Battle of Suez

Battle of Suez
	Part of the Yom Kippur War
	; Map of the Sinai campaign.
Date	October 24–25, 1973
Location	Suez, Egypt
Result	Egyptian victory
Belligerents
Egypt	Israel
Commanders and leaders
Youssef Afifi; Adel Islam (garrison commandant)	Avraham Adan; Yossi Yoffe; Nahum Zaken
Strength
Anti-tank teams; Numerous army units with light weapons; Local police forces and militia	1 armored brigade; 1 infantry battalion
Casualties and losses
Minimal	At least 80 killed; and 120 wounded; 40 tanks destroyed

The Battle of Suez was fought on October 24–25, 1973 between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army in the Egyptian town of Suez. It was the last major battle of the Yom Kippur War, before a ceasefire took effect.

On October 23, with the imminent arrival of UN observers to the front, Israel decided to capture Suez, assuming it would be poorly defended. An armored brigade and an infantry battalion from the Paratroopers Brigade were committed to the task, and entered the city without a battle plan.

The armored column was ambushed and severely hit, while the paratroopers came under heavy fire and many of them became trapped inside a local building. The armored column and part of the infantry force were evacuated during the day, while the main contingent of the paratrooper force eventually managed to dash out of the city and make their way back to Israeli lines.

^ [1] Archived 2020-01-26 at the Wayback Machine "The experience represents one of the most humiliating failures in israeli modern history .. Analysis reveals there were three main factors that led to this stunning defeat."
^ [2] Archived 2020-01-10 at the Wayback Machine "Israeli losses included from eighty to one hundred and twenty-five men and twenty-eight armored vehicles. Egyptian losses were minimal. The fight for Suez City finally terminated on 28 October with the town still firmly under Egyptian control. Israeli intelligence proved poor. The anticipated armored assault on weak forces became a hasty attack against alert defenders in well prepared defensive positions. Combined with the lack of accurate intelligence, the ineffective use of Israeli infantry caused the assault to fail."
^ [3] Archived 2020-02-07 at the Wayback Machine "Both countries generally perceive of the Suez City battle as having been an Egyptian victory and an Israeli defeat in spite of the IDF encirclement of the Egyptian Army, completed after the ceasefire was to have taken effect."
^ [4] Archived 2020-01-10 at the Wayback Machine"Israeli losses included from eighty to one hundred and twenty-five men and twenty-eight armored vehicles. Egyptian losses were minimal. The fight for Suez City finally terminated on 28 October with the town still firmly under Egyptian control."
^ Gawrych (2000), p.230

[1] [1] Archived 2020-01-26 at the Wayback Machine "The experience represents one of the most humiliating failures in israeli modern history .. Analysis reveals there were three main factors that led to this stunning defeat."

[2] [2] Archived 2020-01-10 at the Wayback Machine "Israeli losses included from eighty to one hundred and twenty-five men and twenty-eight armored vehicles. Egyptian losses were minimal. The fight for Suez City finally terminated on 28 October with the town still firmly under Egyptian control. Israeli intelligence proved poor. The anticipated armored assault on weak forces became a hasty attack against alert defenders in well prepared defensive positions. Combined with the lack of accurate intelligence, the ineffective use of Israeli infantry caused the assault to fail."

[3] [3] Archived 2020-02-07 at the Wayback Machine "Both countries generally perceive of the Suez City battle as having been an Egyptian victory and an Israeli defeat in spite of the IDF encirclement of the Egyptian Army, completed after the ceasefire was to have taken effect."

[4] [4] Archived 2020-01-10 at the Wayback Machine"Israeli losses included from eighty to one hundred and twenty-five men and twenty-eight armored vehicles. Egyptian losses were minimal. The fight for Suez City finally terminated on 28 October with the town still firmly under Egyptian control."

[5] Gawrych (2000), p.230

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