Time Astra

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

Tel Farris

All battlesValley of Tears: engagement 5 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 groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsArmourArmourGuns02.5 km5 kmN

One of the 7 engagements of the Valley of Tears recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 5 in date order). Israel (Is 146th Armd Div(+), 17,833 men under Mg Peled) attacked Syria (Syr 5th Inf Div(+), 23,750 men under Bg Aslan) in Syria. The CAA Database of Battles records 48 hours of fighting on a front of 14 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, left flank against hasty defense, and that Israel won. Losses: Israel 450 (3%), Syria 1,125 (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

Israel

Mg Peled

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry3,765
Israel centreInfantry5,020
Israel right wingInfantry3,765
Israel reserveInfantry3,138
Israel artillery (60 guns)Artillery900
Israel armour (249 tanks)Armour1,245
Mg PeledCommander—
In this plan17,833

Syria

Bg Aslan

UnitArmMen
Syria left wingInfantry4,853
Syria centreInfantry6,470
Syria right wingInfantry4,853
Syria reserveInfantry4,044
Syria artillery (151 guns)Artillery2,265
Syria armour (253 tanks)Armour1,265
Bg AslanCommander—
In this plan23,750

What the sources report

IsraelSyria
Strength, this plan17,83323,750
Losses, this plan4501,125

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 590, “Tel Farris”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
48 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Bare
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
14 km (attacker), 14 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Israelattacker17,833450060Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Left flank; Penetration; Pursued
Syriadefender23,7501,1250151Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +1 · momentum +1 · initiative +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.