the border changed once more.

The Israelis took over Arab lands here on the north

And along the Egyptian border.

Ending up with most of Palestine,

And most of the keys of the up Jerusalem.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled,

Over expel from their homes.

These refugees headed to neighboring Arab countries.

Creating a refugee crisis that last of this day.

One night everyone was awaken to the sound of people.

Go, Go the Jews, The Jews are coming.

Yeah I can still recalled the voice from the ensuing chaos.

And within a short period of time,

The entire of village was marching out there.

Carrying their essentials,

Bedding on a mule some clothing some food.

The Arabs refused to recognize this new state of Israel.

And their resentment to the loss of Palestinian homes and land grow.

For their part, the Israelis felt vulnerable.

Surrounded on all sides by hostile Arab enemies.

Over the next twenty years,

There was a regular fighting along the boarders.

In 1967 things finally came to a heap.

On the morning, of June the fifth,

Israel launched a preemptive strike against Egypt.

It was followed hours later,

by attacks on Egypt's allies Syria and Jordan.

It will become known as the Six Day War.

Almost two hundred pilots of the Israeli Air Force,

Took part in incredibly ambitious air strike.

Their mission was to wipe out the Egyptian Air Force.

The largest in the Arab World.

In just under the two hours Israeli bombs.

destroyed almost the entire Egyptian Air force.

Before it is even got off the ground.

Next Israel launched strikes on the Air forces of Jordan.

And Syria, by the end of the day,

Israeli pilots had one total control of the skies.

Not very far away there were some military bases.

And they had been attacked early in the morning.

There was nothing announced,

And we didn't know what's going on.

Defeat was unfolding right there.

Israeli ground troops stormed into Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

At the same time,

Other Israeli troops made it big to capture Arab held Jerusalem.

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

Israeli paratroop is charge

Through this gate into the old city.

But as they push into these narrow streets,

They came on the fire from Jordanian snipers,

Who are taking out position

In the upper stories of the building right beside.

The Israelis pushed on,

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

But by early afternoon,

The whole of Jerusalem was in Israeli hands.

I took out the Israeli flag which I carried with me the whole time.

And waved it, I hang the flag on the fence.

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

He burst into tears underneath his steel helmet.

Another friend was weeping,

A chain of bullets wrapped around his neck.

In the days that followed,

Israeli troops draw back the soldiers of Jordan, Syria and Egypt.

In six days the Israelis had won the war.

The defeated nations counted the cost.

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

Along with Syria and Jordan,

Suffered over 30 thousand dead and injured.

People didn't really know,

What was going to happened next.

I mean people were scared.

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

The fighting may have been over

But it hadn't created the conditions,

Where the true sides could come together.

This was as far away as ever.

For the Arabs,

The six day war was an utter disaster.

Before this well win campaign.

Israel had been a tiny wedge of land.

Squeezed between Arab states.

Only 9 miles wide of its narrowest.

Suddenly, it was the Middle East super power.

And 5 times the size.

The border doesn't been pushed back.

To swallow a piece of Syria up here for the Golan Heights.

To the east Israel have seized the West Bank.

And in the south it now occupied Egypt entire Sinai peninsula.

A huge expensive desert.

From this new found position of strength.

Israels leaders,

Demanded that the Arab world,

Recognize the stat of Israel.

Arab leaders met in Sudan,

To formulate their response.

They were emphatic they would not recognize Israel.

And insisted of a total Israeli withdrawal.

From the Territories it has just occupied.

Over the next few years both sides became entrenched.

And nowhere with this more visible

than along the new border with Egypt,

The Suez Canal.

The Canal is one of the world's busiest Shipping Lanes.

A laying ships to pass between Europe and Asia.

Without sailing round Africa,

But after the Six Day War,

This international waterway was closed to shipping.

As erratic fighting between both sides continue to flare up.

The Israelis and the Egyptians now faced each other.

Eyeball to eyeball across the Canal.

The Egyptians could never accept this is a permanent frontier.

