6 October Badr began at 14:00 on 6 October 1973. As the Israelis expected the attack to begin four hours later, only part of the troops and none of the armor assigned to man the Bar Lev Line were in position, except for a few platoons in the northernmost forts. Sixteen fortifications on the line were fully manned, and another two were partially manned. With the start of the fire preparation, tank hunting detachments—groups of ten equipped with
RPG-7 rockets,
RPG-43 grenades, and
AT-3 Sagger missiles—crossed the canal to deploy one kilometer deep, quickly occupying the tank ramparts, and proceeded to set up ambushes and lay mines. When the first barrage ended, Egyptian artillery began a second, 22 minute-long barrage, against targets at a depth of 1.5–3 kilometers. At this time, 14:20, the first wave of assault infantry, 4,000 men, began crossing the canal. Around 2,500 dinghies and wooden boats were used to transport the troops. Smoke canisters were used at the crossing points to provide cover. During the night of 5 October, engineers had blocked the underwater pipes on the opposite bank, preventing the Israelis from releasing flammable oil into the canal and igniting it. The first wave was lightly equipped, armed with RPG-7s,
Strela 2 AA missiles and rope ladders to deploy on the sand wall. Among the first wave were combat engineers and several units of Sa'iqa (
lightning; these were commando forces), who were tasked with setting up ambushes on reinforcement routes. The Sa'iqa attacked command posts and artillery batteries in order to deny the Israelis control over their forces, while the engineers breached the minefields and barbed wire surrounding Israeli defenses. Immediately following them,
military engineers transported the water pumps to the opposite bank and began setting them up. At this time Egyptian aircraft involved in the air strike began returning. Five aircraft were lost, although by the end of the day this rose to ten. The air strike put the
Bir Gifgafa and Bir Thamada air bases out of operation for 48 hours, and damaged the Ras Nasrani and Bir Hasanah airbases. Around ten HAWK batteries, at least two 175mm artillery batteries, an electronic jamming center at Umm Khashib, and various radar stations were destroyed. This allowed the Egyptian Air Force to operate for the rest of the war without any ground-based communications interference, as the only other jamming center in the Sinai was located at
el-Arish, considerably behind the front. Over a dozen
AS-5 Kelt missiles were fired from
Tu-16 bombers as well. Several were shot down, but at least five hit their targets, including two missiles fitted with
anti-radiation seekers that knocked out Israeli radars. The success of the air strike caused the Egyptians to cancel a planned second air strike. Another account however states that 18 Egyptian aircraft were lost, and these losses prompted the canceling of a second wave of airstrikes. At the
Great Bitter Lake, the Egyptian 130th Amphibious Brigade performed its own crossing. Composed of the 602nd and 603rd Mechanized Infantry Battalions with 1,000 men, including a Sagger anti-tank battalion, an anti-air battalion, 20
PT-76 tanks and 100 amphibious armored personnel carriers, it was tasked with seeking and destroying enemy installations at the entrances of the Gedy and Mitla Passes. The sand rampart that lined the entire Suez Canal did not exist in the Bitter Lakes, and there were no Israeli defences or units to be encountered, and the brigade reached the opposite bank around 14:40 without any losses. The Egyptians discovered a minefield blocking their advance, and
