The conflict between Egypt and Israel was brewing long before the events of June 1967. It was this time that became a turning point in the history of Israel. The Six Day War lasted from 5 to 10 June and brought unexpected results to both sides.
The President of Egypt was preparing for military action in advance. On May 22, he issued a decree to close all sea lanes to Israeli ships, thus violating more than one international agreement. In response to such steps, under international law, Israel could have taken military action, but did not. Such silence was perceived by Egypt as a sign of weakness and strengthened its belief in its own superiority. The ensuing six-day war was inevitable.
From that moment on, President Gamal Abdelem Nasser's statements included threats against the Israelis and promises to wipe their state from the map of the world. The threats were reinforced by the signing of an alliance with states bordering Israel. An army was formed on the territory of Jordan.
The atmosphere heated up and sowed panic among the peaceful Government in the person of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol could not calm and inspire people. All men from 18 to 55 were called to military service. The war in Israel promised to be short.
The Israeli government did not wait for direct hostilities from the Arabs and was the first to strike at the enemy. On June 5, the Israeli Air Force destroyed all Egyptian combat aircraft and caused serious damage to Syrian aircraft. At the request of the Prime Minister of Israel, the UN representatives asked not to enter the war and were refused.
Full-scale hostilities began. The loss of the air force dealt Nasser a big blow to his pride. Israeli intelligence services were able to record Nasser's conversation with King Hussein, in which they discussed what to tell the public that American and British aircraft were involved in the hostilities along with Israeli aircraft. After such a statement, all Arab countries broke off diplomatic relations with the United States. A week later, King Hussein apologized for the lie. This is probably due to the fact that the recording of the conversation was made public.
Israeli troops moved swiftly. They quickly took possession of the Sinai Peninsula, Judea and Samaria. The most difficult was the battle for the Golan Heights. However, by June 10, Israel had captured them too.
The Six Day War claimed the lives of 679 Jews. For a small country, the losses were huge. Despite this, all Jewish world rejoiced.
New borders were drawn, almost quadrupling Israel's territory. Despite the resounding victory, main task Israel was the establishment of peace. He was ready to return part of the conquered territories in exchange for the signing of a peace agreement so that the war would end as soon as possible. Israel was set for peace.
However, the Arab countries did not agree to this and relations between the countries only worsened. A few months later, the heads of the Arab countries met and proclaimed a categorical no to peace with the Jews and the refusal to recognize their state.
The Six Day War affected not only the life of the Jewish state itself, but also the representatives of this people living in other countries. The heroism and courage of the soldiers during the war filled the hearts of all Jews with pride and joy. American Jews sent huge sums of money before, during and after the war to support the army and the civilian population. Citizens began to join the ranks of the members of the Jewish organization "Jewish Appeal" different countries. The number of young participants has especially increased.
The descendants of the Jews, who had already begun to forget about their roots, began to come to Israel more and more often.
Six Day War 1967 Israeli tankers
The events leading up to the war developed rapidly. The Arab countries, believing in their huge numerical superiority and having received tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons from the USSR, seriously hoped to destroy the Jewish state with the support of the USSR. The USSR openly provoked the Arabs to unleash aggression against Israel, hoping in this way to assert its hegemony over the strategically important Middle East.
The turning point on the path to the Six Day War occurred on May 11, 1967. when the Russian representatives handed over to the Egyptians a fake fabricated in Moscow about a large-scale war allegedly being prepared by Israel. The Russian-made "document" claimed that the IDF had concentrated troops on the northern border in order to overthrow the ruling regime in Syria.
The Israeli government immediately refuted this provocative fake, inviting the Soviet ambassador to Israel to personally verify the absence of Israeli troops on the Syrian border. However, the Soviet ambassador D. Chuvakin rejected this proposal.
Yevgeny Pyrlin, in those days the head of the Egyptian department of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, later explained Soviet actions: "We then believed that even if our side - the Egyptians - did not win, the war would give us political benefits, since the Egyptians would demonstrate their ability to fight with our weapons and with our military and political support."
The Arabs used the Russian fake as a basis for moving Egyptian troops to the Sinai Peninsula, which gave Egypt direct access to the Israeli borders and, last but not least, to the Straits of Tiran leading to the Israeli port of Eilat.
This was a flagrant violation of the UN decisions that declared the Sinai Peninsula a demilitarized zone, in which only units of the UN forces were stationed.
Egypt demanded the withdrawal of UN forces from Sinai, which was immediately carried out under pressure from the USSR on the UN Security Council: UN Secretary General U Thant unexpectedly ordered the withdrawal of UN forces from Sinai, thereby opening the way for Arab armies to the borders of Israel.
In fact, the Russians pushed the Arabs in every possible way to unleash a "hot" war against Israel.
On May 14, columns of Egyptian infantry and armored vehicles crossed the Suez Canal and occupied the Sinai Peninsula, blocking the Strait of Tiran for the passage of Israeli ships. This was an act of unprovoked declaration of war against Israel.
Feverish consultations began at the UN, but Russian representative Nikolai Fedorenko opposed any proposal to lift the blockade. His Canadian and Danish colleagues told Mr. Fedorenko bluntly: "There is an unpleasant feeling that the USSR is playing a game that allows the crisis to escalate in order to force Israel into action." Soviet Ambassador to Israel Chuvakin, in conversations with colleagues, predicted the sad fate awaiting the Jewish state.
May 17 followed new act aggression - 2 Russian MiGs with Egyptian identification marks flew over the territory of Israel - from the east (from Jordan) to the west. Their flight passed exactly over the Israeli nuclear center in Dimona.
Spy satellites, as well as conventional intelligence services, supplied the USSR with accurate data regarding the Dimona facility. In light of the fact that intelligence cooperation between the USSR and Egypt was very close in those years, it is obvious that the USSR passed information about the Israeli reactor to Egypt.
In Moscow, they were feverishly looking for ways to destroy the Israeli nuclear center, which was completely “redundant,” according to the Soviet leadership. reliable information about Israel's nuclear capabilities. There is information that one of the reasons for unleashing the Six-Day War by Egypt was the desire to strike at Israel before that country could use nuclear weapons. In the military plans of Egypt, Dimona was listed as one of the main targets.
On May 22, Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran in the Red Sea to Israeli shipping, which for Israel was a "casus belli".
