From
Apocalypse Next, by William Goetz, pp. 96 - 99, speaking on the Yom Kippur War:
The Israelis had perhaps become over-confident following their previous confrontations with the Arabs. A prevailing Jewish attitude was, "All you have to do is fire a few shots in the air and the Syrians run like rabbits. Just point a tank in the direction of Cairo, and the Egyptians collapse immediately."
So Israel was taken by surprise. The attack came on the Jewish high holy day. Many in the nation of Israel were observing the day in the synagogues or in prayer and fasting. With the Arabs united for the first time in centuries, powerfully equipped with the latest sophisticated weapons and attacking on two fronts simultaneously, it appeared that Israel was indeed beaten.
The Arab assault was massive. In the north, they Syrians threw 1,200 tanks into a twenty-mile front, 25 percent more tanks than the Germans used in a 200-mile offensive against Russia in 1941! What has been called "the greatest tank battle in world history" was fought in the Sinai. According to news reports at the time, approximately 4,000 tanks, over 2,000 heavy guns, hundreds of missile batteries, 1,500 aircraft and nearly one million men as well as many unproven new weapons were thrown at Israel at the start of the war. It was the Middle East's first truly technological war.
Not only were the Israelis vastly outnumbered, but the Arab weapons were also superior - with the very latest, including surface to air (SAM) missiles, and other newly developed weaponry having been supplied to them by Russia. In addition, massive Soviet airlifts of arms to Syria and Egypt began on the first day of the war. Two hours after the fighting started, Russian Antonov transports, carrying weapons and replacements, began landing every three minutes at Syria's airport. Russian supply ships came into port in both countries.
On the other hand, the American airlift to Israel did not begin until the tenth day of the war, due to the refusal of America's allies to grant facilities to the U.S. for the refueling of planes. When the U.S. planes finally did arrive, the Israeli army was actually running out of ammunition. Israel's casualties in the first few days of the war were enormous.
...
There is no logical explanation for the failure of Egypt and Syria to totally destroy Israel during the Yom Kippur War or for Jordan to refuse to attack - a factor which undoubtedly would have been decisive.
The fact is that after the Egyptians had taken the supposedly invincible Bar-Lev line in a third of the time they had projected for its capture, and after the Syrian tanks had a clear run from the Golan Heights into Israel -
they both inexplicably just stopped.
Many feel that those unexplainable delays gave Israel the time it
had to have to recover from the surprise, regroup and reorganize. This factor almost certainly made the difference in the outcome of the war.
Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that Israel's very survival through the Yom Kippur War is a miracle. Many Israelis themselves agree: it had to be God.