military engineers worked to clear a path. Subsequently, at around 16:00, the 603rd was regrouping outside the minefield when it was attacked by a company of tanks from Kibrit East (codenamed Putzer by the Israelis), a fortification of the Bar Lev located on the Bitter Lake. The battalion had been reinforced with a tank hunting detachment from the 7th Division, and managed to destroy two tanks and three armored vehicles before the Israelis withdrew. Afterwards, its original assignment was canceled and it was ordered to capture the Kibrit East position (Fort Putzer). It occupied the abandoned position on 9 October which the battalion—despite being cut off and coming under numerous attacks—held for the remainder of the war. As for the 602nd battalion, it began to move eastwards some time after dusk, and stumbled upon an Israeli battalion of 35 tanks along Artillery Road, some from the Bitter Lake. The battalion's ten PT-76s with 76 mm guns were outmatched and outnumbered by the heavier Israeli
M48 Pattons with 105 mm guns. The manually guided Saggers were difficult to operate at night, and Israeli tanks were employing blinding xenon floodlights. Caught in the open Sinai desert, the 602nd was defeated and lost many of its tanks and armored vehicles, along with significant casualties. The remaining troops retreated to
Third Army lines. Some units may have reached their objectives, although this is disputed. Egyptian troops raised their
national flag on the eastern bank of the canal at 14:35. By that time company and battalion-size units of Israeli tanks and infantry began reaching the Bar Lev Line, but were prevented from reaching their positions by Egyptian ambushes. Those tanks that broke through came under fire from the west bank ramparts. At 14:45, a second wave of infantry landed on the opposite bank. Subsequent waves of infantry arrived at fifteen-minute intervals. However, after the fourth wave, fatigue and technical problems with the boats gradually widened the time intervals. The Egyptians abandoned their schedules, giving priority to anti-tank teams and weaponry that could critically affect the battle. Amphibious vehicles were also used to cross equipment. The wooden carts were ferried to the east bank via boats, where they were initially lifted to the top of the sand wall with their loads. However, this method proved clumsy, and the carts were first emptied then lifted, after which they were re-loaded and dragged to troops on the front line. The carts greatly facilitated the supply and transportation of matériel on the east bank. Meanwhile, Israeli Southern Command attempted to pinpoint the main Egyptian effort to launch a counterattack with Dan Shomron's reserve armored brigade, when, in fact, there was no main effort. As a result, Southern Command wasted several critical hours without taking decisive action. Tactical errors also showcased themselves when Reshef moved his tank brigade forward; Israeli commanders neglected to conduct reconnaissance beforehand, causing their units to fall into Egyptian ambushes. In the confusion ensuing the surprise assault, no attempt was made at evacuating the Bar Lev garrison. At 15:30, Egyptian forces captured Fort Lahtzanit, the first fortification of the Bar Lev Line to fall, and by then the infantry had been reinforced with 82mm B-10 and 107mm B-11 rifles. At the same time, engineers began operating their water pumps against the sand wall, opening the first passage in less than an hour, and the Egyptians moved up their bridging units to the canal. By 16:30 eight waves had brought across the canal ten infantry brigades in all five bridgeheads, totaling 23,500 men (around 4,700 at each bridgehead). Each bridgehead was on average six kilometers (3¾ mi) wide and around two kilometers deep. The Egyptians had high-velocity 85mm and 100mm rifled anti-tank guns in action on the east bank by that time. By then Israeli armored losses had reached around 100 tanks. The magnitude of Israeli losses stemmed from their insistence to reach their comrades in the Bar Lev Line, and they repeatedly ran into aggressive ambushes by Egyptian soldiers. Taking advantage of dusk, at 17:50 four Sa'iqa battalions were airdropped deep into the Sinai by helicopters flying at low altitude. The Sa'iqa were assigned the objective of hampering reserves en route from Israel. The helicopters left the range of friendly SAMs and were not assigned air cover, resulting in a number of them being shot down. At 18:00 Egyptian armor and anti-tank units on the west bank began moving to the crossing sites.
