Time Astra

Schematic plan · Arab-Israeli War, 1973 (October War)

Suez Canal Assault, North

All battlesOperation Badr (1973): engagement 1 of 5The event in the chronicleWikipedia
A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Desert groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsArmourArmour010 km20 kmN

One of the 5 engagements of the Operation Badr (1973) recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 1 in date order). Egypt (Eg 2nd Army, 29,490 men under Mg Mamoun) attacked Israel (Is Sinai Def Force, 4,455 men under Mg Mendler) in Egypt. The CAA Database of Battles records 10.2 hours of fighting on a front of 110 km, a river crossing, frontal attack against prepared defense and fortified defense, and that Egypt won. Losses: Egypt 400 (1%), Israel 275 (6%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Egypt

Mg Mamoun

UnitArmMen
Egypt left wingInfantry5,936
Egypt centreInfantry7,914
Egypt right wingInfantry5,936
Egypt reserveInfantry4,946
Egypt artillery (1,223 guns)Artillery4,424
Egypt armour (67 tanks)Armour335
Mg MamounCommander—
In this plan29,491

Israel

Mg Mendler

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry845
Israel centreInfantry1,126
Israel right wingInfantry845
Israel reserveInfantry704
Israel artillery (40 guns)Artillery600
Israel armour (67 tanks)Armour335
Mg MendlerCommander—
In this plan4,455

What the sources report

EgyptIsrael
Strength, this plan29,4904,455
Losses, this plan400275

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 569, “Suez Canal Assault, North”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
10.2 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Desert
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense, Fortified defense
Front width
110 km (attacker), 110 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Egyptattacker29,49040001,223River crossing; Frontal attack; Penetration
Israeldefender4,455275040Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages intelligence +1 · surprise +3

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.