Unprecedented Success of the Six Day War
April 23, 2009 | Written by Daniel Lagan | 3 Comments
Israel has been in an almost constant state of war since the day the last British troops left Palestine, May 14th 1948. The decision to create the Jewish state of Israel has led to five major wars and the virtually incessant intifada (“uprising”) by Palestinians fighting for their own homeland. Considering the current state of affairs between Palestine and Israel, it also seems unlikely to abate any time in the near future. This destabilization has resulted in one of history’s most successfully fought wars however, the Six Day War.
The Six Day War was fought from June 5 through the 10th of 1967 and included the forces of Israel on one side, facing a conglomeration of mainly Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian troops, with assistance from other nations including Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The Six Day War is a classic example of how an inferior force with tactical superiority can defeat an even larger enemy. The backdrop of the war includes the Egyptians in May of 1967 using a false Soviet claim of Israeli forces on Egypt’s border as a pretext to amass hundreds of tanks and almost 100,000 soldiers on the Israeli border, as well as closing the all important Straits of Tiran to all Israeli ships. Jordan, Syria, and Iraq all massed troops along the other Israeli borders, leaving the entire nation of Israel virtually surrounded by a vastly numerically superior enemy. In Israeli fashion, the IDF responded on June 5th with a lightning air attack against the Egyptian air force, destroying an entire four fifths of it while it was still parked on the ground. This enabled the Israeli’s to maintain aerial superiority throughout the battle, a massive advantage.
Following the elimination of the Egyptian air force, the more Israeli army invaded the Sinai, reaching the Suez Canal on June 8th, only three days after the opening of formal hostilities. Simultaneously, Israeli troops entered and occupied the whole West Bank. Israel also captured the Golan Heights and moved deep into Syrian territory. By June 10th, Israel had more than doubled its territory and removed its cities from the range of enemy guns. At the war’s end, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights.
The entire campaign is a sterling example of how a more highly trained force, operating with an effective command structure, can succeed even against a more numerous, but poorly trained and operationally fractured enemy. The Israeli command realized that they would need to split their enemies, thus enabling them to use their strategic advantages to the greatest effect. The Israeli air force led the way with its preemptive strike, giving the Israeli’s the phenomenal advantage of air superiority, which was followed up with such speed and force that the Arab nations were unable to recover despite their significant numbers. After just six days of fighting, Israeli forces were in a position to attack even the capital cities of Cairo, Damascus, and Amman. Altogether, Israel lost around 800 dead, while its Arab neighbors suffered almost 20,000 deaths.
Speaking shortly after the war ended, Yitzhak Rabin so accurately summarized the unique mentality which enabled the Israeli forces to achieve such unparallel success against such overwhelming odds:
“Our airmen, who struck the enemies’ planes so accurately that no one in the world understands how it was done and people seek technological explanations or secret weapons; our armored troops who beat the enemy even when their equipment was inferior to his; our soldiers in all other branches…who overcame our enemies everywhere, despite the latter’s superior numbers and fortifications-all these revealed not only coolness and courage in the battle but…an understanding that only their personal stand against the greatest dangers would achieve victory for their country and for their families, and that if victory was not theirs the alternative was annihilation”
Its not hard to defeat an enemy whos not ready. Its like some little weak guy killing the dtrongest man alove while hes asleep then saying that during the fight he won due to his outstanding intelligence. Or to after the enemy all get drunk at a christmas party go in and kill them while there all completly off there faces then saying that you have better trained troops (as george washinton did to german soldiers)
It may not be a sign of physical prowess to be able to defeat a strong man while he sleeps, yet it is a sign of aptitude to be able to exploit him in a moment of weakness. The genius of the Six Day War does not rest in the fact that the Israeli’s won, but in how they won. They minimized the strengths of their enemy and maximized their own. They possessed not only the for sight to understand when their enemy was weak, but they had the courage to exploit it. The move by the Israeli’s was extremely bold, and one that carried substantial risk. The move by George Washington was similar in that, though there was a chance for success, the damage of a loss would have been excruciating. The annals of military history is littered with examples of those who having an advantage, were too afraid to exploit it (e.g. most Northern Generals in the Civil War).
We need to be careful to put ourselves in the shoes of the Israeli’s actually in the fighting, in order to judge properly the merit of their actions. It is easy to look back fifty years from the comfort of a living room and say that the decision was an easy one to make, but it is much different when you look at it from the perspective of one who knows that if he fails, the casualties will his own sons and daughters, and the burning buildings will be his home and neighborhood. Given that perspective, the bravery which the Israeli’s showed, and the risks which they took, take on an entirely new significance.
Your right i found it very hard to find something to critisize with this article (from me thats a complement) its just that i dont like Israel as a state or the Israely politicians or policys. In fact there is very little about Israel I like.