Port Said sector The Port Said Sector was an independent military command in the Egyptian military, unattached to the
Second Army. It incorporated
Port Said,
Port Fouad and their vicinity. The sector contained two infantry brigades. Military operations in this area were directed against three fortifications: Budapest, Orkal and Lahtzanit. As with the rest of the front, the offensive here began with a fire preparation. However, high trajectory weapons were not employed because Egyptian aircraft were flying through the sector's airspace, hence only direct fire guns were used to bombard Israeli positions. Fort Lahtzanit, south of Port Fouad, was isolated by Egyptian infantry prior to the attack, preventing Israeli reinforcements from reaching it. At 15:00, the Egyptians breached the minefield and barbed wire surrounding the fort, at which point approximately a company-sized force of Egyptian troops assaulted the defenses. By 15:30, the fort was declared under Egyptian control. The Egyptians proceeded to clear a few bunkers still occupied by Israeli soldiers, some of whom surrendered when they began facing
flamethrowers. By 18:00, the Egyptians had cleared the fort completely (see
Battle of Fort Lahtzanit). Fort Orkal, south of Port Fouad, was also isolated prior to an attack. The Egyptians approached by land from Port Fouad, and across the Suez Canal. The attack quickly ground to a halt as the force approaching from the north failed to breach the minefield, leaving the force attacking across the canal pinned down at the sand wall by enemy fire. Subsequently, an infantry company crossed and renewed the attack from the south, seizing several positions. Reinforcements soon allowed more positions to be captured. On 7 October, the remaining defenders made a break-out attempt to join friendly forces, but they were intercepted and either killed or captured. Located on a narrow strip of land southeast of Port Fouad, Fort Budapest was surrounded by water on two sides. The fort came under air and artillery strikes at 14:00. A Sa'iqa company cut off the only route to the fort for reinforcements, while a battalion attacked from Port Fouad, advancing along a narrow strip of land bereft of natural cover. The battalion's attack bogged down at the minefield, which was deep. It soon came under air attacks, as the fort was outside of the SAM "umbrella", and faced stiff resistance from the fort's garrison. The battalion eventually broke off its attack and retreated, while the Sa'iqa unit east of the fort prevented reinforcements from reaching the fort for four days before it too withdrew. Another attack on 15 October came close to succeeding but ultimately failed, and hence Fort Budapest became the only position of the Bar Lev Line to remain in Israeli hands (see
Battles of Fort Budapest).
Naval engagements By 6 October the Egyptian naval task force was at
Bab-el-Mandeb where they broke radio silence. When Operation Badr began at 14:00,
Rear Admiral Fuad Abu Zikry authorized the fleet to proceed with the blockade via a codeword. Egyptian submarines and destroyers intercepted ships traveling through Bab-el-Mandeb destined for
Eilat, and all Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea ceased. The blockade was a strategic success for Egypt, while the
Israeli Navy and Air Force were incapable of lifting the blockade due to the long distance between Israel and Bab-el-Mandeb. Mines were laid at the entrance to the
Gulf of Suez to prevent Israel from transporting oil from the Sinai fields to Eilat. Historian Gammal Hammad claims that a blockade was also enforced in the Mediterranean, while other sources dispute this. News of the blockade was censored in Israel. Aside from the blockade, the Egyptian Navy carried out several other missions. Coastal artillery at Port Said participated in the fire preparation by bombarding Fort Budapest and Fort Orkal, while coastal artillery at Suez hit targets opposite the Third Army. Missile boats bombarded Rumana and Ras Beyron on the Mediterranean, Ras Masala and Ras Sidr on the
Gulf of Suez, and Sharm el Sheikh.
Naval frogmen raided the oil installations at Bala'eem, disabling the massive
driller. including one on 8 October, when a flotilla of ten Israeli missile boats attempted to shell coastal targets along the
Nile delta. Four Egyptian
Osa class missile boats confronted six of them, leading to the
Battle of Baltim in which three of the Egyptian missile boats were sunk within forty minutes, with no Israeli casualties. Egypt claimed to have sunk four Israeli "targets", three they believed to be motor torpedo boats and one missile boat. However, the sea routes to Egypt's principal ports—Alexandria on the Mediterranean and
Port Safaga on the Red Sea—remained secure and open to shipping for the duration of the war. Twice during the night of 6 to 7 October, groups of tanks and infantry penetrated the bridgeheads to reach the canal line, where they managed to damage two bridges and destroy a number of ferries. Surrounded on all sides, however, these units were soon destroyed. Before sunrise the bridgeheads had reached a depth of , and the attacking Israeli units retreated. With sufficient numbers of armor finally on the east bank, reinforcements of infantry began to cross. Dawn on 7 October saw a total of 50,000 men (around 10,000 to each bridgehead) and 400 Egyptian tanks occupying five bridgeheads in the Sinai across the Suez Canal. Egyptian forces reorganised and entrenched themselves in anticipation of Israeli counterattacks.
