Time Astra

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

Ahmadiyeh

All battlesValley of Tears: engagement 2 of 7The 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.
Rugged, Bare groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveArmourArmourGuns02 km4 kmN

One of the 7 engagements of the Valley of Tears recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 2 in date order). Syria (Syr 7th Inf Div(+), 22,750 men under Bg Abrash) attacked Israel (Is 7th Armd Bde(-)(+), 5,745 men under Col Ben Gal) in Syria. The CAA Database of Battles records 22.9 hours of fighting on a front of 7.5 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense and prepared defense, and that Israel held. Losses: Syria 700 (3%), Israel 250 (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

Syria

Bg Abrash

UnitArmMen
Syria left wingInfantry4,812
Syria centreInfantry6,416
Syria right wingInfantry4,812
Syria reserveInfantry4,010
Syria artillery (131 guns)Artillery1,965
Syria armour (147 tanks)Armour735
Bg AbrashCommander—
In this plan22,750

Israel

Col Ben Gal

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry1,228
Israel centreInfantry1,637
Israel right wingInfantry1,228
Israel reserveInfantry1,023
Israel artillery (16 guns)Artillery240
Israel armour (78 tanks)Armour390
Col Ben GalCommander—
In this plan5,746

What the sources report

SyriaIsrael
Strength, this plan22,7505,745
Losses, this plan700250

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 586, “Ahmadiyeh”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
22.9 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rugged, Bare
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense, Prepared defense
Front width
7.5 km (attacker), 7.5 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Syriaattacker22,7507000131Frontal attack; Repulse; Stalemate
Israeldefender5,745250016Defensive plan; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages surprise +2

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.