But the Israelis were equally determinant.

Egyptians now watched in horror,

As the Israeli military machine went to work.

All long the Suez Canal the Israelis built a massive network of walls,

Forts and trenches that became known as a Bar-Lev Line.

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

But they were just relying on the Bar-Lev Line for defense.

The Israelis also have a system for rushing troops to the front line.

Israel has a small population,

And can't afford a large standing army.

so every male Israeli does three years national service,

And remains a reservist into his forties or fifties.

Ready to be mobilized in times of war.

Today females also do national service,

And they can also be called up at wars breaks out.

Thirty years ago an army of 250 thousand men,

Could be mobilized within 72 hours.

If the Arab showed signs of attacking.

But after the six day war that didn't seem very likely.

The Israeli is in practically destroyed Arab era pride.

Israeli intelligence was not sure.

The Arabs wouldn't try anything until they rebuilt back air forces.

And that will take another ten years.

Israelis were supremely confident,

That if their neighbors so much as twitched

They will battle them into submission once more.

But in Cairo something it happened,

That the Israelis hadn't reckon with.

A new Egyptian President,

With a new sense of purpose.

Anwar Sadat

When Sadat came to power in 1970.

Egypt was still in demoralized country.

Smarting from a loss of a Sinai,

Sadat was considered a moderate by many.

But one of the first things he did,

was appointed dynamic and popular a new military commander,

General Saad El Shazly.

Shazly was given the job,

Of revitalizing Egypt's poly trained and under equipped army.

Because Sadat was determined to do what the Israeli's list expected.

Fight back.

Sadat had decided that the only way,

To win back the Sinai from the Israelis was to make war on them.

His plan must have launched a spectacular crossing of the canal,

And retake a strip of land in the Sinai.

Sadat hoped that this would force the Israelis,

To negotiate overdraw from the rest of Sinai.

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

Sadat found a willing ally on the Soviet Union.

As the Israelis had with the USA.

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

Were adamant that neither the super power would dominate the oil rich Middle East.

The Soviet provided Egypt with the latest surface to air missiles.

Called SAM's

These missiles supported by thousands of conventional or anti-aircraft guns.

Could effectively paralyze the Israeli effort.

The Egyptian commander general Shazly.

Would not have to royal his weakened air force.

To deal with the Israeli war planes,

Nor would Sadat attack alone,

Another of his alliance,

President Assad of Syria would be joining in the fight.

The keys of the Egyptian plan

Was a surprise coordinated ground attack on Israel.

The Syrian will attack on the Golan.

At exactly the same moment,

As the Egyptian struggle on the entire length of the canal.

But Shazly knew

That the matter how a stunned The Israelis is might be

By this troop round defensive.

They would soon counter attack,

With there most lethal weapon.

Their air force

And that for Israel for SAM missiles came in.

Shazly concentrated his Sam's along the Suez Canal.

These missiles could bring down

Any Israeli planes that came within 15 miles.

The Sam's and regular artillery guns.

Would create a protective umbrella shown here in red.

Under which Egyptian boats and infantry could cross safely.

They will then seize the force of the Bar-Lev Line.

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

The days of the attack were set for the October the sixth.

When the tides would give the most favourable conditions for crossing the Canal.

But October the sixth was also

The holiest day of jewish year.

Yom Kippur.

When Israelis revealed home of the Synagogue.

With their plans in place

The Egyptians of their Syrian allies,

set about insuring that the Israelis had no idea.

They were about to be attacked on two fronts.

The Egyptians put into effect a complicated deception plan.

To trying non Israeli military intelligence into complacency.

They have been gradually mobilizing their reserves.

But the beginning of October they demobilize 20 thousand men.

And send them home.

From what the Israelis can see,

didn't look like Egyptian army was gearing up for war.

As the Egyptian soldiers based beside the Canal.

They were told, act as if there is nothing much was up.

They can go swimming.