David Elazar continued to instruct Gonen to evacuate soldiers from strongpoints which were not yet surrounded, even though by 7 October most Israeli defences were encircled. Egyptian losses up to the morning of 7 October were only 280 killed and 20 tanks destroyed. Israeli losses were far heavier; the brigade in the Bar Lev Line was completely surrounded and most of its men were casualties while 200 were captured. Armored losses were 200–300 tanks destroyed. One source puts the losses at roughly 200 by morning, but several battalion-sized attacks to regain the forts around
El-Qantarah, and to reach some of the central and southern forts incurred further casualties with over 50 tanks being destroyed. In subsequent days some of the defenders in the Bar Lev Line managed to break through Egyptian forces and return to their lines, or were extracted by Israeli forces in counterattacks that came later on. As the magnitude of Israeli losses became clear,
Gonen made the decision at noon to form a defensive line on the Lateral Road, east of the canal, and ordered his divisional commanders to deploy accordingly. At noon, elements of
Abraham Adan's 162nd Division and
Ariel Sharon's 143rd Division began to reach the fronts. Consequently, Gonen divided the front into three divisional commands: Adan was deployed in the northern sector, Sharon in the central sector, and Mandler in the southern sector. Air strikes continued throughout the day, and Southern Command received optimistic reports during the afternoon from the IAF, which claimed seven bridges knocked out of action, with the remaining ones to be destroyed by evening. In fact, several of the bridges that had been destroyed were
decoys. The real bridges meanwhile, had their damaged sections quickly repaired and returned to service. Egyptian forces widened their bridgeheads that day to narrow the gaps between them. Meanwhile, General Headquarters worked on organizing its forces on the east bank. Egyptian troops had crossed with 24-hours' worth of supplies. By Sunday it became necessary to resupply these forces, but administrative and supply units were in disarray, and to the south problems with laying the bridges further handicapped supply efforts there. 7 October offered a relative lull from the intense fighting that had taken place, allowing the Egyptians to organize battlefield administration. At 19th Division's bridgehead to the south, all efforts to lay three bridges there were abandoned due to difficulties with the terrain. Instead, supplies and reinforcement destined for the division were transferred over 7th Division's bridges to the north, where engineers were more successful in laying the bridges. Fighting throughout the front did not cease entirely for the rest of the day, most of it taking part around the besieged Israeli defences and strongpoints that still resisted. Meanwhile, the Sa'iqa units airdropped into Sinai the previous day began engaging Israeli reserves heading for the front. The main areas of operation were the central mountain passes, the northern coastal routes, and near the Gulf of Suez. One battalion, transported in 18 helicopters, captured the Ras Sidr Pass south of Port Tawfiq, near the Gulf of Suez. En route four helicopters were shot down, but the survivors, including 9 crewmen, managed to regroup with the rest of the battalion. It held its position for the remainder of the war under extremely difficult conditions, preventing Israeli reserves from using the pass to reach the front. Two companies attempted to establish themselves in central Sinai, between Tasa and Bir Gifgafa. Israeli air interdiction resulted in six helicopter making a
forced landing after being hit, while two helicopters turned and withdrew. The forced landings incurred many casualties, particularly due to burns, and the survivors trekked their way back to friendly lines. Only four helicopters reached the designated
landing zone, and they could not be flown once more, indicating the suicidal nature of these operations. Albeit a third of their original force, the Sa'iqa managed to block Israeli reserves for over eight hours. Both companies were almost completely destroyed, suffering around 150 dead, including 15 officers. Israeli estimates claim to have downed between ten and twenty helicopters on the first day of the war. In northern Sinai, a company established itself along the coastal road between Romani and Baluza on 6 October. The following day, it ambushed Colonel Natke Nir's armored brigade, part of Adan's division, destroying around 18 tanks along with other vehicles. The coastal road was blocked for over five hours. Airborne Israeli infantry was committed to support the armor, and in the ensuing battle, another 12 tanks and 6 half-tracks were destroyed. Some 30 soldiers of the brigade were killed, while the Sa'iqa company lost 75 dead. In addition to delaying Israeli reserves, commandos carried out sabotage operations. The report cards for these operations are highly controversial. Some sources claim the commandos suffered immense casualties and were ineffectual. However, it is clear that these operations inflicted damage and caused confusion and anxiety among the Israelis, who diverted resources to counter these threats, while reservists were slowed down. One Israeli divisional commander also commended the Egyptian Sa'iqa.
