Time Astra

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

Mount Hermonit

All battlesValley of Tears: engagement 6 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 wingReserveArmourGunsArmour02 km4 kmN

One of the 7 engagements of the Valley of Tears recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 6 in date order). Syria (Syr 7th Inf Div(+), 31,650 men under Bg Abrash) attacked Israel (Is 7th Armd Bde(+), 5,395 men under Col Ben Gal) in Syria. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 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 1,200 (4%), Israel 400 (7%).

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 wingInfantry6,820
Syria centreInfantry9,093
Syria right wingInfantry6,820
Syria reserveInfantry5,683
Syria artillery (155 guns)Artillery2,325
Syria armour (182 tanks)Armour910
Bg AbrashCommander—
In this plan31,651

Israel

Col Ben Gal

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry1,163
Israel centreInfantry1,550
Israel right wingInfantry1,163
Israel reserveInfantry969
Israel artillery (24 guns)Artillery360
Israel armour (38 tanks)Armour190
Col Ben GalCommander—
In this plan5,395

What the sources report

SyriaIsrael
Strength, this plan31,6505,395
Losses, this plan1,200400

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 592, “Mount Hermonit”, 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
Fortified defense, Prepared defense
Front width
7.5 km (attacker), 7.5 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Syriaattacker31,6501,2000155Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses
Israeldefender5,395400024Defensive plan

Attacker’s advantages initiative +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.