And bask in the sun in full view of the Israeli troops,

In the forts of the Bar-Lev Line.

Any military activity the Israeli lookout dead spot,

Appeared to be just another regular exercise

By day, they watch, there is Egyptian troops.

Came close to the Canals to carry out maneuvers.

At night, they appeared to head back in land,

To their barracks many miles away.

Hundreds of miles from north,

The Syrian on the Gulan appear to be doing the same.

But in fact, these troops went withdrawing every evening.

On the cover of darkness.

More and more Arab soldiers were massing on both fronts.

And we started on train with real ammunition.

There also told me, but going to Suez.

We started to take our tanks.

Our amphibians unit on the real road,

At night only, so the civilians couldn't see.

Reports of all this Egyptian activity

Would giving to the heads of Israel's militaries intelligence.

There have been a number of false alarms in the past,

And they were convinced, that this was another one.

But they were wrong.

At 4:30 AM. on the six of October,

The day of Yom Kippur,

The phone rang at the home of Israel's military chief.

General David Elazar.

Elazar had been made Israeli chief of staff.

After a long military career and a host of victories.

The call from the Israeli military's intelligence,

Informed him that both Egypt and Syria,

Would launch an attack in hours.

Elazar of immediate thought,

Was to send air force to hit the Arabs.

Before they have the chance to strike.

But that decision could only be taken in the halls of power.

By Israel's politicians.

And ultimately that meant one person.

Israel's prime minister Golda Meir.

This 75 years old receive as the Iron Lady of Israeli politics.

But she said no to air strikes.

She argued that if Israel was to win in to the actual support,

After the six day war.

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

Elazar was appalled of his leader reaction.

He was only given permission to mobilize,

A fraction of the reserve's, he needed.

And yet within a few hours,

His country would face invasion of two fronts.

Egypt and Syria will poised to launch their attack.

Suez Canal 6th October

Just before 2 o'clock the Egyptians put their part of the plan into action.

Their assault to cross the canal on the forts of the Bar-Lev Line

With such a momentous event of Egyptian history,

It was later re-stage for the cameras.

Thousands of Egypt's best trained commandos,

cross the Suez Canal in row boat in keys.

They landed on the east bank,

In the gaps between the fort's of the Bar-Lev Line.

The Egyptian Commandos then scrambled at the high sand ramparts.

They touch rope ladder to make it easier for soldiers following on behind them.

behind this first wave were,

A hundred thousand Egyptian infantry,

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

But the biggest obstacles turn where the giant sand

Ramparts on the Israeli side,

This was much than 60 feet in height.

It was impossible for the Egyptian tanks and Heavy Artillery,

To climb up on over them.

The Egyptian experimented with using dynamite,

And blow hoses but this was found is to take far too long.

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

He suggested using high pressure hoses,

To blast the ramparts with water from the canal.

It was an extraordinary idea which would have to work.

If the entire Egyptian assault was to be success.

4 hours into the attack,

And with fighting raging around them.

The Egyptian engineers finally broke through the ran pass.

And the first tank starts to pull through.

I never believed I will see the day when I was in Sinai.

But this was actually Sinai.

I looked back at the west bank.

And all the green of the other side,

And to the east all I could see is desert.

It was good feeling.

The eastern bank of the canal,

Now became a battlefield.

The Israelis manning the forts,

Spread machine gun fire on their Egyptian attacker.

To try and strain the time. They try and stint buttal.

but within 2 hours, 23 thousand of Egyptian infantry

were in the east bank,

And advanced up to one mile into Sinai.

Their fort was surrounded by Egyptian forces.

And was under constant fire.

And it did cost well,

We fired from a time to time and reported back what we saw,

But mainly we tried to keep up our morale

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

The first Israeli Jets was sent to them on 4 PM.

Flying low over the desert.

But as they approach the canal,

They found themselves under attack from the ground.

The Egyptian SAM missiles, the antiaircraft guns caused havoc.

As Israelis planes were shot down that afternoon.