On May 26, the Egyptian president said "if war breaks out, it will be total and its goal will be the destruction of Israel."
Arabs and Russians were already looking forward to their victory and the massacre of the Israelis. The bloc led by Egypt, backed by the USSR, was joined one by one by Arab countries that sent their troops to the war against Israel: Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Morocco. On May 30, Jordan joined this bloc.
Arab countries have deployed hundreds of thousands of well-equipped soldiers, 700 combat aircraft and about 2,000 tanks along Israel's borders.
The USSR concentrated over 30 surface ships and 10 submarines, including nuclear submarines, in the Mediterranean. Landing groups were formed on each of more than 30 Soviet ships, which, according to the plans of the Soviet command, were to land on the coast of Israel ...
Now Israel was surrounded on all sides by the armies of militant Arab countries and the USSR, ready to strike at the Jewish state.
Israel was clearly aware of the impending threat. A war on three fronts has become a reality. In Tel Aviv alone, up to 10 thousand victims of the bombings were expected, city squares and parks were consecrated as cemeteries.
On May 23, general mobilization began in the country: about 220 thousand people were mobilized into the army, consolidated into 21 brigades - 5 armored, 4 mechanized, 3 parachute and 9 infantry.
Israeli paratroopers. 1967
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Meeting of special forces officers of the General Staff
Reservists
Pilots
The IDF included 275 thousand people, about 1000 tanks, 450 aircraft and 26 warships.
The following strike groupings of troops were created: the Sinai direction (Southern Front) - 8 brigades, 600 tanks and 220 combat aircraft, personnel - 70 thousand people;
the Damascus direction (Northern Front) - 5 brigades, about 100 tanks, 330 pieces of artillery, up to 70 combat aircraft, personnel - about 50 thousand people;
Amman direction (Central Front) - 7 brigades, 220 tanks and self-propelled guns, up to 400 artillery pieces, 25 combat aircraft, 35 thousand people. personnel.
Officers discussing intelligence
On the evening of June 1, Moshe Dayan was appointed to the post of Minister of Defense of Israel. The appointment of this combat general meant that Israel was ready for all-out war.
Defense Minister Moshe Dayan 
Chief of the General Staff General Yitzhak Rabin 
Air Force Commander General Mordechai Hod (right)
The Six Day War began on June 5, 1967. Israel launched a preemptive strike against the Arab countries that were complicit in the aggression.
At 0745 hours, the Israeli Air Force attacked along the entire front. Their plan of action was to seize absolute air supremacy - to strike at air bases and destroy all enemy combat aircraft on the ground. The destruction of the enemy Air Force completely untied the hands ground forces Israel, ready to inflict mortal blows on the enemy's vastly superior ground forces.
Israeli planes attack enemy ground forces
The Israeli Air Force used completely new tactical solutions that came as a surprise to the enemy. Instead of flying straight at their targets, the first wave of Israeli planes flew out to sea, turned around, and at low altitude, over the crests of the waves, approached from the west - not at all from the direction from which the Egyptians expected to attack.
After the first strike, which came as a complete surprise to the Arabs because their radar and communications were blinded, Israeli aircraft returned to the airfields to refuel and suspend weapons and again went into battle. Less than two days later, with a rather small number of aircraft, the Israeli Air Force completed about 1,100 sorties, many pilots made 8 to 10 sorties a day.
Having destroyed 300 out of 320 Egyptian planes, the Israelis immediately proceeded to defeat the air forces of other Arab states. After crushing blows, the air forces of Iraq, Jordan and Syria were also destroyed. In air battles, Israeli pilots shot down another sixty enemy aircraft.
Paratrooper Colonel Rafael Eitan (future Chief of the General Staff) and Tank General Israel Tal (future creator of the Merkava tank)
On the morning of June 5, Israeli ships navy made demonstrative shelling of Alexandria and Port Said. The attack by Israeli warships, in addition to continuous air strikes, achieved one important goal: it prevented the shelling of Tel Aviv from the sea with missiles with a range of 35 miles, equipped with 1000-pound warheads. These missiles were equipped with 18 Russian missile boats transferred by the USSR to Egypt. The next morning, June 6, the Arabs, in fear of Israeli attacks, hurriedly withdrew their fleet from Port Said to Alexandria, and Tel Aviv was out of missile range.
After seizing air supremacy, the IDF launched a ground operation. The Six Day War of 1967 was a true triumph for the Israeli armored forces.
For the first time, Israeli tank formations operated simultaneously on three fronts. They were opposed many times superior forces seven Arab states, but this did not save the Arabs from total defeat.
On southern front the blow was struck by the forces of three tank divisions of Generals Tal, Sharon and Ioffe. IN offensive operation, dubbed the "March across the Sinai", Israeli tank formations, interacting with aviation, motorized infantry and paratroopers, made a lightning breakthrough of the enemy's defenses and moved through the desert, destroying the encircled groups of Arabs. A brigade of paratroopers was the first to break into the city of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea. The paratroopers were the first to reach the Suez Canal, ahead of the tank units.
On the northern front, the landing brigade stormed the enemy fortifications on Mount Hermon and ensured the capture of the Golan Heights. The 36th tank division General Peled, who after three days of fierce fighting went to the outskirts of Damascus.
On the eastern front, heavy fighting unfolded for eastern Jerusalem. The paratroopers under the command of Colonel Mota Gur had to overcome the fierce resistance of the enemy, hand-to-hand fights went for every house.
Fight in Jerusalem
The situation was complicated by the command's ban on the use of heavy equipment in battle, so as not to cause damage to the religious shrines of Jerusalem. Finally, on June 7, a white and blue flag with the Star of David flew over the Temple Mount and Colonel Gur said on the radio the words that entered the history of Israel: “The Temple Mount is in our hands! I repeat, we have taken the Temple Mount! I am standing near the mosque of Omar, at the very Wall of the Temple!
Paratroopers at the Western Wall of the Temple
By June 12, 1967 the active phase of the fighting was completed. The IDF won a complete victory over the troops of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Israeli troops captured the entire Sinai Peninsula (with access to the east coast of the Suez Canal) and the Gaza region from Egypt, the western bank of the Jordan River and the eastern sector of Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria. Under Israeli control was an area of 70 thousand square meters. km with a population of more than 1 million people.
