Duel for the Golan: The 100-Hour Battle That Saved Israel

Rating:
Summary: Excellent study of often ignored battle during 1973 war.
Review: Little is heard about the fighting on the Golan Heights between Israeli & Syrian forces during the Yom Kippur war, but those familiar with the terrain & environs of the Golan Heights & the Galilee region as a whole, can have little doubt as to the difficulties facing the combatants on both sides and the very harshness of the campaign.

This excellent book is about the conflict here during the 1973 war, where the Syrian Army massed on the Golan Heights, attempted to strike in a lighting offensive drive towards the Mediterranean Sea, thereby cutting Israel in two during the most Holy period in the Jewish calendar, with the Israeli military at it's most vulnerable.

This outstanding study details the make-up of the Syrian forces which consisted of a vast amount of new Soviet equipment/weaponry & comprising of some 1,200 main battle tanks, 1,000 armoured personnel carriers & some 1,000 artillery pieces, not to mention the vast numbers of infantry.

The book presents a number of interviews taken over a five year period from participants of both sides during the fighting and covers one of the greatest tank battles fought anywhere since World War 2, even detailing many 'intimate' accounts of 'tank against tank' battles during the combat.

We are provided with remarkable accounts of incredible courage and an analysis of how an inferior number of Israeli troops inflicted one of the greatest defeats in military history upon considerably greater Arab armoured forces. Notably, every single Israeli tank engaged in combat, being numerically inferior, was hit by hostile fire.

An exploration is provided into how the end of this conflict resulted in the Syrian Army being virtually destroyed in the field (including largely ignored or forgotten Iraqi & Jordanian contingents) and with Israeli artillery within range of striking Damascus, the Syrian capital.

A highly recommended, excellent account of yet another pivotal battle in this turbulent region.