Customer Reviews

The Yom Kippur War

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Peter Allen is a British writer and has told his version of the events of the 1973 Yom Kippur War (also called the Ramadan War by the Egyptians, the Tishreen War by the Syrians, and sometimes the October War elsewhere) using a point of view very similar to the UK's stance in 1973. What I mean by this is that the UK had made many investments politically, miltarily, and economically in many of the Arab states and so often took a pro-Arab stance during the Yom Kippur War while at the same time being a strong ally of the USA and a member of NATO, which led to occasional support for Israel. Allen mirrors this British government stance in that some parts of his book advocate Arab forces and others seem to support the Israelis at the expense of the Soviets. Although Allen is partisan (he relates his opinions with no concern about being impartial to either side), this book, nevertheless, is a great and entertaining read.

What Peter Allen did do was interview hundreds of the fighters (both Arab and Israeli) of the Yom Kippur War which culminated in this entertaining 1982 book. If you are looking for a book to support academic arguments then this isn't the book for you, Allen didn't use footnotes although he did list a bibliography of selected materials. His interviews also weren't documented as Israeli security doesn't often allow interviewee's give their names and most Arab interviewee's (primarily Egyptians) were also not allowed to give out their names except in a few cases where approved by the Egyptian government. While Syria won't help most researchers of this war (in which Syria was militarily defeated), at the time of publishing, the author initimated he was able to interview some Syrians incognito abroad.

Why buy the book?

The story is told very well and having been a WWII historian before this book, Allen makes a number of interesting comparisons between WWII generals such as Patton and Montgomery and Arab and Israeli generals. He also did some very good research and his telling of the conflict includes the political aspects of the war (What vexed Golda Meir, how Sadat was dealing with the Soviets, etc.), the tactical miltary aspects of the war (how the Israelis continued to practice tactics developed in the 1967 War, how the Egyptians failed to venture out from under their missile shield, etc.), strategic elements (the Israelis always plan to carry war to the enemy's soil, the Arabs plannned very limited victory conditions, etc.), as well as some great individual stories gained from his research and interviews.

The maps included with the book are excellent and much easier to read than those of many other books chronicling the Yom Kippur War. The maps include important ridges and hills that are often left out. The two photographic inserts have some rare photographs such as those of the Israeli Gilowa bridging craft, the Israeli home-made steel roller bridge, and some great pictures of the Arab Egyptian forces. Some of the Egyptian army photos are exclusives that I haven't seen in any other books chronicling the period and I have most books about the Yom Kippur War published between 1973 and 2002. Allen's exclusive Egyptian photos are a result of his friendship with H. el Komayessi, an Egyptian photographer during the war. I will however point out that at least two of the photographs are incorrectly labelled:

1. One photograph is labeled "Egyptain crossing equipment," but actually has a photo of cheering Egyptian soldiers around a Sherman tank with observation equipment and Israeli ID markings.

2. Another photograph is labelled "Wreckage of Israeli Phantom, downed by a missile" but actually is the wreckage of a liason plane.

I'm not sure if the incorrectly-labelled photographs are a result of Peter Allen's or el Komayessi's error.

My favorite part of the book, however, were the many individual vignettes that the author included interspersed throughout the book. The many stories of individual soldiers, journalists, civilians, and observers make the story come alive with a nice human touch. Some of the things that Allan wrote that Sadat said to Kosygin were full of humor (mostly taken from Sadat's memoirs).

This book makes a nice addition to any of Chaim Herzog's or Egyptian general Shazli's accounts of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. However, it is a much more general accounting of the war and is, as previously mentioned, not vigorously documented.

On October,6 1973, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Syrian and Egyptian forces, supplied by Soviet arms, and encouraged by the USSR, launched a cowardly surprise attack on Israel from the north and south.

The massive attack found Israel vastly outnumbered and unprepared and the use of "smart" weapons rendered Israel's air force ineffective giving the attacking Arab forces an unprecedented advantage on the battlefield.

Israel's existence was under mortal threat but with a courageous by the Israeli tank battalions and the daring counter attacks ordered by Israel's generals turned the imminent destruction of Israel into a route of the invading Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi armies.
Peter Allen relies on hundreds of interviews and eyewitness account, relaying both the desperate fighting and the diplomatic shenanigans, when the Soviet Union that had egged the Arabs into the war, threatened to join in the attack on Israel, once there Arab clients started losing.