Generals Dayan, Rabin and Zeevi (Gandhi) in the liberated Old City of Jerusalem
Arab casualties in 6 days of fighting, according to the British Institute strategic research, amounted to: 70 thousand people. killed, wounded and captured, about 1200 tanks (mostly Russian-made)
Arab losses were catastrophic. Of the 935 tanks available in the Sinai, Egypt lost more than 820 by the start of hostilities: 291 T-54s, 82 T-55s, 251 T-34-85s, 72 IS-3Ms, 51 SU-100s, 29 PT-76s, and about 50 Sherman and M4/FL10., more than 2500 armored personnel carriers and trucks, more than 1000 artillery pieces.
100 tanks were captured in perfect working order and with unused ammunition, and about 200 with minor damage.
The losses of the air forces of the Arab countries amounted to more than 400 combat aircraft:
MIG-21 - 140, MIG-19 - 20, MIG-15/17 - 110, Tu-16 - 34, Il-28 - 29, Su-7 - 10, AN-12 - 8, Il-14 - 24, MI-4 - 4, MI-6 - 8, Hunter -30
In the hands of a soldier - "Super-Bazooka" 82-mm Israeli production, the official name is MARNAT-82-mm 
About 90% of all military equipment enemy, often completely serviceable, all stocks of ammunition, fuel, equipment, generously supplied by the USSR to the Arabs - all this went to Israel as trophies.
Captured Russian armored vehicles captured from the Arabs at a parade in Jerusalem.
Israel lost 679 people killed, 61 tanks, 48 aircraft.
The Six-Day War was not an accidental impromptu, implemented due to existing external threats to the Jewish state. The preparation and planning of the grandiose military operation, implemented during the Six-Day War, was carried out by the IDF General Staff for many years.
On the eve of the war, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General Khaim Barlev, expressed his opinion about the course of the upcoming military operations with soldierly frankness: "We will beat them (Arabs and Russians) hard, quickly and elegantly." The general's prediction was fully confirmed.
The "father" of the planning of the Six-Day War was the Chief of Operations of the General Staff in the 50s. Major General Yuval Neeman, a man of undeniable genius - along with a brilliant military career he is a world famous theoretical physicist whose research in physics elementary particles brought him a number of the most prestigious awards and almost provided him with Nobel Prize in physics. (Physicist Yuval Neeman discovered the omega minus particle, but the Nobel Committee rejected his candidacy, apparently because of his general rank)
The Commander-in-Chief of the Israeli Air Force, General Mordechai Hod, said at the time: “Sixteen years of planning are reflected in these exciting eighty hours. We lived this plan, we went to bed and ate, thinking about it. Finally, we made it."
Israel's victory in the Six-Day War predetermined the development of events in the world and the Middle East for many years to come, and finally destroyed the hopes of the Arabs and their Russian allies for the destruction of the Jewish state.
At 5.08 a female officer appears in the frame. This is the daughter of General Moshe Dayan, Lieutenant Yael Dayan.
See also:
Why the Israeli army managed to win the "Six Day War"
The "Six-Day War" (June 5–10, 1967) in the Middle East has become largely a household name. This term in a broad sense began to denote the crushing rapid defeat of a formally more powerful enemy. In a narrow sense, the successful implementation of the tactics of the first disarming strike on enemy airfields, providing the attacking side with air superiority leading to victory on the ground.
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan by the beginning of the war had a total of up to 700 combat aircraft, Israel - about 300. On the first day of the war, the Arabs lost at the airfields and in air battles, according to various sources, from 360 to 420 aircraft, Israel (in air battles and from ground air defense) - from 18 to 44 aircraft. The difference, of course, is colossal, but still the Arab Air Force did not cease to exist (at least the Egyptian and Syrian, Jordanian ones were completely destroyed). Even if we take the worst losses for them, by the morning of the second day of the war in aviation, the parties had an approximate quantitative equality. However, although isolated air battles took place before June 9, the Israelis won complete air supremacy. This was due to the much better flight and combat training of Israeli pilots, a more advanced aviation control system, as well as the strongest psychological shock to the Arabs from the June 5 defeat.
Air superiority, of course, greatly contributed to the victory of the Israelis on the ground, although there was no "easy walk" was not. During the first two days of the war, the Egyptian 6th Motorized Infantry Division even managed to penetrate 10 km into Israeli territory. Nevertheless, air superiority, a higher level of combat training and the initiative of the Israeli military personnel compared to the Arab ones did their job. In addition, the Egyptian leadership fell into a panic. On the morning of June 6, Commander-in-Chief General Amer ordered his troops in the Sinai to retreat. Naturally, this retreat, in the face of continuous Israeli attacks from the ground and air, very quickly turned into a flight and into a complete disaster. The fighting in the Sinai ended on the morning of June 9, the Egyptians lost from 10 to 15 thousand people. killed and up to 5 thousand prisoners, up to 800 tanks (291 T-54, 82 T-55, 251 T-34/85, 72 IS-3M, 29 PT-76, up to 50 Shermans), a huge amount of other armored vehicles. Moreover, the Israelis captured a significant part of the Egyptian tanks and armored personnel carriers in perfect working order. There were so many trophies that, despite the lack of Soviet spare parts, practical Israelis adopted them (including 81 T-54s and 49 T-55s), changing weapons and engines to Western ones. Individual samples of that technology are still serving Israel. In particular, a very successful Akhzarit armored personnel carrier was created on the T-54 / T-55 chassis, which was actively used in the 2006 Lebanese war. Israel itself lost 120 tanks in the Sinai - less than it captured.
In parallel, there were battles between Israel and Jordan for Jerusalem and the West Bank of the Jordan River, and these battles were distinguished by exceptional tenacity. So, on June 6, the Jordanians even surrounded the Israeli tank battalion, but failed to destroy it. Once again, a higher level of preparation and initiative of the Israelis and air supremacy took over. In addition, the Jordanian Armed Forces were the smallest of all Arab armies who participated in this war, so it was most difficult for them to resist the Jews. The losses of the parties in armored vehicles turned out to be quite close (about 200 tanks for Jordan, a little over 100 for Israel). Here fighting ended on June 7, the Arabs were thrown back over the Jordan. The Jews took revenge for the defeats of 1948 by taking back Latrun and the Old City in Jerusalem.
