Time Astra

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

Mount Hermon II

All battlesThird Battle of Mount Hermon: engagement 1 of 2The 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, Mixed groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns0250 m500 mN

One of the 2 engagements of the Third Battle of Mount Hermon recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 1 in date order). Israel (Is Golani Bde, 5,700 men under Col Drori) attacked Syria (Syr Para Bde, 4,750 men under unrecorded commanders) in Syria. The CAA Database of Battles records 2 hours of fighting on a front of 1 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that Syria held. Losses: Israel 150 (3%), Syria 200 (4%).

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

Col Drori

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry1,325
Israel centreInfantry1,766
Israel right wingInfantry1,325
Israel reserveInfantry1,104
Israel artillery (12 guns)Artillery180
Col DroriCommander—
In this plan5,700

Syria

UnitArmMen
Syria left wingInfantry1,043
Syria centreInfantry1,390
Syria right wingInfantry1,043
Syria reserveInfantry869
Syria artillery (27 guns)Artillery405
Syria commandCommander—
In this plan4,750

What the sources report

IsraelSyria
Strength, this plan5,7004,750
Losses, this plan150200

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 600, “Mount Hermon Ii”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
2 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
1 km (attacker), 1 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Israelattacker5,700150012Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Syriadefender4,750200027Defensive plan

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +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.