Time Astra

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

Battle of Arab Counteroffensive

All battles
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 wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingGunsArmourReserveArmourGuns05 km10 kmN

Syria (Syr 9th Inf Div(-)(+), 35,750 men under Col Tourkmani) attacked Israel (Is 146th Armd Div, 16,100 men under Mg Peled) in Syria. The CAA Database of Battles records 11 hours of fighting on a front of 25 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that Israel held. Losses: Syria 550 (2%), Israel 160 (1%).

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

Col Tourkmani

UnitArmMen
Syria left wingInfantry7,188
Syria centreInfantry9,584
Syria right wingInfantry7,188
Syria reserveInfantry5,990
Syria artillery (198 guns)Artillery2,970
Syria armour (566 tanks)Armour2,830
Col TourkmaniCommander—
In this plan35,750

Israel

Mg Peled

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry3,324
Israel centreInfantry4,432
Israel right wingInfantry3,324
Israel reserveInfantry2,770
Israel artillery (60 guns)Artillery900
Israel armour (270 tanks)Armour1,350
Mg PeledCommander—
In this plan16,100

What the sources report

SyriaIsrael
Strength, this plan35,75016,100
Losses, this plan550160

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 599, “Arab Counteroffensive”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
11 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rugged, Bare
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
25 km (attacker), 25 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Syriaattacker35,7505500198Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Israeldefender16,100160060Defensive plan; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages none recorded

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.