Syria "philosophically", that is, without doing anything, watched how Israel crushed its allies, and, of course, waited in the wings, which came on June 9th. At noon, Israeli troops began their assault on the Golan Heights. For them, this part of the war became the most difficult, since the terrain was on the side of the Arabs. Even according to their own data, the Israelis lost twice as many tanks here as the Syrians - 160 versus 80 (it is interesting that the Syrian army had T-34/85s and German StuG IIIs at the same time). However, the Jews went to storm the heights, already knowing that they would win, the Syrians defended themselves, already knowing that they would lose. At 6:30 p.m. on June 10, there was an official ceasefire.
The Arabs lost at least 1,100 tanks, from 380 to 450 combat aircraft (including up to 60 in air battles), up to 40 thousand people killed and captured. Israeli losses amounted to about 400 tanks (Centurion, Sherman and M48), 45 aircraft (12 of them in air battles), up to 1 thousand people were killed.
Tank "Sherman" on the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, 1967. Photo: AFP / East News
For 6 days, Israel managed to radically change the balance of power in the Middle East. He defeated the armies of all three Arab countries bordering him (the fourth - Lebanon - could not be taken into account because of its weakness), his main enemy, Egypt, suffered especially heavy losses. Even more important was the fact that now it has become very favorable geographical position Israel. As of the morning of June 5, the Arabs had the theoretical ability to cut it in half in less than an hour (at the narrowest point from the border with Jordan to the coast mediterranean sea was only 15 km of Israeli territory). On the evening of June 10, the Jewish state was reliably protected from the north by the Golan Heights, from the east by the Jordan River, from the southwest by the Suez Canal, as well as the expanse of the Sinai Peninsula and the Negev desert. The Israeli leadership was sure that they had ensured the security of their country for at least 20-25 years. In 1970, the geopolitical situation became even more favorable for him after Jordan de facto withdrew from the anti-Israeli front because of the conflict with the Palestinians and Syria behind them.
The Six Day War was a triumph for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF in Hebrew). To this day, the IDF remains the best living refutation of the Anglo-Saxon thesis (which was very fond of many Russians) about the advantages of a "professional", that is, a mercenary army. The Israeli army is, one might say, the most draft army in the world, even women are drafted into it, no alternative service not provided (it is “passed” in prison). However, it differs the highest level combat training, excellent living conditions for servicemen, the absence of hazing. The well-known explanation for this phenomenon, which is that "Israel is surrounded by enemies", is absolutely meaningless. The fact of being surrounded by enemies, of course, requires the presence of a draft army (in general, the principle of manning the Armed Forces of any country is determined by what tasks they face, and nothing more), but it has nothing to do with internal device army and the quality of personnel training.
From a political point of view, Israel's behavior in June 1967 was certainly aggression. At the same time, it should be noted that before the start of the war, anti-Israeli rhetoric in Arab countries passed into the stage of outright hysteria and Tel Aviv could interpret it as preparation for aggression against him. Given the significant military and geographical advantage of the Arabs, it would put Israel in an extremely difficult position, so he decided to launch a preemptive strike and remind that the winners are not judged. Of course, hysterical rhetoric is very often intended only for internal consumption. However, the external objects of hysterical rhetoric are not at all obliged to understand that this is all “pretend”. The Arabs simply "answered for the bazaar", which was fair. You can not fight - sit and be silent.
As the past four decades have shown, the Six Day War was the high point of Israeli success. After that, retreats began. Moreover, their inevitability was laid down by this war itself. The Arabs, having lost territories, received a legal justification for their anti-Semitism. The Israelis, having seized the West Bank of the Jordan and the Gaza Strip, received an absolutely hostile Palestinian population inside the country, which, as it now turns out, due to an incomparably higher birth rate, can very soon bypass the Jewish population in terms of numbers. As a result, a momentary improvement in the strategic situation became powerful bomb delayed action under the Jewish state.
Arab armies have long ceased to risk getting involved in battle with the IDF. But with the "basic instinct" of the Arabs, everything is fine. The demographic today is much stronger than the traditional. Militarily zero Palestine is gradually achieving what Egypt and Syria, armed to the teeth, have failed to do.
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The Six Day War is a war in the Middle East between Israel on the one hand and Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Algeria on the other, which lasted from June 5 to June 10, 1967.
Previous events
The July Revolution of 1952 in Egypt overthrew the monarchy. A Revolutionary Command Council was formed, made up of the officers who carried out the coup. Soon, one of them, Gamal Abdel Nasser, became president of Egypt. A republic was proclaimed. Nasser wanted to consolidate the nation, to "export" the revolution to other Arab countries.
Reinforcements sent by Brigadier General Uzi Narkis to the commander of the central forces allowed him to launch an offensive with three brigades. The paratroopers of the units of Colonel Mordechai (Mota) Gur were the main ones in the operation. On the same day, they approached the walls of the Old City, where the Jordanian Brigadier General Ata Ali commanded the garrison.
June 6th Second day. The Israeli advance on was halted by strong and stubborn resistance. Nevertheless, the encirclement of the city was completed - parts of the tank brigade captured in the north, another brigade occupied Latrun in the southwest. For the first time since 1947, the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road was open to Israeli traffic.
June 7th. The third day. Colonel Gur stormed the Old City. Around noon was captured, a little later -. Both sides accept the proposal of the UN Security Council for a ceasefire from 20:00.
Jenin-Nablus battle
June 5th First day. The Israeli Northern Force, led by Major General David Elazar, was approximately two and a half brigades. By midnight, one division and a reinforced tank brigade were approaching Jenin.
June 7th. The third day. The Israelis, continuing the onslaught on, after a bloody battle, took possession of it. The heavily depleted Jordanian forces crossed the Jordan River, where they remained until the ceasefire.
Operations on the Syrian front
5 − 8 June. First - fourth day. held six Syrian brigades (with six in reserve) in the east of Quneitra. On the evening of June 5, Israeli Air Force strikes destroyed approximately two-thirds of the entire Syrian Air Force. For four days, artillery duels took place, the parties did not attempt to seize the initiative.
the 9th of June. Fifth day. Elazar was ordered to urgently launch an offensive early in the morning. He concentrated troops for an initial push through the Dan Banias region north of the Golan plateau, along the foot of the mountain. By nightfall, these forces had broken through the Syrian defenses, and three brigades reached the plateau early the next morning. At the same time, other units were fighting their way through the hills north of Lake Kinneret, and Elazar ordered the units that had recently fought in the Jenin-Nablus region to move north and hit the Golan Heights south of the lake.