El-Qantarah also saw heavy fighting as troops from the 18th Division engaged Israeli forces within and around the town. By early morning the division commander, Brigadier General Fuad 'Aziz Ghali, was able to set up his command post there. Close quarter combat and even hand-to-hand fighting took place as the Egyptians cleared the ghost town building by building. Fighting was intense, and by the end of 7 October, the town and its outskirts as well as two nearby fortifications of the Bar Lev Line were under Egyptian control.
Israeli conference at Umm Hashiba David Elazar, encouraged by reports of IAF successes, decided to visit Israeli Southern Command. He was accompanied by his aide, Colonel Avner Shalev and the former Israeli Chief of Staff,
Yitzhak Rabin. Elazar arrived at Gonen's advance command post at Gebel Umm Hashiba at 18:45; chief among those attending were Gonen, Adan and Mandler. Sharon only arrived after the meeting had been concluded. At the conference, in light of the little information available on Egyptian dispositions and intentions, and due to a shortage of infantry and artillery, the commanders agreed they could not relieve the surrounded strongpoints on the canal in the near future. There was a general consensus to attack Egyptian forces throwing them off balance, but disagreed on how to do so. Southern Command expected to have 640 tanks on Monday 8 October, of which 530 tanks would be distributed among three divisions: 200 tanks under Adan, 180 under Sharon, and 150 under Mandler after part of his losses were replaced. Estimates put the number of Egyptian tanks at 400, when there were in fact 800 tanks across the canal by Sunday evening. In light of the apparent superiority, Gonen recommended a frontal attack at night with Adan's 162nd Division crossing to the west bank at
El-Qantarah and Sharon's 143rd Division crossing into Suez City. Adan however, lacking infantry, urged a cautious approach until more reserves reached the front. Elazar favored caution as well, and decided on a limited attack on the morning of 8 October. Adan would attack southward against Second Army, remaining away from the canal to avoid Egyptian anti-tank weaponry. Sharon would continue the southward probes towards Ismailia as his division moved into its sector, concentrating at Tasa to support Adan if needed. Kept open was the question of an Israeli counter-crossing should such the Egyptians collapse under Israeli counterattacks. Thereafter, Sharon arrived after missing the entire conference. Speaking with Gonen and the other commanders after Elazar had left, Sharon recommended an immediate assault to relieve the beleaguered strongpoints. Gonen pointed out that this had been the Israeli course of action for the past 14–16 hours, to no avail. However he did not reject Sharon outright, and indeed told him to prepare for such an attack, promising a final decision on the matter before 6:00 at dawn. Nevertheless, Sharon would conform to the original plan for a limited attack on the following day.
