Israeli prisoners of 1973 war

By Mohammed Zeyada, Alaa Abul Eneen, IOL Staff 

CAIRO, October 6 (IslamOnline.net) - The United States speedily established a direct air bridge with Israel during the October War in 1973 with Egypt after the Israeli army had threatened to use nuclear weapons to head off a complete rout  by the Egyptian army, Israel's channel eight quoted a former ranking Israeli official as saying.

The Israeli channel aired on Saturday night, October 4, a documentary on the 1973 war, in which the then Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan said that the "Israeli nuclear blackmail" forced Washington to establish its air bridge in the battlefield. 

Dayan met with senior Israeli army officers on October 8 to cast their votes on using nukes against the Egyptian army following the heavy losses sustained by the Israeli army in the first two days of operations.

The Israeli generals, however, were at odds, compelling Dayan to submit his proposal to the then prime minister, Golda Maier, who gave him the thumbs up, the channel added.

The Israeli broadcaster further said that Israel had notified the then U.S. administration and moved to translate its threats into action by leveling its nuclear weapons at Egyptian and Syrian targets.

The Israeli official added that the nuclear threats, however, were aimed primarily at pressuring the U.S. into sending military aid and necessary weapons to stand up to Egypt's military superiority, particularly the artillery division.

Quoting Dayan, the channel said: "The Israeli nuclear blackmail succeeded in brining the U.S. air bridge to the battlefield and stop the sweeping Egyptian attacks on the Israeli army."

A former Egyptian general asserted to IslamOnline.net the authenticity of this information.

The former director of Egypt's Nasser Military Academy, General Zakriya Hassan, said the U.S. Time magazine had leaked information in 1975 that Israel was possessing 13 atomic bombs and could have dropped such bombs on Egypt at the time, fearing a complete rout.

"Maier ordered Dayan to use the nukes and notified the U.S., but she backtracked on its decision after Washington had yielded to its pressures and established the air bridge," Hassan said according the Time's report.

The U.S. 33-day air bridge, from October 13 to November 14, 1973, was used to transfer weapons and materiel directly to the battlefield.

The bridge helped redress the balance between Egypt and Israel, which was teetering on the verge of collapse.

The three-week conflict began on October 6, 1973, with a surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces.

The conflict, which began on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar Yom Kippur (or the Day of Atonement), is viewed as one of the most traumatic in Israel's history. About 2,700 Israeli soldiers were killed.

Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal -- the largest water barrier ever traversed in the history of warfare – and overcame another barrier on the eastern bank. This was the enormous fortified artificial sand barrier that extended along the Bar Lev line.

This barrier ranged from eight to 20 meters in height and was eight to 10 meters deep. The barrier was equipped with tank and direct fire positions and interspersed with fortified positions at approximately four kilometer intervals along its entire length from Port Tawfiq to East Qantara. It was made of a highly compact mixture of sand and mud.

The sand barrier was one of the greatest challenges before the Egyptian command and military planners.

Dayan said, "It would take the American and Soviet engineer corps, together, to break through the Bar Lev line."

Soviet experts at the time said that what was needed was an atom bomb.

Within five hours of the beginning of the crossing, the Egyptian army were able to break through the barrier, which threw the enemy off because they had no idea how to direct a counterattack against the enormous onslaught of Egyptian forces.