Time Astra

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

Mount Hermon III

All battlesThird Battle of Mount Hermon: engagement 2 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 groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns0500 m1 kmN

One of the 2 engagements of the Third Battle of Mount Hermon recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 2 in date order). Israel (Is Golani Bde(+), 11,400 men under Col Drori) attacked Syria (Syr Para Bde, 4,750 men under unrecorded commanders) in Syria. The CAA Database of Battles records 12 hours of fighting on a front of 2 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, right rear against fortified defense, and that Israel won. Losses: Israel 100 (1%), Syria 250 (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

Col Drori

UnitArmMen
Israel left wingInfantry2,650
Israel centreInfantry3,533
Israel right wingInfantry2,650
Israel reserveInfantry2,208
Israel artillery (24 guns)Artillery360
Col DroriCommander—
In this plan11,401

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 plan11,4004,750
Losses, this plan100250

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 601, “Mount Hermon Iii”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
12 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
2 km (attacker), 2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Israelattacker11,400100024Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Right rear; Breakthrough
Syriadefender4,750250027Defensive plan; Withdrew

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.