Time Astra

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

Suez Canal Assault, South

All battlesOperation Badr (1973): engagement 2 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 2 in date order). Egypt (Eg 3rd Army, 22,850 men under Mg Wassel) attacked Israel (Is Sinai Def Force, 3,020 men under Mg Mendler) in Egypt. The CAA Database of Battles records 10.2 hours of fighting on a front of 38 km, a river crossing, frontal attack against prepared defense and fortified defense, and that Egypt won. Losses: Egypt 350 (2%), Israel 225 (7%).

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 Wassel

UnitArmMen
Egypt left wingInfantry4,576
Egypt centreInfantry6,102
Egypt right wingInfantry4,576
Egypt reserveInfantry3,814
Egypt artillery (971 guns)Artillery3,428
Egypt armour (71 tanks)Armour355
Mg WasselCommander—
In this plan22,851

Israel

Mg Mendler

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry562
Israel centreInfantry749
Israel right wingInfantry562
Israel reserveInfantry468
Israel artillery (28 guns)Artillery420
Israel armour (52 tanks)Armour260
Mg MendlerCommander—
In this plan3,021

What the sources report

EgyptIsrael
Strength, this plan22,8503,020
Losses, this plan350225

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 570, “Suez Canal Assault, South”, 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
38 km (attacker), 38 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Egyptattacker22,8503500971River crossing; Frontal attack; Penetration
Israeldefender3,020225028Defensive/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.