Time Astra

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

Hushniyah

All battlesValley of Tears: engagement 7 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 wingLeft wingRight wingReserveReserveGunsArmourGunsArmour05 km10 kmN

One of the 7 engagements of the Valley of Tears recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 7 in date order). Israel (Is 240th Armd Div(-)(+), 12,733 men under Mg Laner) attacked Syria (Syr 9th Inf Div(-)(+), 14,683 men under Col Tourkmani) in Syria. The CAA Database of Battles records 31 hours of fighting on a front of 12 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Israel won. Losses: Israel 450 (4%), Syria 1,125 (8%).

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 Laner

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry2,577
Israel centreInfantry3,436
Israel right wingInfantry2,577
Israel reserveInfantry2,148
Israel artillery (60 guns)Artillery900
Israel armour (219 tanks)Armour1,095
Mg LanerCommander—
In this plan12,733

Syria

Col Tourkmani

UnitArmMen
Syria left wingInfantry2,982
Syria centreInfantry3,975
Syria right wingInfantry2,982
Syria reserveInfantry2,485
Syria artillery (94 guns)Artillery1,410
Syria armour (170 tanks)Armour850
Col TourkmaniCommander—
In this plan14,684

What the sources report

IsraelSyria
Strength, this plan12,73314,683
Losses, this plan4501,125

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 591, “Hushniyah”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
31 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Bare
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
12 km (attacker), 20 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Israelattacker12,733450060Frontal attack; Penetration; Pursued
Syriadefender14,6831,125094Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Withdrew with heavy losses

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.