This is an interesting book, looking at the operations of the Israeli Defense Force/Air Force during the October 1973 Yom Kippur war. In line with some of their earlier books, this one is mostly a photo book and as such is just crammed full of images. I would have to say there are easily 800 images, mostly black and white but with some in color. There are also 25 full color profiles as well as maps, charts and lists.

The book is divided into sections that cover each of the days of the war from October 6 until October 24. A history of each day is provided, but it is scattered throughout the pages that cover that day. Most of the information provided in the book comes from the captions of the various photos. These provide information on the men and aircraft and missions flown during that time. There are occasional side stories inserted as appropriate. I did find that there were some issues with tense and some rather oddly used words while reading the book. This is not uncommon in books that are published by folks whose first language is not English and does not detract from the book at all.

For those not familiar with the war, it was started by Egypt and Syria in an attempt to regain territory taken by Israel in the 1967. For about the first week, things went rather poorly for Israel as they were unable to push back the Egyptians in the Sinai. Having to fight on two fronts with the Syrians in the Golan Heights did not help matters and the IDF/AF lost quite a few aircraft during this time. Thanks to a huge influx of US aircraft and munitions, with Phantoms and C-130s being flown straight from units in Germany and Skyhawks right from the decks of carriers in the Mediterranean, as well as dozens of flights of C-5s and C-141s full of weapons, the IAF was able to build back up its strength. Due to the relative shortness of the conflict, few of these aircraft actually participated in combat operation, but they removed the worry of a huge loss of defensive and offensive air power from the minds of the Israeli military. Eventually, the Egyptians were pushed back and a cease-fire stopped fighting pretty much were things started.

In addition to all of the great photos (which, by the way, are not the censored ones we would have gotten 25 years ago), there are full tables of victories scored by each unit, including the A-A units. I'm sure that the claims are inflated, but as we have all seen over the years, this is pretty much a given when there is a lot of intense air activity. There are also maps of bases of each of the combatants. In all, it is a very complete look at this war from the Israeli side of the conflict and a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I am sure you will as well and give it my highest recommendation.

January 2015

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