Time Astra

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

Rafid

All battlesValley of Tears: engagement 3 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 wingReserveArmourArmourGuns02.5 km5 kmN

One of the 7 engagements of the Valley of Tears recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 3 in date order). Syria (Syr 5th Inf Div(+), 19,525 men under Bg Aslan) attacked Israel (Is 188th Armd Bde(-)(+), 4,958 men under Col Ben Shoham) in Syria. The CAA Database of Battles records 23.9 hours of fighting on a front of 14 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, right flank against fortified defense and prepared defense, and that Syria won. Losses: Syria 350 (2%), Israel 250 (5%).

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 Aslan

UnitArmMen
Syria left wingInfantry4,045
Syria centreInfantry5,394
Syria right wingInfantry4,045
Syria reserveInfantry3,371
Syria artillery (129 guns)Artillery1,935
Syria armour (147 tanks)Armour735
Bg AslanCommander—
In this plan19,525

Israel

Col Ben Shoham

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry1,014
Israel centreInfantry1,351
Israel right wingInfantry1,014
Israel reserveInfantry845
Israel artillery (24 guns)Artillery360
Israel armour (75 tanks)Armour375
Col Ben ShohamCommander—
In this plan4,959

What the sources report

SyriaIsrael
Strength, this plan19,5254,958
Losses, this plan350250

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 587, “Rafid”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
23.9 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Bare
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense, Prepared defense
Front width
14 km (attacker), 14 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Syriaattacker19,5253500129Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Right flank; Breakthrough
Israeldefender4,958250024Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew

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.