This is the order of battle for Operation Badr, an Egyptian military operation that initiated the Yom Kippur War against Israel along the Suez Canal in the Sinai on October 6, 1973. As neither belligerent has released an official order of battle, this list remains incomplete (for example, concerning brigades within divisions of the Third Army) and largely conjectural. An asterisk indicates Egyptian units that participated in the operation.
The Sa'iqa (lit. "lightning") were Egyptian commando forces.
General Headquarters (Center Ten):
Commander in Chief - Colonel General Ahmad Ismail Ali
Chief of Staff - Lieutenant General Saad El Shazly
Chief of Operations - Lieutenant General Abdel Ghani el-Gamasy
Engineer-in-Chief - Major General Gamal Mohamed Aly
Chief of Military Intelligence - Major General Ibrahim Fouad Nassar
Most sources use Dupuy's commando brigade designations: 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, and 134. But Dani Asher clearly defines six commando groups (group = brigade size). Each group contained 3 to 5 commando battalions totalling 24 battalions. He doesn't identify the groups, but from Arab sources, the following designations are available: 39, 127, 129, 136, 139, and 145. [7]
Minister of Defense - Lt Gen (ret.) Moshe Dayan
Chief of Staff - Lt Gen David Elazar
Deputy Chief of Staff - Maj Gen Israel Tal
Head of Operations - Maj Gen Abraham Tamir
Head of Intelligence - Maj Gen Eli Zeira
Southern Command: Maj. Gen. Shmuel Gonen
+Mechanised Infantry and Paratroop support
+Mechanised Infantry and Paratroop support including: 35th Paratroop Brigade - Col Uzi Yairi
+Mechanized Infantry units
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. Most of the fighting occurred in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights, territories occupied by Israel in 1967. Some combat also took place in Egypt and northern Israel. Egypt aimed to secure a foothold on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal and use it to negotiate the return of the Sinai Peninsula.
Operation Badr, also known as Plan Badr, was an Egyptian military offensive and operation across the Suez Canal that destroyed the Bar-Lev Line, a chain of Israeli fortifications along the frontline of the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula, on 6 October 1973. It was launched in conjunction with a Syrian military offensive against the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, triggering the Yom Kippur War. During the War of Attrition, which preceded Operation Badr, both Egypt and Syria had been seeking to recover the territories that Israel had captured from them during the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.
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