June 10th. Sixth day. The Israelis broke through the Syrian defenses in the northern Golan Heights, then stepped up their frontal attack across the plateau to approach Quneitra from the north, west, and southwest. At the same time, a group of troops redeployed from the Jordanian front threatened Quneitra from the south. By evening, Quneitra was surrounded, and the armored unit entered the city.
The ceasefire went into effect at 19:30.
War at sea
There were no major naval battles during the war.
On June 8, 1967, the US Navy vessel "", which was engaged in electronic intelligence off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula (as stated - "unmarked") and entered the war zone, was attacked by Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats in the afternoon. The attack killed 34 and wounded 173 American sailors.
According to the Israeli side, the ship was "erroneously identified." According to other assumptions, the ship was attacked by the Israelis intentionally to prevent the United States from collecting information about military operations in the region, in particular, to prevent them from detecting the movement of Israeli troops in the Galilee in anticipation of the capture of the Golan Heights.
Israeli saboteur divers were sent to the harbors of Port Said and Alexandria, but failed to damage a single ship. 6 Israeli divers were captured in Alexandria and taken prisoner.
The losses of the belligerents
From the Israeli side. According to various sources, Israel lost 779 people in this war (according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry - 776 people). Of these, 338 died on the Sinai front, 300 on the Jordanian front (including 183 in the battle for Jerusalem) and 141 on the Syrian front, according to other sources, total irretrievable losses amounted to 983 people.
From the Arab countries that took part in the hostilities
- Egypt - 11,500 dead (according to some estimates - up to 15 thousand), 20,000 wounded, 5,500 prisoners.
- Jordan - 696 dead, 421 injured, 2,000 missing.
- Syria - from 1000 to 2500 dead, 5000 wounded.
- Iraq - 10 dead, 30 injured.
The results of the war
In this war, Israel achieved a landslide victory in a matter of days, capturing the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. 1949 became the administrative border between Israel and the new territories.
On June 28, 1967, by order of the Israeli government, Israeli jurisdiction and the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem were extended to the Jordanian (eastern) sector of Jerusalem and the adjacent parts of the West Bank. Sources and politicians of the time disagreed whether this action constituted official annexation or not. The unequivocal formal annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel occurred on November 30, 1980, when it was passed declaring East Jerusalem to be Israel's sovereign territory and the entire city to be its "one and indivisible capital".
In total, Israel gained control of an area 3.5 times its pre-war area.
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six day war
Hebrew מלחמת ששת הימים
translit. "Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim"
Arab. حرب الأيام الستة
translit. "Harb al-ayam as-sitta"
or Arab. حرب 1967
translit. "harb 1967"
Accusation by Egypt and Jordan of the US and Great Britain of hostilities on the side of Israel and its exposure
On June 6, in telephone conversations between King Hussein of Jordan and Nasser intercepted by Israel, Hussein agrees to support Egypt and accuse the US and UK of fighting on Israel's side. However, he quickly drops the accusation when the recording of their conversation becomes public on June 8.
Nevertheless, Nasser managed to bring this accusation in a letter on June 6 to A.N. Kosygin. The Egyptian and Jordanian media picked up this accusation, Syria also accused Australia of the same, mobs of Muslims attacked the US and British embassies in the Middle East and North Africa. Despite his exposure, this accusation is still alive in the Muslim world, including scientific historical publications.
Mutual accusations in executions of prisoners of war
During the Egyptians' erratic retreat from Sinai, Israel captured a huge number of prisoners (presumably over 20,000 people). For the most part, these prisoners, with the exception of the officers, were transported through the Suez Canal and sent home. Many Egyptians died of thirst, were injured, or went missing. About 5 thousand captured Egyptian officers, including generals, were exchanged for 10 captured Israelis.
In the mid-1990s, reports appeared in the Israeli and international press that Israeli soldiers had killed hundreds of unarmed Egyptians in the course of the war.
According to the Associated Press, military historian A. Yitzhaki said in an interview with the AP that during several mass executions (during the war), the Israeli army killed about 1,000 prisoners of war in the Sinai Peninsula. According to him, on June 9-10, 1967, about 400 Egyptian and Palestinian prisoners were killed in the dunes near El Arish after two Israeli soldiers were mortally wounded by fire from their side: “The enraged Israeli soldiers got out of control of the officers and shot all the prisoners." In all, he spoke of 6-7 such cases, "usually provoked."
According to historian M. Pail, some of the participants in the shootings were convicted by an Israeli military court, but information about the courts was hidden by military censorship. According to historian W. Milstein, during the war there were many cases when Israeli soldiers killed prisoners of war after they raised their hands and surrendered.
A. Yitzhaki believed that the cases of mass executions were well known to the then Minister of Defense M. Dayan and the head General Staff I. Rabin.
In addition, he said that some of the soldiers involved in the executions were under the command of B. Ben-Eliezer (minister in 1995). Ben-Eliezer's spokeswoman said he was "not aware of any such killings." Prime Minister Rabin's secretariat later issued a statement condemning such killings and calling them isolated incidents.
G. Bron (Yediot Ahronot) personally observed how, by order of the Israeli "martial court", at least 10 prisoners were shot, who had previously been ordered to dig their own graves. Israeli soldiers (including Bron), who were watching the executions from afar, were ordered by officers at gunpoint to leave.
M. Bar-Zohar wrote that he personally observed the murder of 3 prisoners of war.
According to the New York Times, the Egyptian government reported in 1995 that it had found 2 burials at El Arish containing the remains of between 30 and 60 prisoners allegedly killed by Israeli soldiers. Deputy Foreign Minister E. Dayan, who arrived in Cairo, offered compensation to the families of the victims, saying that "in accordance with the law on a 20-year statute of limitations, Israel will not pursue those who could be responsible for these cases." The Israeli ambassador to Egypt, D. Sultan, was personally accused by the Egyptian newspaper Al Shaab of being responsible for the murder of 100 prisoners. The Israeli Foreign Ministry denied these accusations, while the ambassador was recalled from Egypt at his own request.
