Deception!

This is coolbert:

Just as the Israeli was able to perpetrate a deception upon the Egyptian in 1967 that greatly aided the Israeli military campaign in the Six Day War, so was the Egyptian in 1973 able to perpetrate a deception upon the Israeli that greatly aided the Egyptian in their campaign of the Yom Kippur/Ramadan War.

The Six Day War of 1967 of course resulted in a catastrophic rout of the Egyptian Army. A very shameful rout that resulted in some General officers of the Egyptian Army being imprisoned for cowardice and desertion!

This rout created an image of the Egyptian in the mind of the Israeli that was not flattering. The image the Israeli had of the Egyptian was of a bunch of bumbling, incompetent, two-left-footed persons unable to handle the complex mechanisms of modern warfare. Such equipment as the tank and the jet plane were felt by the Israeli to be beyond the capability of the Egyptian to master. And the Egyptian commanders were felt by the Israeli to be incompetent and not capable of commanding a running battle that modern warfare calls for.

In the years just following the Six Day War, the Egyptians dawdled along, not really knowing how to proceed with the confrontation of Israel. However, after the death of Nasser, and the ascendancy of Sadat to President of Egypt, things began to change. Sadat had decided upon escalating confrontation with Israel that would lead to war. War that would in the eyes of the Egyptian redeem their honor lost in 1967.

Sadat accordingly began a rebuilding program designed to bring the Egyptian military up to snuff, ready to fight the Israeli. New equipment, tanks, jet fighters, anti-aircraft weaponry, and anti-tank guided missiles, were all obtained from the Soviets, and in abundance. And military manpower was retrained from top to bottom and brought up to a standard that would allow for proper use of the newly acquired Soviet equipment.

At this point, let us remind ourselves of some of the sayings and adages of Sun Tzu that are applicable to this situation. "All war is based upon deception", and "when weak appear strong, and when strong, appear weak".

Probably during 1972, the final decision had been made by Sadat that during 1973 large scale open hostilities would resume between Egypt and Israel. Commencing the hostilities would be a massive surprise attack by the Egyptian upon the Israeli. Surprise was paramount for such an attack to succeed. And surprise would be achieved by a carefully planned deception plan being put into effect by the Egyptian.

Now, the Egyptians were aware of several things. One is that this massive military build up of theirs would not go unnoticed by Israeli intelligence. And the second was that the Egyptian was keenly aware of the Israeli perception of them. That the Egyptian, in the mind of the Israeli, was, as I have said before, a bumbling, incompetent, two-left-footed person incapable of meaningful and serious military action.

It was this Israeli perception that the Egyptian sought to take advantage of in their deception plan. This deception would further reinforce in the minds of the Israeli the image of the bumbling, incompetent Egyptian. "Yes, the Egyptian has engaged in a massive military build up", would say the Israeli. "But, the Egyptian does not have the capacity to handle this equipment. They are still not a serious threat to us!" This is what the Egyptian wanted the Israeli to think.

To conduct the deception, the Egyptian announced in late 1972 that a massive corps [multiple divisions] level exercise of their [Egyptian] army would take place. An exercise to be observed by an international corps of observers, military, diplomatic, and journalists. An exercise announced to demonstrate to the whole world that Egypt not only possessed in lavish abundance the most advanced Soviet equipment, but was quite capable of handling this equipment in a sophisticated manner.


And it was during this massive exercise, in front of the foreign observers, that the Egyptian deception was carried out. Rather than demonstrate their high level of military expertise to the observers, the Egyptian by design deliberately BOTCHED the exercise. Had things go wrong on purpose to create chaos!!! This chaos and incompetence was undoubtedly duly perceived by the foreign observers, some of whom also undoubtedly reported these facts to the Israeli. The Egyptian wanted to appear, as Sun Tzu would say, weak when they were strong.

And the deception [the botched exercise was part of an overall deception plan for the Egyptian offensive, but one part carrying great weight in my mind] was successful. Israeli intelligence, reputed to be so good, was fooled. Strategic surprise, the bugbear [something greatly feared] of all intelligence agencies, was achieved by the Egyptian. Even though the Israeli did duly observe the massive Egyptian military build up in the days prior to the 1973 war commencing, the Israeli rational mind was clouded by their perception of the Egyptian, a perception purposefully maintained and reinforced by deception.

coolbert.