It soon became clear

That Egypt's and elaborate air defense umbrella was working.

Israel single greatest weapon, it's air force.

Was virtually powerless to hold back the Egyptian onslaught.

The most immediate hope for the surrounded in the forts,

Were Israeli tanks stationed just a few miles away.

The Israeli tanks raced towards the canal.

They thought they throw the Egyptian back.

As easy as they have done in 1967.

But as they get closer they found themselves,

Coming under attack from a weapon like never faced before.

The Sagger Missile

This Soviet made weapon was specifically designed,

To punch through the pick battle armor attacks,

It will be small off to be carried on to the battlefield in a pack pad.

Unlike bigger Antitank guns.

The Sagger can be set up in moments.

This light weight piece of kit,

was made an armor because the missile could be stead into its target.

Today Dan and I have come to the Royal Marines Commando Training Center in Devon.

We gonna find out why the Egyptian foot soldiers,

Found the new generation of antitank weapons so useful.

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

It cast 75 thousand pound to fire one missile.

So I am been shown the road through a Simulator.

Ok so I should look at through the office now that I am hope

You are seeing exactly same picture all you have seen.

- On computer screen. - yeah.

Rather than firing off a real missile the Javelin trainer using a laser system.

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

- Good scan? - up there is one up there on that bridge line.

That some flow bingo spot that one

There is another one, it coming through towards me

- ok so all make that your primary target because that's direct threat to you.

- Ok. - At back seek up and release.

- right - it go on behind a feedable head up something back

- ok. - And now I seek a field appearing.

To what material going to sow to engage up that vehicle.

So squeeze and hold left hand trigger

Squeeze and release right go now.

- Let's see how they do it. - just watching him out.

- Let us watch it. - It is not now stare at me.

- In case of. - Got right. - Good hit.

- You walked smack the center target. - Right ... Right.

I was ready to take the Simulator out into the field.

I am aiming into a real target.

That truck fitted with a laser detector that all register ahead.

What we all know this moving vehicle making the target.

for them very likely

Israelis is moving forward to.

Attack the Egyptian in Sinai must have made them Egyptian.

For novice like me a Javelin is easy to handle than a Sagger.

When Sagger was fired it trail the control wire behind it.

And your operating is to joystick.

Which have to keep staring the missile until it reached its target.

I think I can see something now!

A hit required a good training and a steady hand.

I was gonna have a pop at them.

With the Javelin all I have to do is get the truck in their sites.

Lock the guide and system on to it, and fire.

- Just up to that to see the slight new tech yes. - yes .. yes ..yes.

- Don't let him see a gun. - Ok.

- Ok I will go for it. - Go for it.

At least that is the theory.

Go hit tricky with that!

That model when you just trying to get the track gates on the target.

- Would i miss? - Fortunately that's a no result which major misses.

I really had no idea, where Dan was.

I will speed just let us got him to now.

This stat of the art Javelin,

Can hit my vehicle from over 2 kilometers away.

A similar range of the Sagger in 1973.

No wonder the Israeli tank drivers were taken by surprise.

As they head it toward the Suez canal.

They simply couldn't see the Egyptian laying and wait with the Saggers.

- Hit! Well done! - Oh! Really!

- Hi dad. - OK! Tell me, you missed us.

I am afraid to say.

- I've got a hit - You didn't

Yes .. see that hit .. 700 meters.

- Good grace and well don! - yes .. I might did it miss the first time.

You have got the most modern guided missile there probably in the world.

Yes I know.

Because the one you have seen that the saggers,

A wired guided missiles, you had to keep the side on the target.

All the time the missile just traveling towards it.

- It will be fixed there where, you just fire, doesn't forgot. - yes

It's hard enough to get there a side locked on to you.

And actually I've tried to keep it there for the entire kind of missiles.

Because In the air will be incredible you be shaking, you're breathing, you're nervous.

I would, I couldn't have don it, if I hadn't been through a lock on and forget abut it.

