Time Astra

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

Deversoir West

All battlesBattle of the Chinese Farm: engagement 3 of 3The 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 groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingLeft wingRight wingReserveReserveGunsArmourArmourGuns02 km4 kmN

One of the 3 engagements of the Battle of the Chinese Farm recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 3 in date order). Israel (Is Adan Div(+), 19,600 men under Mg Adan) attacked Egypt (Eg 2nd Army(-), 18,180 men under Mg Kalil) in Egypt. The CAA Database of Battles records 13.3 hours of fighting on a front of 11 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that Israel won. Losses: Israel 300 (2%), Egypt 800 (4%).

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

Israel

Mg Adan

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry4,166
Israel centreInfantry5,555
Israel right wingInfantry4,166
Israel reserveInfantry3,472
Israel artillery (72 guns)Artillery1,080
Israel armour (232 tanks)Armour1,160
Mg AdanCommander—
In this plan19,599

Egypt

Mg Kalil

UnitArmMen
Egypt left wingInfantry3,583
Egypt centreInfantry4,778
Egypt right wingInfantry3,583
Egypt reserveInfantry2,986
Egypt artillery (119 guns)Artillery1,785
Egypt armour (293 tanks)Armour1,465
Mg KalilCommander—
In this plan18,180

What the sources report

IsraelEgypt
Strength, this plan19,60018,180
Losses, this plan300800

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 578, “Deversoir West”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
13.3 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Desert
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width
11 km (attacker), 11 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Israelattacker19,600300072Frontal attack; Penetration
Egyptdefender18,1808000119Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +1 · momentum +1 · initiative +1 · air superiority +1 · combat effectiveness +1

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.