8 October The five division-size bridgeheads consolidated themselves on Monday, 8 October into two army-size bridgeheads: the Second Army with its three divisions occupied
El-Qantarah in the north to Deversoir in the south, while the Third Army with two divisions occupied the southern end of the Bitter Lakes to a point southeast of Port Tawfiq (at the far end of the canal). These two bridgeheads incorporated a total of 90,000 men and 980 tanks, dug in and entrenched. Each division deployed, in accordance with Operation Badr, two infantry brigades in its forward echelon, and one mechanized infantry brigade in the second echelon. In reserve was one armored brigade. The Egyptians had established anti-tank defences along their lines employing Sagger
ATGMs, RPGs, B-10 and B-11 anti tank recoilless rifles. At dawn a friendly fire incident occurred as the 2nd and 16th Divisions in Second Army were closing the gap between their bridgeheads. While cresting a ridge, two tank platoons from either division confronted each other at . The tank crews were so agitated that they opened fire immediately. Each platoon lost two of its three tanks to direct hits within minutes, and several men were killed. Shazly visited the front in the early morning before the Israeli attack to form an assessment of the situation. He arrived at Second Army Headquarters where he was briefed on the situation, then went to 2nd Division's advanced headquarters, where he met Brigadier General Hasan Abu Sa'ada and visited the frontline troops. Many of the soldiers had not slept for two nights, but the successful crossing was a morale booster, a
tonic as he described it. Shazly then went southward to 7th Division's bridgehead in Third Army's sector, where traffic was almost at a standstill. Shazly met with 7th division commander Brigadier General Badawy, who informed him of the bridge-laying problems experienced by 19th Division's engineers further south, leading all Third Army supplies and reinforcements to be sent over 7th Division's already congested bridges, creating a solid traffic jam. Despite Sunday's lull, the situation had not yet improved. This created complications, as soldiers and tank crews lost contact with their units and consequently had no idea of their designated positions. Many troops were low on supplies, and some even returned to the west bank of the canal to replenish their food and water supply. After conferring with the chief engineers of the Second and Third field armies, Shazly became aware that IAF, despite heavy losses, had destroyed so many bridge sections that the Egyptians had lost the equivalent of three heavy bridges, leaving four bridges in reserve along with the five already laid in the canal.
Israeli counterattack Shortly after midnight on 8 October, optimistic field reports expecting an imminent Egyptian collapse caused Gonen to alter plans for the attack. Adan would now attack in the direction of the strongpoints at Firdan and
Ismailia. The change was not formulated on precise tactical intelligence, and would come to cause some confusion among Israeli commanders for the rest of the day. anti-tank gun. The Egyptians employed conventional, recoilless, rocket-propelled and guided anti-tank weapons as well as tanks to counter Israeli armored forces. Adan's
162nd Armoured Division was deployed along the Baluza–Tasa road to the north. His division was composed of Colonel Natke Nir's armored brigade with 71 tanks, Gabi Amir's brigade with 50
M60 tanks, and Aryeh Keren's brigade with 62 tanks (still en route to the area) for a total of 183 tanks. Adan still planned to avoid Egyptian anti-tank weaponry by having Amir's brigade move southward between Lexicon and Artillery roads (the former road ran immediately alongside the canal, and the latter was east of it), to reach a position that would link the brigade to the Hizayon strongpoint opposite Firdan and the Purkan strongpoint opposite Ismailia. Nir would move in a similar manner to link up with Purkan. Keren would move east of Artillery Road and position his brigade opposite the Matzmed strongpoint at the northern end of the Bitter Lakes. A mechanized infantry brigade with 44
Super Shermans was expected to join in the attack by late morning. Little or no air support would come for the attack; the IAF was concentrated on the Syrian front. At 07:53, minutes before the Israeli attack was to commence, Israeli forces near El-Qantarah became heavily engaged with a brigade composing the 18th Division's right flank, as Egyptian troops sought to secure the town and its vicinity. Fuad, the division commander supported the brigade with two companies of