Very .. very powerful form to tame warfare

For the Israelis quite a new ordeal.

In 1973 the Sagger was turning the Sinai into a tank grave yard.

The tanks which for the pride of Israel's army,

Were been destroyed by the Egyptian infantrymen.

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

By the end of the first 36 hours.

They had lost approximately half of this number.

Things were critical for the Israelis soldiers in Sinai.

But that was only half of the story.

At the same time, the Egyptians launch there attack.

The Syrians had launch their bid.

To retake the Golan Heights.

Golan Heights 6th October

The fertile soil of this battlefront.

Couldn't have been greater contrast,

To the arid desert to the Sinai.

To Golan Heights have been a valuable price.

When the Israelis captured them in 1967.

These Golan Heights provided Israel

With more than just good farm land.

They afford in security too.

This is the Golan here.

Once part of Syria, occupied by Israel since 1967.

The area is no more than 15 miles wide.

And it dunes with a steep slope down to the river Jordan.

To Israelis the Golan was a vital buffer,

Between their heartland and Syria.

Despite this, only a 170 Israeli tanks,

And 400 soldiers were stationed on the frontline of the Golan.

Most of the Israeli forces were here in the north.

Because Israeli commanders felt this was the most likely place,

That any Syrian assault.

But when the Syrian made their move

Their 1200 tanks and sixty thousand men,

Attacked all the way along the line.

6 hours into the battle,

The Syrian overwhelming strengths was beginning to tell.

And their tanks broke through.

Down here on the border lightly defend itself.

By nightfall, it almost reached the western age of the heights.

Where they could look down on the river Jordan.

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

They will be able to pour across the river into Israel's heart land.

For Israeli soldiers and bunkers on the frontline of the Golan Heights.

The first day of the war had been a disaster.

Their strong defensive positions

Had done a little to halt the Syrian advance.

This is one of the Israeli bunkers.

Dug in the Golan Heights and it is incredibly strong constructions,

Deep on the ground, it's real force concreteness.

Steel plates here as well.

The amazing thing about 1973 of these strong points,

Was so difficult for the Syrian to take, they didn't even bother trying.

They simply bypass them with their tanks and kept pushing forward.

By the end of the day,

The Syrians have taken almost the entire southern half of the Golan Heights.

It was a nightmare situation for Israel.

it had been caught unawares with far to few troops on both frontlines.

All Elazar the Israeli chief of staff could do,

Must had mobilized every single reserves in their country.

In towns, villages and farms across Israel.

News felted out that their country was under attack.

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

And so soldiers on motorbikes,

Had to race through built up areas calling up the reserves.

I was in my Kippot in Yom Kippur

When I heard a planes taken up from the air force base in the area.

I drove with another member of my kippot

So he was also our accompany commander.

To our assembly point,

On the way we said whatever was happening,

We will propably be back home in a day or two.

Men and tanks headed out towards both fronts.

But it would take two long days.

Before they be ready to mount a counterattack.

Then on October the 8th,

David Elazar announced to the world.

That his army finally gone on the attack.

This morning we started our counterattack.

And we shall break,

And destroy completely,

All the attacking forces.

Elazar's first push was in the Sinai desert.

Egyptians had known that the Israelis.

Would always be counterattack.

And they have been lying and wait for just this moment.

As soon as the Israeli tanks came into view.

They let rep with devastating rocket artillery and Sagger missile fire.

The Israeli is suffered heavy casualties all day.

At least 50 of their tanks were destroyed or disabled.

To the Israelis, it was abundantly clear.

This was no longer the poorly trained Egyptian army they fought in the past.

By the end of the day Israel was facing catastrophe.

Israelis had believe that once their army was in place

They would be victorious.

Now they have to face the shocking truth that this haven't happened.

Prime Minister Meir sends an urgent request to the Americans.

Begging them to resupply the country.

Under attack on two fronts.

Israelis felt their country was about to be squeezed out of existence.

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

The simple truth was Israel did not have the strength.

