Chapter 2: An Integrated Attack - The Arab-Israeli War of 1967

Overview

All of Sinai is in our hands.

”General Yeshayahu Gavish, fifty-two hours into the war ^[1]

At 8:15 a.m. on June 5, 1967, under a bright sun and clear skies, the unsuspecting Egyptian Air Force was conducting a changeover of patrols, as it always did at that hour . Suddenly, 250 aircraft ”almost the entire Israeli Air Force (IAF) ”appeared out of nowhere and unleashed a preemptive air strike against eleven Egyptian air bases that gave the IAF total air supremacy.

As the bombs landed on Egyptian airfields, Israeli Defense Force (IDF) commanders cried, Kadimah! Head for the enemy, and launched a three-pronged ground attack across the Sinai Peninsula. ^[2] The IDF ripped through the Egyptians defensive lines, wreaked havoc in their ranks, and shattered their command infrastructure. A mere four days later, on the verge of total collapse, the numerically superior and more heavily equipped Egyptians agreed to a cease -fire.

^[1] Harell, Yehuda, Follow Me: the Story of Moshe Dayan , 140.

^[2] Ibid.