In 2007, after being shown on Israeli TV channel 1 documentary film R. Edelista "Ruach Shaked" (about the Shaked Battalion, then under the command of B. Ben-Eliezer), this topic was brought up again. In particular, the film said that the Israelis shot 250 Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula after the end of the Six-Day War, and did not transfer them to a prisoner of war camp. At the same time, most of the Egyptians were shot while chasing the retreating units of the Egyptian commandos. The screening of the film caused diplomatic complications between Israel and Egypt, and the Egyptian side demanded that those responsible be punished.
Ben-Eliezer accused the filmmakers of numerous inaccuracies, arguing that the dead were not Egyptian soldiers, but Palestinian militants trained by Egyptian intelligence, who died not after surrendering, but during hostilities. Later, R. Edelist himself said that he confused the Egyptian prisoners of war with the Palestinian Fedayeen militants, and they were killed during the battle "during their retreat", and were not executed, but the Israelis used "excessive force".
UN monitors stationed in Egypt during the Six Day War also cast doubt on Egypt's claim that Israeli forces allegedly killed 250 Egyptian prisoners of war. Captain M. Zorc and Private M. Stosic (both from the former Yugoslavia) said that if a large number of POWs had been killed in the area, they would almost certainly have known about it. In addition, Zorch stated that he knew many local Egyptians, none of whom had ever mentioned any massacre in the area.
A number of sources attribute Egypt's reaction to the fact that Ben-Eliezer, as Minister of Infrastructures, tried to end Egypt's monopoly on natural gas supplies to Israel. Lawyer E. Gervits wrote:
- Israel's accusations of executing Egyptian prisoners of war during the Sinai campaign (1956), the Six-Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973) were first made by Israeli historians seeking media attention in this way. In 1994, a book by the historian Uri Milstein was published, in which allegations of this kind were made for the first time. In 1995, another study by the historian Aryeh Yitzhaki was published...
- As a result of such publications, a government commission was created to verify the allegations of mass executions of Egyptian prisoners of war. She completed the work in early 1998. The commission's report noted that both sides, both Israelis and Egyptians, were guilty of killing prisoners of war.
- … the families of the Egyptian soldiers who died during the Six Day War filed a lawsuit in the Egyptian court of El Arish against the State of Israel and the then head of government, Ariel Sharon. They accused Israeli forces of torturing and executing 16,000 Egyptian prisoners of war, demanding $12 million in compensation. In January 2005, the court found the claim unproven.
In turn, the same historian A. Yitzhaki and Israeli soldiers who were in Egyptian captivity accused Egypt of mass executions of Israeli prisoners of war. Yitzhaki estimates the number of those executed at 100-120 people. According to Yitzhaki, "Israel behaves passively in everything that concerns propaganda and counter-propaganda" and "should attack, not defend."
The Egyptian Foreign Minister said that Israeli accusations of shooting prisoners of war are "complete nonsense" and "an attempt to gloss over the crimes committed against Egyptian prisoners of war."
Population displacement
Arabs
According to one of the new Israeli historians Benny Morris, during and immediately after the war, the West Bank r. Jordan left about a quarter of its Arab population (between 200,000 and 250,000 people). About 70,000 people left the Gaza Strip, and 80,000 to 100,000 people left the Golan Heights.
According to Morris, in the city of Qalqilya and villages southeast of Jerusalem, houses were destroyed by the Israelis "not in the course of battles, but as a punishment and with the aim of expelling the inhabitants, .... contrary to government policy." In Qalqilya about a third of the houses were destroyed. However, the residents of both districts were then allowed to return. There is evidence of cases where Israeli troops ordered the population to leave their homes and cross the Jordan River. From East Jerusalem, people were taken by Israeli buses to the Jordanian border, but according to Morris, there is no evidence that this was done under duress. When crossing the border, those leaving had to sign a document that they did it of their own free will.
After the war, the Israeli government announced that it would allow any refugees who wished to return. However, in practice, only 17,000 people out of 120,000 who expressed their desire were allowed to return.
According to Morris, taking advantage of the shock caused by the war, in Jerusalem on June 10, the Israeli authorities began the destruction of the so-called Muslim quarter of Mughrabi in the immediate vicinity of the Wailing Wall. In its place, a large square was created in front of this Jewish shrine.
At the same time, in a letter from Israel's representative to the UN addressed to her Secretary General in March 1968, it was indicated that during Jordanian control over this quarter, it turned into a slum, 2/3 of its area either belonged to Jews or was in public use. In April 1968, the Israeli government officially transferred the area in front of the Western Wall to public use, compensation was offered to private landowners (200 Jordanian dinars per family for Arabs).
In the Old City of Jerusalem, about 300 Arab families were evicted from their houses in the Jewish quarter, who settled in them after the expulsion of 1,500 Jews from the Old City by Transjordan during the 1948 war.
Jews in Islamic countries
In connection with the victory of Israel and the defeat of the Arabs, the Jewish minority, still living in the Arab countries, was immediately subjected to persecution and expulsion. As historian Michael Oren writes:
- “Crowds attacked Jewish neighborhoods in Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, burning synagogues and attacking Jews. As a result of the pogrom in Tripoli (Libya), 18 Jews were killed and 25 were injured, the survivors were herded into places of detention.
- "Of the 4,000 Jews of Egypt, 800 were arrested, including the chief rabbis of both Cairo and Alexandria, and their property was requisitioned by the state."
- "The ancient Jewish communities of Damascus and Baghdad were placed under house arrest, their leaders were arrested and fined."
- "In total, 7,000 Jews were expelled, many with only what they could carry in their hands."
Diplomatic consequences
9 June — A meeting of leaders of the ruling parties and governments of Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia is held in Moscow.
On June 9, in his address to the nation, UAR President Nasser announced his resignation and accused the countries of the West that their air forces were secretly fighting on the side of Israel. After massive demonstrations in his support, Nasser remained in office.
June 10 - Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia break off diplomatic relations with Israel (Romania refrained from such a step, and the GDR did not have diplomatic relations with Israel).
June 17 - July 21 - the 5th emergency special session of the UN General Assembly, convened at the suggestion of the USSR, was held in New York. None of the three draft resolutions on the Arab-Israeli conflict has been adopted. According to A.A. Gromyko, the main reason for this was:
1) The categorical refusal of all Arab delegations to accept any wording calling for an end to the state of war between the Arabs and Israel.
