The Surprise

At 2:00 p.m. on October 6, 1973 — Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, when most Israelis were fasting, synagogues were packed, and radio stations were off the air — Egyptian and Syrian forces attacked simultaneously.

Israel's intelligence failure was profound and inexplicable. Warning signs had been accumulating for weeks: Egyptian forces had been conducting unprecedented maneuvers near the canal, Soviet families had been evacuating, Jordanian King Hussein had flown to Israel days earlier to warn of an imminent attack. Prime Minister Meir had received direct intelligence of an attack scheduled for that afternoon — but her security chiefs told her it would not happen.

In the Sinai, 100,000 Egyptian troops crossed the Suez Canal in the war's first hours, using water cannons to destroy Israeli sand fortifications. The Bar-Lev Line — Israel's supposedly impregnable defensive system — was overrun in an afternoon. The 600 Israeli soldiers in the canal's forward positions were overwhelmed.

On the Golan Heights, 1,400 Syrian tanks faced 177 Israeli tanks of the 7th Armored Brigade and the Barak Brigade. The Syrians drove through the night under the light of searchlights and parachute flares. By the morning of October 7, Syrian armor had broken through the southern Golan and was within 20 miles of the Sea of Galilee — with nothing to stop it but a handful of damaged tanks.

In Tel Aviv, the mood in the Cabinet was close to panic. Defense Minister Dayan reportedly told Prime Minister Meir that 'the Third Temple is falling' — Israel was facing existential destruction. Meir authorized the preparation of 13 nuclear warheads as a last resort. The signal was sent, deliberately, to Washington. The massive US airlift that followed saved Israel.