6th of October

My son had a very interesting history lesson at a local HE meeting today. The 6th of October is a very special day in Egypt.

In 1973 The Crossing took place which signaled the start of the Yom Kippur War. At the end of the Six-Day War of 1967 the Sinai peninsula across the Suez Canal had been taken by Israel. The Egyptian military was preparing for a battle against the Israeli occupiers that was supposed to start in 1972 but President Sadat had delayed the zero hour several times until the 6th of October 1973. The attack was a spectacular success and within a few hours over 80,000 Egyptian soldiers crossed the canal. The Israelis had constructed a massive line of fortifications along the canal called the Bar Lev Line, which they considered impregnable. The heart of these defences were massive sand banks with a series of 43 manned installations. The Israelis had calculated that blasting through the sand barriers would take several hours, however the Egyptians solved this problem by using pressurized water to quickly erode the hills. In the initial attack only 208 Egyptians lost their lives, while all 600 Israelis were killed or captured.

In 1981 President Sadat was assassinated whilst observing the annual victory parade in Cairo. He was protected by four layers of security and the army parade should have been disarmed due to ammunition-seizure rules. However, the officers in charge of that procedure were on hajj to Mecca on the day! At a crucial moment when aircraft were flying overhead to distract the audience, a troop truck halted before the presidential reviewing stand. A lieutenant strode forward and Sadat stood to receive his salute. Next, the assassins on the truck stood up throwing grenades and firing assault rifle rounds. The attack lasted about two minutes before the lead assassin Khalid Islambouli shouted "Death to Pharaoh!" as he ran towards the stand and shot Sadat. Sadat was then rushed to hospital, but was declared dead within hours.

This isn't something most kids will learn at secondary school.

Have you ever visited Egypt? I have along with my son and I can tell you it is absolutely amazing. I noticed signs in Cairo for the 6th of October City and wondered what the significance was of that date. It must have been very important because you don't normally name a city after a date. I suspected it was either the assassination of President Sadat or something to do with a war, and I was right on both counts.

My son hated history at secondary school to the point where he wanted to kill the teacher. Now he is really into Ancient Egypt. Standing amongst the ruins of centuries gone by beats learning history in a stuffy classroom any day.

A few videos of today's events

6th October War 1973 | Battlefields (1/6)

Yom kippur war 6th of October 1973 Egypt vs Israel

Assassination of Anwar El Sadat

It is debatable who actually won the Yom Kippur war or whether it ended in stalemate. The Arabs initially had the upper hand after launching a two pronged surprise attack on Israel from both Egypt and Syria. Eventually the tables turned and the Israelis managed to cross the Suez canal and penetrate into Egypt, encircling the bulk of the Egyptian Third Army in Sinai before a ceasefire was held.

In terms of material destroyed, Israel won as their casualty and destroyed machinery count was much lower than that of the Arabs. If the success of a war is measured in achieving political objectives, then the Arabs won.