2) A categorical refusal by the United States and the countries that support them to agree to a decision to withdraw troops without a simultaneous call by the Assembly to end the state of war.
Telegram of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.A. Gromyko in the Central Committee of the CPSU
On July 4 and 14, three resolutions were adopted on the protection of civilians and the status of Jerusalem. Formally, on July 21, the session was only interrupted, and officially closed on September 18.
November 22 - The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 242 demanding "the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, which should include the application of both of the following principles: 1. Israeli withdrawal armed forces from territories occupied during the recent conflict 2. ceasing all claims or states of war and respecting and recognizing the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every state in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized borders, not threatened by force or its application."
In various countries of the Arab world, mass demonstrations took place in support of Syria, Jordan and Egypt, in some cases there were riots and attacks on the offices of European and American companies.
On June 10, 1967, the Six Day War ended. In just six days of hostilities, the Israeli army managed to inflict serious damage on the troops of the Arab coalition and occupy territories three times the size of Israel itself. The reasons that led to the war are still being debated. Moreover, despite the transience, this war had far-reaching consequences, changing the balance of power in the Middle East.
The United States has traditionally provided significant financial assistance Israel, and the USSR helped Arab countries with money and weapons. Therefore, the shadow of the superpowers loomed behind the countries fighting in that war. The United States and its allies have traditionally placed the blame for the start of the war on the USSR. In the Soviet Union, the war was traditionally blamed on "the American imperialist military" and "international Zionists". But these were rather ritual accusations, obligatory for that era. In reality, neither the US nor the USSR had a direct bearing on the start of the war. Moreover, both sought to keep their Middle Eastern protégés from taking too radical steps.
There is no one reason that served as a pretext for war. A whole range of factors played their role: long-standing enmity between states, political ambitions of individual national leaders, mutual suspicion and distrust, and finally, a sense of one's own invulnerability. Both sides were well aware that their powerful patrons would not allow a complete defeat and would intervene in one way or another when the situation became critical. That is, in any case, things will not come to unconditional surrender, no matter how the course of hostilities develops. This patronage from the superpowers led to the fact that all the participants in the conflict were not averse to waving their fists, relying on the help of "senior comrades." It was for this reason that the war took place so quickly, when it seemed that not all diplomatic means had yet been exhausted.
New Saladin
The President of Egypt at that time was Gamal Abdel Nasser. Although he was a believing Muslim, in political life he preferred a secular dictatorship. And he was also a pan-Arabist, i.e. staunch supporter of Arab unity. In Arab culture for many centuries, one of the most popular was the figure of Salah ad-Din (the Europeans called him Saladin). He was considered the embodiment of wisdom, courage and nobility. And he also managed to unite under his command a very significant part of the Arab lands. And crush the crusaders by recapturing Jerusalem from them.
Nasser, of course, would very much like to become a modern-day Saladin. And become at least an informal leader of the Arab world. And he did a lot for this. For example, he managed to convince Syria to join Egypt and create a joint United Arab Republic that lasted for several years. In some Arab countries, Nasser's admirers came to power, treating him with great respect.
Nasser knew how to make bright populist statements, in every possible way demonstrated his closeness to ordinary people and defended the idea of justice. His speeches to thousands of people drove them into ecstasy. By the early 1960s, Nasser had become the most popular figure in the Arab countries, and pan-Arabism had become the dominant ideology among many Arabs.
As a unifying idea, Nasser chose the most obvious - hatred of the State of Israel in particular and Western imperialists, these new crusaders in general. The idea was obvious because since the emergence of this state in the late 40s, almost all Arab countries have been extremely hostile to it.
Significantly increased the popularity of Nasser in the Arab world, the Suez crisis, which became a kind of forerunner of the Six Day War. Egypt was a British colony for a long time, but after Nasser came to power, who made a coup, he managed to get the British to leave the country and close their military bases. Nasser conceived the ambitious Aswan Dam project and, to finance it, nationalized the Suez Canal, controlled by the British and French. After the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egypt, the British and French offered Israel to attack Egypt, and they themselves planned to regain control of the canal on the sly. Israel did not have to be persuaded for long, since Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships, which was clearly not the friendliest act.
In the end, everything went according to plan, Israel captured the Sinai, the British and French took control of the channel. However, their actions aroused indignation among both the USSR and the United States. It was a rare event in history cold war, When Soviet Union and America acted from the same positions. After their pressure and threats, the participants in the conflict retreated and returned everything as it was. And in Sinai, in agreement with the UN, peacekeeping forces were sent.
Although formally Egypt suffered a military defeat in this conflict, the attackers did not achieve their goals and eventually retreated. Nasser did not have much merit in this, nevertheless, his popularity in the Arab world increased sharply and he gained a reputation as a tamer of the "crusaders".
Preparations for a new war
However, by the mid-60s, Nasser's popularity began to decline. His reforms did not bring a serious change in the standard of living. The grandiose project of the Aswan dam also did not justify the hopes that were placed on it. Economic situation Egypt was getting worse. In addition, in other Arab countries, where Nasser did not control the media, skeptical voices were increasingly heard. Radical journalists and public figures continually accused him of ranting a lot, but doing little to solve the "Jewish question."
Little by little, Nasser began to become a hostage to the role he had taken on. At the same time, relations between Israel and Egypt at that time were, in general, normal and new war was not foreseen. True, this could not be said about Syria and Jordan. Relations with Syria escalated to the limit in 1964. Back in the mid-50s, Israel began the creation of the All-Israel Water Pipeline, but part of its route ran through the demilitarized zones. After complaints from Syria to the UN, the project was closed. Instead, it was decided to take resources from the Sea of Galilee. In 1964 the aqueduct was built.
After that, Syria, with the support of other Arab states, began the construction of a canal to divert water from the tributaries that fed the Jordan River. As the river empties into the lake, this diversion was supposed to drastically lower the lake's water level and derail an ambitious Israeli program to irrigate the arid south.
The Syrians started the construction of the canal three times. And every time there was a raid by Israeli aircraft, destroying equipment. All this, of course, worsened the already bad relations between the countries.
In 1965, by decision of the League of Arab States, the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization, was created, which at the initial stage of its existence was engaged exclusively in sabotage and terrorist attacks. The main camps of the PLO are located in Jordan, where, after previous Arab-Israeli conflicts, a huge number of refugees from Palestine settled, who did not have to be persuaded to join the organization for a long time.
