Yom Kippur: Israeli Counterattacks 14–23 October 1973

The Israeli defences in Sinai took a severe pummelling in the first week of the war. The line of fortifications east of the Suez Canal had been repeatedly breached, but by 14 October, the Egyptian offensive had been repulsed, and, with the Syrian assault on the Golan Heights likewise stalled, Israel launched a counterattack. On the night of 15 October, the Israelis managed to establish a bridgehead on the west bank of the Canal south of Ismailia; troops and tanks streamed across, and the forces then split, the northern arm moving to invest Ismailia, while the rest headed towards the Gulf of Suez. Meanwhile, the Israeli forces in Sinai bombarded Port Said on the Mediterranean mouth of the Canal. By the time a UN Resolution called for a ceasefire on 24 October, Israeli forces had reached Port Suez at the southern end of the canal, and encircled the Egyptian Third Army.