Yom Kippur War

Zusatztext "Never before has the Israeli experience in the Yom Kippur War been so sensitively and intricately documented . . . A seamless! riveting narrative [that is] both compelling and intelligent." The Washington Post Book World "The best general history of the Yom Kippur War. The writing is clear! compelling! and precise and offers a good understanding of both the military operations and the political developments. At both levels it was a fascinating war. . . .Outstanding." Ha'aretz "Rabinovich's extra efforts to get inside the minds of Arab generals are especially welcome. . . . sheds light on a conflict that altered the psychology and diplomacy of the Middle East down to the present day." The New York Times Book Review "Superbly written. . . . The Yom Kippur War is easily the best and most complete general history of the conflict." Parameters "Truly striking. Rabinovich's book is brilliant! sweeping and insightful." Naval History "As no one before! Abraham Rabinovich recounts the whole story of the 1973 Yom Kippur War! that most elusive round of the Arab-Israeli conflict." Middle East Quarterly "Superb. I have found few works of military history so difficult to put down." Jerusalem Report "Rabinovich displays his keen comprehension of military tactics and strategies with detailed! fast-paced accounts. His eye for political and diplomatic maneuverings is equally sharp." History Book Club "Impossible to put down." Gershom Gorenberg! author of Days of Awe "Its revelations are astonishing. Its prose is gripping. Its conclusions! richly documented and austerely objective! are intensely relevant to the Middle Eastern crisis of our own day." Professor Howard M. Sachar! author of A History of Israel "Abraham Rabinovich has written an exceptionally exciting book." Professor Edward N. Luttwak Informationen zum Autor ABRAHAM RABINOVITCH, a United States Army veteran, worked as a reporter for Newsday before joining The Jerusalem Post . His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, the International Herald Tribune, and The New Republic , among other periodicals . He is the author of five previous books, including The Battle for Jerusalem and The Boats of Cherbourg. Born in New York City, he lives in Jerusalem. Klappentext An updated edition that sheds new light on one of the most dramatic reversals of military fortune in modern history. The easing of Israeli military censorship after four decades has enabled Abraham Rabinovich to offer fresh insights into this fiercest of Israel-Arab conflicts. A surprise Arab attack on two fronts on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, with Israel's reserves un-mobilized, triggered apocalyptic visions in Israel, euphoria in the Arab world, and fraught debates on both sides. Rabinovich, who covered the war for The Jerusalem Post, draws on extensive interviews and primary source material to shape his enthralling narrative. We learn of two Egyptian nationals, working separately for the Mossad, who supplied Israel with key information that helped change the course of the war; of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan's proposal for a nuclear "demonstration" to warn off the Arabs; and of Chief of Staff David Elazar's conclusion on the fifth day of battle that Israel could not win. Newly available transcripts enable us to follow the decision-making process in real time from the prime minister's office to commanders studying maps in the field. After almost overrunning the Golan Heights, the Syrian attack is broken in desperate battle...

Autorentext

ABRAHAM RABINOVITCH, a United States Army veteran, worked as a reporter for Newsday before joining The Jerusalem Post. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, the International Herald Tribune, and The New Republic, among other periodicals*.* He is the author of five previous books, including The Battle for Jerusalem and The Boats of Cherbourg. Born in New York City, he lives in Jerusalem.

Klappentext

An updated edition that sheds new light on one of the most dramatic reversals of military fortune in modern history.

The easing of Israeli military censorship after four decades has enabled Abraham Rabinovich to offer fresh insights into this fiercest of Israel-Arab conflicts. A surprise Arab attack on two fronts on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, with Israel's reserves un-mobilized, triggered apocalyptic visions in Israel, euphoria in the Arab world, and fraught debates on both sides. Rabinovich, who covered the war for The Jerusalem Post, draws on extensive interviews and primary source material to shape his enthralling narrative. We learn of two Egyptian nationals, working separately for the Mossad, who supplied Israel with key information that helped change the course of the war; of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan's proposal for a nuclear "demonstration" to warn off the Arabs; and of Chief of Staff David Elazar's conclusion on the fifth day of battle that Israel could not win. Newly available transcripts enable us to follow the decision-making process in real time from the prime minister's office to commanders studying maps in the field. After almost overrunning the Golan Heights, the Syrian attack is broken in desperate battles. And as Israel regains its psychological balance, General Ariel Sharon leads a nighttime counterattack across the Suez Canal through a narrow hole in the Egyptian line -- the turning point of the war.

Leseprobe
**1

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND**
 
Capt. Motti Ashkenazi was not a man to accept a per­ceived wrong without protest. The outpost in Sinai that his unit of reservists was taking over two weeks before Yom Kippur 1973 was in an advanced state of neglect. Barbed wire fencing had sunk almost entirely into the sand, trenches were collapsing, gun positions lacked sandbags, and the ammunition supply was short. When the com­mander of the unit he was relieving asked him to sign the standard form acknowledging receipt of the outpost in good condition, Ashke­nazi balked. Without this formality, the unit being relieved could not depart. When Ashkenazi refused an order from his own battalion com­mander to sign, the exasperated commander signed the form himself.
 
The battalion was part of the Jerusalem Brigade, which had never before been assigned to a tour of duty on the Suez Canal. Unlike the combat units that were normally assigned to the forts of the so-called Bar-Lev Line, the Jerusalem Brigade was a second-line unit which included men well into their thirties. Some were immigrants who had received only a truncated form of basic training. A sprinkling of younger reservists with combat experience stiffened the ranks and officers too were generally veterans of combat units.
 
The assignment of such a unit to the Bar-Lev Line, once considered hazardous duty, reflected the relaxed situation on the Egyptian front. It was six years since Israel had reached the canal in the Six Day War and three years since the intense skirmishing across the waterway—the so-called War of Attrition—had ended.
 
The reservists grumbled as usual upon receiving their annual call-up notices for a month’s duty, particularly since their tour was beginning on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and would last through Yom Kippur and the subsequent Sukkot holiday. However, by the time they boarded the buses that would take them to Sinai, many had reconciled themselves to a month of camaraderie, far from the routine of work and home. The men brought books and board games, finjans for brewing coffee, even fishing rods. Ashkenazi, a thirty-two-year-old doctoral student in philosophy at Hebrew Uni­versity in Jerusalem, took along his four-month-old German shepherd, Peng, because he had nowhere to leave him.
 
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