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

Elazar had to concentrate his strength on one front.

Before he try to role back his enemy on the other,

In the Sinai the Egyptian was seprated,

From Israel by houndreds of miles of desert.

But here on the Golan the Syrians were perilously to close.

To Israel's main Villages and towns across

The Jordan just a few miles drive away.

For Golan had to be Elazar's priority.

So he ordered the army and the Airforce.

To put everything they had into throwing the Syrian back.

Some tank you get for attack half way along the Golan.

To relive the pressure on Nafakh,

The Israeli edge queue on the heights.

Other Israeli tanks had already been ordered to go up on to the southern Golan.

If the Syrian were closes to the Israel's heart land.

Their commander had been told bluntly you are Israel's last hope.

But one have been in their favored was that the Syrian.

Had make an extraordinary decision.

To halt up on the high ground,

Rather than to press on towards river Jordan

It gave the Israelis vital breathing room.

To cross the river and move up towards the Golan.

On the night of October the 8th

Israeli tanks stormed the Syrian positions.

The fighting raged around the clock.

The Soviets had given the Syrians,

Their latest infrared night fight equipment.

The Israelis had nothing of the kind.

And that meant during the hours of darkness

The Syrian to identify the Israeli tanks and cause terrific casualties.

I scanned the area with a microscope.

And picked up a film infrared lights coming directly at me.

I took another look the head lamps were still approaching

The Syrian was targeting in on us

Tray to pick up by a screen, and the tank off back, then we can go stop.

But as day broke the Israeli ground troops,

Got so much needed relive from their air force.

Through out the rest of the day however

The Israelis' fought desperately to hold the line.

The Israelis knew that if they gave way here

Their country faced a real threat to off extension.

losses mounted on both sides.

but as the battle progressed,

It became clear that despite some Syrian technological advantages.

The Israeli's tanks had thicker armor.

And the Israeli cruise could fire more quickly,

And more accurately mass Syrian counterparts.

After 4 days of combat

I wasn't particularly worried by the Syrian tanks.

It was enough to locate them.

And to wave them come out to meet us,

And victory will be ours.

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

There was an astonishing turnaround.

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

Israel's tanks chased them in the Syria itself.

And soon the Israelis were in shelling distance of the Syrian capital Damascus.

Just 30 miles of that way.

Syrian president Assad sent a message to president Sadat.

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

And now Sadat made a momentous decision.

Down on the Suez Canal

Sadat ordered his men

To thrust way beyond the strong defence line.

They did established on the east bank of the Canal.

Their objective, strategic passes through these mountains.

But to get there,

It had to leave the safety of their Sam missile umbrella way behind them.

It was a high risk strategy

And Shazly was appalled by the decision.

But Sadat was immovable

What follow, will be one of the biggest tanks battles in history.

25 miles east of the Canal

Israeli tank commanders well dug in,

On high ground and good defensive positions.

across the open desert,

They could see the sand been kicked up.

By hundreds of advancing Egyptian tanks.

The Egyptians would totally expose to wavering Israeli fire

but over the following hours

The Egyptian tank wreckage repeatedly

Try to push further east into the Sinai.

As the Egyptian moved out beyond the protective cover of their Sam's.

Israeli aircraft rain down Bombs on the exposed Egyptian tanks.

The Israeli skillful use of their tank guns.

Meant that they pulverize the Egyptian exposed,

Down on the open ground.

The Israelis knocked out to the estimated 260 Egyptian tanks.

They lost only 20 of their own.

We fought hard. It was a successful tackle.

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

This battle was a turning point in the war.

Now the war started swing in Israel's favor.

By the October the 15th

The Americans had responded to prime minister Mair's request to re-supplies.

For day's American's planes arrived in Israel.

With huge number of tanks, shells and new planes.

Israel was in a much stronger position.

Elazar and his commanders were determined

To force the Egyptian back across the canal

They now plan an exceedingly ambitious and risky operation.

