Arab Israeli War 1973 (Yom Kippur War Documentary)

Syrian T-55s destroyed in the Golan Heights, one with a turret penetration.

After Sadat decided Soviet weapons were not doing the job for him and he wanted to get chummy with the US, an Egyptian Air Force major visited our air wing. I heard about him at the morning briefing and met him at the O -club that afternoon.

1. He was holding forth to a polite audience about his accomplishment in the Yom Kippur War. Then he flew a MIG-19 and shot down an Israeli F-4. He cornered the Israeli at his own six and pulled into a climbing left turn. The F-4 followed. He watched his mirrors until the F-4 shuddered in a stall and wrapped around to gun the Phantom. 

A lot of my squadron mates thought this was bullshit, but I counted the chief test pilot at LTV among my friends, and he told me he used the same maneuver to best an F-86 Sabre with an F-51 (an Army P-51 Mustang wearing Air Force blue). Later, another F-51 pilot told me he did the same thing. 

2. Met an Israeli tank commander. He served after the Yom Kippur War, but he said that that war changed Israeli tank doctrine. To wit : Stop and fire; immediately reverse and back away from the enemy. Never fire from the same place twice. 

3. Knew an Army major. Cannot recall if he had just come from the War College or the Pentagon.  He was on a team that resolved after-action reports from the Israelis and the Egyptians. (This was after Sadat got chummy with the US.) 

Said the Israelis reported that 80% of their kills were gun kills; on the battlefield, the tank main gun was still king. Said the Egyptians reported that 80% of their kills were missile kills; the anti-tank missiles was the future. How could this be?

Took some time to cop to the solution. The Israelis polled the battlefields they held. The Egyptians polled the battlefields they held. And therein lay the difference.