T-62 tanks. To prevent Israeli forces in the area from being outflanked, Gonen ordered Nir to remain near El-Qantarah to help contain the Egyptian attack. This left Adan with only 50 tanks under Amir's command to carry out the attack. Amir began the drive south at 08:06, and was ordered to prepare to reach the strongpoints on Adan's signal. Keren was still en route to the area. Once his brigade arrived he would conduct an assault against 16th Division's bridgehead in the direction of Matzmed. However, Amir made an error in navigation, and instead of moving from the canal, he moved along Artillery road, away. Consequently, Amir would be forced to conduct a frontal assault in an east–west direction instead of the north–south flanking maneuver which Adan had planned. Amir's brigade began to reach the plain between Artillery Road and the Firdan bridge at 09:00. So far no Egyptian resistance of any significance had been encountered. The brigade had the objective of attacking 2nd Division's bridgehead. Abu Sa'ada, the division commander, had the 24th Armored Brigade as the divisional reserve, but he could only commit it in case of an Israeli penetration. Gonen wanted Adan to reach the Hizayon strongpoint, and contacted Elazar in Tel Aviv at 09:55 to request a crossing of the canal. Gonen either downplayed or ignored negative reports and only told Elazar of positive developments. Elazar, who was at a meeting, communicated with Gonen through his assistant and approved of a crossing, also giving permission for Sharon's division to move south. By now Nir had disengaged at El-Qantarah, leaving a battalion behind, and arrived opposite the Firdan bridge at 12:30 with two tank battalions. While Amir and Nir discussed plans for an attack, Keren arrived and Adan ordered him to support Nir and Amir by attacking towards Purkan. Meanwhile, Sharon left Tasa and headed for Suez City, leaving a single reconnaissance company to hold vital ridges such as Hamadia and Kishuf, but not the hills to the north, such as Hamutal. Instead, Keren's brigade gained responsibility for these areas, but Sharon's action further endangered Adan's position. Amir's brigade was now down to one battalion, which was to attack with Nir's brigade of 50 tanks. To Amir's surprise, a reserve armored battalion of 25 tanks commanded by Colonel Eliashiv Shemshi arrived in the area, en route to Keren's brigade. Short of forces, Amir, with Adan's approval, commandeered Shemshi's battalion, and ordered him to provide covering fire for Nir's assault on the Firdan bridge. At around 13:00, a recon group from 2nd Division discovered around 75 tanks concentrating north east of the bridgehead. Ten minutes later the Egyptians intercepted a radio signal in Hebrew. Nir was informing his command that he was ready to attack within twenty minutes. With little time left, Abu Sa'ada decided to take a risky move. Estimating, correctly, that the attack would come be directed between his two forward brigades, the weakest point in his lines, Abu Sa'ada planned to draw Israeli forces into his bridgehead to within three kilometers of the canal before engaging them from all sides, committing all his anti-tank reserves. At 13:30, the attack was carried out by Amir and Nir's brigades. A lack of coordination and communication difficulties between both brigades hampered the attack. Nir's two battalions attacked at the same time in two echelons. The Egyptians allowed the Israelis to advance, then encircled them. When the attackers entered the prepared
killing zone, Egyptian armor of the 24th Brigade opened fire on the advancing tanks, complemented by infantry anti-tank weapons on either flank of the Israeli forces, while tank hunting detachments attacked from the rear. Within just 13 minutes, most of the Israeli force was destroyed—the Egyptians destroyed over 50 tanks and captured eight intact. Among the captured were Lieutenant Colonel Asaf Yaguri, a battalion commander, whose unit lost 32 killed. By the end of the attack Nir had just four operational tanks remaining, including his own. Gabi Amir's battalion, attacking to Nir's right, was forced to halt his advance after encountering stiff resistance. Amir requested air support several times, but did not receive any.
Egyptian advance Operation Badr called for an enlargement of the bridgeheads on 8 October. To accomplish this, each of the five infantry divisions had to reorganize its forces. Mechanized infantry brigades in the second echelon of divisional lines were to advance between the two forward infantry brigades. Thus the mechanized brigade would form the first line, the two infantry brigades would form the second line, and the reserve armored brigade would constitute a third echelon. The deepest penetration was in Third Army's sector, where the bridgehead reached a depth of nearly . The Israelis now made an attempt to regain the lost ground. Keren's brigade organized for an assault on Hamutal Hill. One battalion provided covering fire, while two battalions under Lieutenant Colonels Dan Spair and Amir (not to be confused with the brigade commander Gabi Amir) attacked with 27 tanks. Nearly from Egyptian positions, Dan Sapir was killed when his tank took a direct hit, disrupting his battalion's attack. Amir's battalion continued fighting until dusk after losing seven tanks. ==Aftermath==