Time Astra

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

Yehuda-El Al

All battlesValley of Tears: engagement 4 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 wingReserveArmourGunsArmour05 km10 kmN

One of the 7 engagements of the Valley of Tears recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 4 in date order). Syria (Syr 5th Inf Div(+), 21,984 men under Bg Aslan) attacked Israel (Is 240th Armd Div, 6,300 men under Mg Laner) in Syria. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 hours of fighting on a front of 12.5 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Israel held. Losses: Syria 500 (2%), Israel 150 (2%).

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 wingInfantry4,585
Syria centreInfantry6,113
Syria right wingInfantry4,585
Syria reserveInfantry3,821
Syria artillery (129 guns)Artillery1,935
Syria armour (189 tanks)Armour945
Bg AslanCommander—
In this plan21,984

Israel

Mg Laner

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry1,255
Israel centreInfantry1,674
Israel right wingInfantry1,255
Israel reserveInfantry1,046
Israel artillery (36 guns)Artillery540
Israel armour (106 tanks)Armour530
Mg LanerCommander—
In this plan6,300

What the sources report

SyriaIsrael
Strength, this plan21,9846,300
Losses, this plan500150

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 588, “Yehuda-El Al”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
24 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rugged, Bare
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
12.5 km (attacker), 20 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Syriaattacker21,9845000129Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Israeldefender6,300150036Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Penetration; Pursued

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.