The author illustatrates how Israel forewent a response of pre-emptive action, in a false and tragic belief that world opinion would swing to her support.
As the author explains she was wrong and "the novel and brave political move did nothing to prevent her condemnation by the swaggering Third World hanger-on to Soviet policy...As her losses mounted and the Arabs were seen to be winning, other states began to pour in aid to deliver the coup de grace."
And so it has always been since, particularly in the last two decades.
no matter how the Arabs have clearly been the aggressors to any unbiased and honest observer, every outbreak of conflict leads to hysterical and emotionally charged condemnation of Israel from around the world.
On October,6 1973, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Syrian and Egyptian forces, supplied by Soviet arms, and encouraged by the USSR, launched a cowardly surprise attack on Israel from the north and south.

The massive attack found Israel vastly outnumbered and unprepared and the use of "smart" weapons rendered Israel's air force ineffective giving the attacking Arab forces an unprecedented advantage on the battlefield.

Israel's existence was under mortal threat but with a courageous by the Israeli tank battalions and the daring counter attacks ordered by Israel's generals turned the imminent destruction of Israel into a route of the invading Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi armies.
Peter Allen relies on hundreds of interviews and eyewitness account, relaying both the desperate fighting and the diplomatic shenanigans, when the Soviet Union that had egged the Arabs into the war, threatened to join in the attack on Israel, once there Arab clients started losing.

The author illustratrated how Israel forewent a response of pre-emptive action, in a false and tragic belief that world opinion would swing to her support.
As the author explains she was wrong and "the novel and brave political move did nothing to prevent her condemnation by the swaggering Third World hanger-on to Soviet policy...As her losses mounted and the Arabs were seen to be winning, other states began to pour in aid to deliver the coup de grace."
The Israeli government would not strike first even after they knew a massive Arab attack was imminent so as not to upset world opinion. Thousands of Israelis died to placate world opinion, and Israel received only world persecution.
And so it has always been since, particularly in the last two decades.
no matter how the Arabs have clearly been the aggressors to any unbiased and honest observer, every outbreak of conflict leads to hysterical and emotionally charged condemnation of Israel from around the world.

Nevertheless Islamic and Leftist historical revisionists continue to distort facts and events to paint Israel as the aggressor, never hesitating at brazen lies and distortions.

The author covers well the open invitation by the Soviets to attack Israel, the training and massive arming of Egypt and Syria by the USSR and other Communist States.
The massive Soviet replenishment of arms to the Arab belligerents, while US arms were blocked from reaching Israel by most states in Europe, wild and vicious Soviet accusation at the UN, when Israel defended herself (echoed almost word for word by polemicists of the international left today), and end eventually when the Syrians and Egyptian were being routed, Soviet threats to attack Israel directly.

The last word go's to the author when he exclaims how the answer to all the questions and dilemmas surrounding the Middle East conflict boil down to what is "so deeply embedded into the Jewish nature that is life ands death itself. Ten million Jews walked unresisting into the gas chambers, believing that some great force would surely save them at the last moment. now they have that great force, and it beyond belief that they will ever again go pacifically to their doom, now they fight".
Which is precisely what fuels the rage of the Islamic world and international left.
"But who is take the chances for Israel if not Israel herself? Who will stop the next holocaust except the victims of the last."

Allen does a solid if unimpressive job documenting the Yom Kippur War. The book has both an Arab, Israeli, and American perspective, but it leans to the Israeli side. All the battles are detailed, as well as some of the politics from 1967-73.
Allen is much more generous towards the Israelis than other books.
The perspectives in this book are pretty stark. The Soviets were trying to stir up trouble in the Middle East to enhance their position. The Egyptians, Syrians are both portrayed as the aggressors in this and past conflicts. Other Arab governments are portrayed as opportunists, reacting to the conflict by piling on. The rest of the Third World are portrayed as gullible to the propaganda of the Arab and Soviet sides. Not a pretty picture, but perhaps true.
I enjoyed the portrayal of some of characters in this story, especially Ariel Sharon. Sharon seems to have caused as much problems with other Israelis as he now does with the Palestinians. The Yom Kippur War may have settled things with Israel and Egypt, but the conflict in the Middle East still simmers. This is an interesting read on this conflict.