And a man will play a key part of it is General Ariel Sharon

Sharon would later become Israel's Prime Minister.

But in 73 he was one of the country's must dynamic Generals.

And immensely charismatic.

He just left the army that summer,

But when war broke out he was recalled.

His detailed knowledge of a Sinai where he fought during the 6 day war.

Would proveing valuable in framing Israel's or dashes new plan.

The Egyptians on the east bank of the canal,

Were separated into two armies.

One in the North and one in the South.

A hundred thousand men and about thousand tanks,

Well dug in and well defended by mine fields.

They looked impregnable.

But one of Sharon's patrols had discover a narrow gap

Just one mile wide between the two armies at this spot,

Where the Suez Canal joined the Large salt Lake.

Sharon was ordered to push through here of these tanks

Wide in the gap and secure a corridor throughout of the Canal.

The Israelis would bridge the Canal.

And hundreds of tanks will then pour across it.

And fan out North and South to cut off the Egyptians from behind.

The Egyptians' positions on the eastern Canal bank,

Would then be untenable.

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

A biggest fright was the Egyptian stronghold here.

Called Chinese farm.

It was just north the planned Israeli corridor.

Sharon had to neutralize the Egyptians of Chinese farm.

If the Israeli plan was to succeed.

But what the Israelis didn't know.

Was just how big the Egyptian presence was in Chinese farm.

Large numbers of Egyptian tanks and infantry were gathered there.

Unaware of how out number they were at dusk of October 15th.

The Israeli assault force moved in.

Sharon's tank cruise approached Chinese farm,

To make their surprise attack,

They moved in from 3 different directions

But the Egyptian position was a lot stronger than the Israelis have expected.

Training Footage

A ferocious night battle of ratted between the Israelis and the Egyptians.

Both sides face the same problem.

Their fighting was at such close quarters,

That was difficult to tell who was friend and who is foe.

At one point when my tank has stopped.

An Egyptian soldier climbed on to it,

And ask me now for big of cigarette.

He thought we were Egyptians.

I went down and pull the pin on the grenade and tilt it at him.

All night the Egyptian proper stiff defence.

They disable the Israeli tanks and killed them and wounded enemies soldiers.

The Israelis realized they faced a tough fight,

To secure the vital road to the Canal.

The Egyptian war where is but not like a war show.

They could shoot at us pull big size.

It was like hell of fire and bullets every where

I saw it from there, we are not going to get out alive.

This was out this place.

Sharon decided to cross the Canal.

Before waiting for the battle of Chinese farm to be won.

At midnight, he sent 750 para-troopers.

To snake across and established the vital to hold on the west bank.

His men had been totally unopposed.

But to turn this into a major break though,

The Israelis would need to get thousands war men,

And tanks across the Canal.

In fact, the Israelis had built a mobile bridge.

A year before the war for just this purpose.

The bridge was 180 meters long.

Weight 400 tons and took 3 days to put together.

Once assembled it was toad on metal rollers,

Through the desert by 12 tanks.

Along the only road down to the Canal.

It was a problem because of the fighting still raging at the Chinese farm.

The road to the Canal was blocked by huge traffic jam.

By day break the bridge only traveled two miles.

There is another 13 days to go.

Sharon needed to get tanks across the Canal.

To reinforce his troops in coast area.

Without the bridge in place,

He had to float 50 tanks across of inflatable rafts.

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

Was a huge surprise for the Egyptians.

Soldiers manning the SAM batteries

Reported that groups of several tanks were show up in a distance.

Opened fire at them and then disappear.

Later that day on the evening of October the 16th

The Israeli prime minister Golda Mair

Triumphantly told the Israeli parliament.

Their troops had crossed the Canal into Africa.

In reality, it will be another two days.

Before the Israeli secured the corridor of the Canal.

It was on the October the 19th.

That the bridge was finally in place.

As israeli tanks surged across the bridge

They came under heavy bombardment,

From Egyptian artillery and the aircraft.

