Had the Israeli
crossing westwards the canal realized the
military objective of Israel ?
The objective of
Israeli crossing from the east (Sinai) to the
west was to:
- Bombard the missiles batteries
anti-planes "Sam"
- Occupy Ismailia city, to encircle the second army by
Sharon’s forces.
- Occupy Suez city
and encircle the third army by forces of Avraham Adan and Kalman Magen.
But Sharon failed
to occupy Ismailia city and the same with
Adan and Magen to encircle third Egyptian
Army and occupy Suez city.
About crossing to
the west of the canal, David Elazar chief of
Israeli headquarter staff on 3 December 1973,
says:
(Sharon
still continues his
irresponsible declaration to journalists
trying to lessen the role of other leaders to
appear as an unique champion, although he
knows well that our crossing to the western
side of the canal caused too much losses.
However, we could not along ten days of
fighting to overcome any of Egyptian armies.
The second army resisted and prevented us
ultimately to reach Ismaila city.
As for the
third army, in spite of our encircling them
they resisted and advanced to occupy in
fact a wider area of land at the east. Thus,
we can not say that we defeated or conquered
them) David Elazar.
