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The taste of the two Arab defeats, 1948 and 1956, was far from gone from the mouths of the Arab leaders. The early and mid 60' were a time of many border clashes between Israel and its neighbors. The relationship with Syria was very volatile. The Syrians took the habit of bombarding Israeli towns and Kibbutzim to dust. They also tried to reroute Israel's water sources coming from the Golan away from Sea of Galilee (Israel's most important water source). This sparked a series of massive border clashes ending in the destruction of the Syrian rerouting equipment and marking yet another Arab defeat. The constant attacks by Jordanian based terror groups brought skirmishes and raids by Israeli paratroopers into Jordan. The Egyptians were allowing terrorist activity from their border and were rearming. Actually, all Arab nations were arming themselves, causing the military scales to tip over to the side of the joint Arab nations. The IDF was also expanding and renewing, buying new weapons (M48 and Centurion tanks, Submarines, "Hawk" AA missiles, Mirage III jets and more). It was obvious that the 3rd Arab-Israeli war is just around the curve. So in April 1967, all were preparing for conflict. The Syrians were misled by the USSR, causing them to think that Israel is about to attack. Damascus informed (and therefore misled) Cairo of the "Zionist plot" to Destroy Syria. By May, Syria and Egypt were mobilized, and ready for war. The Egyptian president Abed Al-Naser said, on the 22 of May 1967-"The Jews threaten us with were, and we say to them ahalan wa'sahlan(Arabic expression inviting or welcoming visitors), we are prepared for war!". On the 23rd of May Cairo Radio reported that the the Tiran Straits are officially closed to Israeli ships. This move by the Egyptians was a clear provocation (Israel declared before that closing Akaba bay is a deceleration of war). The closing of the bay, together with the removal of UN forces on the 16th, was a sure sign that war is imminent. Israel mobilized all of it's reserves. On the 28th Israel's PM Levi Eshkol made a speech to the nation via radio. The PM mixed up lines in the speech, causing him to sound as if stuttering in fear. Israelis were frightened. The IDF's high ranking officers bagged the government to attack first. They offered an ambitious plan, in which the Israeli Air Force would destroy the Arab air power on the ground, and then support a massive ground attack by the main armored structures of the IDF. It was a plan the IDF had no doubt will work. The Air Force senior officers were confident. But the government was hesitant. The reason was that the IDF and IAF secretly built their force during the 50w and 60'. The IAF was an air force secretly built to win a war, not to assure the public. The abilities were not proven on a mass scale before. The Israeli public and, to an extent, the government simply did not realize the power the IDF and IAF now possessed…
On the 2nd of June a "National Unity Government" was formed. Eshkol was to remain PM, but he gave up the Ministry of Security. The new Minister of Security was Moshe Dayan. Dayan was a legendary general and notorious womanizer. With his patched eye and 1948-myth status, Dayan was a great moral booster for the people, and the troops. He had little to do with planning the war; the plans were ready for a few good years… Even Menahem Begin, head of the opposition joined the new government. Israel was now ready to face the Arabs in the third round. Would the combined Arab forces crush Israel? |
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On the 4th of June, 1967, the Israeli government realized a preemptive war is the only way. The go ahead was given to one of the riskiest, boldest, most ingenious plans ever.
On the 6th of June the war began. Leaving only 12 Mirage fighters to defend Israel's airspace, the IAF used all of it's available Fighters and Attack-Jets to destroy the Arab air forces on the ground. The first wave hit the Egyptian airfields at 7:45 AM, breakfast time in the Egyptian Air Force. 183 attacked 11 Egyptian airfields. Almost 200 Egyptian planes were destroyed, leaving Egypt with only 55% of its original air power. Another wave came in at 9:34. Radars, runways and electronic warfare systems were destroyed. 94 more Egyptian planes were destroyed. The 3rd wave came at 12:45 PM, and was aimed at Syria and Jordan. The Jordanian Air Force was almost entirely lost. Half of the Syrian Air Force was destroyed; the surviving planes were flown in country and away from the front. 28 Iraqi planes were destroyed, keeping Iraq's air power at bay. A total of 376 Arab planes were destroyed on the ground. Israel gained air superiority, and kept to the end of the war. 76 more Arab aircraft were destroyed in the 5 days that followed. The IAF lost 46 aircraft (mainly to anti aircraft artillery) achieving an amazing 9-1 kill ratio. This was to aid Israel's ground forces. They now worked under skies clear of enemy planes, while their Arab rivals were constantly harassed and bombed by the Israeli aircraft. I will now describe the events to follow, divided to areas:Click Here |
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