But their tanks pushed on,

To their first objectives on the west bank.

Egypt's SAM missiles sides,

Once these missiles will destroyed.

Israeli war planes swept into the attack.

In support of the tanks fanning out North and South,

On the west bank of the Canal.

Egypt third army here on the East Bank.

Will soon in danger of been surrounded.

Shazli urged that some units,

Should be pulled back here to the west bank to fight the Israelis.

President Sadat reply abruptly: No retreat.

He believed reducing forces on the East Bank,

Would press closing everything they had fought for.

But Sadat was ready for a ceasefire.

It was once of the 22nd of October.

The Israelis agreed to the ceasefire as well.

But in reality, ignored it.

And pushed on south to secure more land, west of the Canal.

By October the Twenty third,

The Egyptian third army was surrounded.

The supply line of its 45 thousand men would cut.

With only 4 days of food and water left.

It wouldn't be long before they will starved into submission.

Some Egyptian soldiers was so desperately surrendered,

Others hang on.

No food come to us,

No munitions come to us.

And no evacuation of any injured, no water

And we didn't need gas that doesn't want to go anywhere.

At just when it seemed to be over,

The war took a dramatic turn.

it was at this critical moment

But Egypt's most powerful allied of Soviet Union.

Made one final bid to help the Egyptians.

The Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev,

Tell the American unless they agree,

To send a joint US Soviet peace keeping force to the Middle East.

He would send Soviet troops on their own.

The Americans will determine that no Soviet troops would enter the Middle East.

In the sudden escalation America put its nuclear forces at alert.

US nuclear missile were ready devour Sinai's.

And two aircraft carriers with nuclear strike forces.

Were ordered to the East of the Mediterranean.

The implied threat of nuclear war,

Forced Brezhnev to make a choice,

To escalate. or to climb down.

Brezhnev decided to climb down.

And no Soviet troops went to the Middle East.

But the flowery of international pressure had made its mark.

On October the 25th,

The Israelis finally headed the ceasefire.

And the October war was effectively over.

It's hard to say, who is the clear victor of this war.

The Israelis who saw both air Fronts shattered by surprise attacks.

Made an astonishing military campaign.

But the Arabs gave Israel a real shook.

For many Israelis, the nine and half thousand soldiers,

Killed or wound during the October war.

Wasn't unacceptably high price to pay.

They blame their government,

Of falling and hear their warnings that war was eminent.

Israeli confidence was shattered.

They will no longer the invincible military power,

They had thought they were.

Despite the fact it suffered up to 30 thousand casualties.

Perhaps in the end the side gained the most from this war was Egypt.

The Egyptian crossing of the Canal,

Was seen as a major military achievement.

That restored Arab pride and gave president Sadat

That confidence to make a spectacular bid for peace.

In November 1977,

The Egyptian's president Anwar Sadat arrived in Israel.

And in the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem itself,

He became the first Arab leader,

To recognize the stat of the Israel.

Israel and Egypt are now on the road to peace.

Which culminated in 1982,

With what Sadat had always wanted.

A complete Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai.

But Sadat never saw it happened.

On October the 6th 1981 the 8th anniversary of the war

Anwar Sadat was assassinated by gunmen.

Apposed to his peace treaty with Israel.

The October war had claimed its last victim.

The war didn't sort out

The fundamental disputes between the Israelis and Arabs.

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

All the treaties and all the talking,

Still haven't brought peace to this part of the Middle East.

And this barrier is a powerful reminder

Of the conflicts with the Palestinians,

Over who owns the land.

Remains unresolved to this day.

Next week 20th Century Battlefields brings you the Falklands war.

In April 1982 Argentina invaded these remote islands.

And shake it by one of the most ambitious military undertakings in British history

I look at how the British force 8 thousand miles from home.

And I will see how the troops tackle this hostile terrain.

It wasn't away one of the centuries must bizarre conflicts

Is the story of the battle for the Falklands.

Subtitled by EAM