The existence of these camps caused a lot of inconvenience to the Jordanian King Hussein, but he did not dare to take radical measures, fearing armed resistance and losing popularity in the Arab world. In November 1966, an Israeli border patrol hit a mine. Three people died. Two days later, the Israeli army carried out a retaliatory action in the village of Samu on the West Bank of the Jordan, which was under Jordanian control.
A large Israeli detachment, supported by tanks, entered the village. All residents were taken out of their houses and gathered in the square, after which the village was razed to the ground under the pretext that alleged terrorists lived in the village. The Jordanian troops tried to interfere, after which a firefight ensued between them, in which one Israeli soldier, 16 Jordanians and three more were killed. local residents. After a three-hour battle, the detachment went across the border.
This action caused a storm of indignation in Egypt and Syria, whose leaders accused Hussein of cowardice, and the Palestinian refugee camps also rebelled. All this gave the Jordanian king a lot of unpleasant moments, and his attitude towards Israel deteriorated sharply. And this despite the fact that Hussein was one of the few regional leaders who focused not on the USSR, but on the United States and its Western allies.
Syria and Egypt conclude a military alliance. However, further passions gradually calm down. Only in April 1967 did the conflict flare up again, this time on the Syrian-Israeli border. Both sides accused each other of provocations and complained to the UN.
On May 13, 1967, the USSR warns Egypt about a possible attack by Syria. Before that, Israel had warned Syria several times about the possible use of force. Nasser sent General Fawzi to the Syrian border, who was supposed to deal with the situation on the spot. Fawzi returned to Nasser with a report and said that there were no signs of an impending military invasion of Syria. However, Nasser had already decided to pose as a leader and protector of the Arab world by sending out UN peacekeepers and moving troops to the border.
A few days later, the Egyptian army begins to take up defensive positions in the border areas, and Nasser demands that the UN Secretary General withdraw peacekeeping forces from the demarcation line between Israel and Egypt. The Secretary General offers to place them from the Israeli border, but is also refused, after which he orders the withdrawal of forces. Their position is occupied by the Egyptian army. Soviet Ambassador Pozhidayev meets with Field Marshal Amer, who assures him that the advance of Egyptian troops into the Sinai is necessary to contain Israel. According to his explanation, the Egyptian army in the Sinai was supposed to demonstrate the determination of the Egyptians to defend Syria in the event of an invasion by the Israeli army.
In response, Israel begins to mobilize. At the last moment, the pro-Western Jordan, whose king has not forgotten last year's humiliation, joins the Syrian-Egyptian coalition. Mobilization is announced in the country, in Syria too. Egypt is the last to mobilize.
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It is unlikely that Nasser seriously planned to attack Israel first. With his militant rhetoric, he killed two birds with one stone. On the one hand, he confirmed his place as the informal leader of the Arabs. On the other hand, he provoked Israel into retaliatory actions. He knew perfectly well that Israel's policy at that time was based on the principle of an eye for an eye. Among the leadership, the opinion prevailed that the Arabs understand only strength and perceive any concessions as weakness, so Israel meticulously responded to every aggressive act against it.
By closing the Straits, Nasser seemed to be calling on Israel to act. He probably thought it was to his advantage. In the event of an Israeli attack, Egypt became a victim of aggression, moreover, as he believed, he would not lose anything. The army is heavily armed and will be able to contain the IDF for a week or two before the superpowers intervene and reconcile everyone. The authority of Nasser will increase, at the same time, under the pretext of Israeli aggression, it will be possible to bargain for some bonuses through the mediation of the USSR and the USA. And if events develop very well, then it will even be possible to win Israeli army and regain territories lost in previous wars. Nasser's confidence was fueled by the generals, as well as Field Marshal Amer, his right-hand man, who assured Nasser that the army was in perfect condition and could easily deal with Israeli troops.
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Complicated the situation inept command. Already on the second day of fighting in the Sinai, after the fall of Abu Agheil, Field Marshal Amer panicked and ordered a retreat from the peninsula. This order finally demoralized the units that were still quite combat-ready and practically not affected by fire, which began to retreat in disarray. At the same time, the columns were regularly attacked by Israeli aircraft, as well as attacks by their own artillery (due to the general chaos and confusion). In the end, the army abandoned all the equipment and ran aimlessly. The soldiers were scattered throughout the Sinai, in a desert area, with virtually no water. The total losses of Egypt amounted to about 10 thousand, and it is difficult to say how many of them died as a result of attacks by the Israeli army and air force and how many died of thirst in the desert.
Nasser and his closest associate Amer quarreled. The field marshal blamed the president for the defeat, he blamed the field marshal, who told him stories about the brilliant readiness of the army. As a result, Amer demanded the resignation of Nasser along with a group of loyal generals. However, the majority supported Nasser, and Amer was expelled from the army. Later, Nasser carried out purges in the army, getting rid of his people, and Amer tried to organize a military coup, but was arrested and, according to the official version, committed suicide in custody.
But that was later. In the meantime, Israel was deciding whether to attack the Golan Heights. A significant part of the leadership, including Minister of Defense Dayan, was initially against it. A powerful defense was built on the Golan Heights, and, according to analysts, its breakthrough could cost at least 30 thousand dead.
Therefore, Israel did not take active action for four days. But after it was possible to find out through intelligence channels that the Syrians were completely demoralized and were preparing to announce a ceasefire, Dayan ordered to act, and as quickly as possible, since a truce was expected in a day or two at most.
The Syrian army, already aware of the Egyptian failures, now had no desire to fight. The officers, as soon as they learned about the approach of Israeli soldiers, simply ran away. Some soldiers followed suit, some surrendered. The resistance was from a minority. Numerous reserves, which were supposed to support the defensive line, fled even earlier. As a result, the defense was broken through in just a few hours, and the Golan Heights were occupied in a day, despite the fact that analysts considered this area the most difficult and predicted heavy and bloody battles in the spirit of the First World War.
Jordanian troops put up the most serious resistance, especially in the battle for East Jerusalem, which became one of the fiercest, since Israel did not use the air force. As a result, more Israeli soldiers died in the battle for this part of the city than during the breakthrough of the most powerful defensive system of the Golan Heights.
Many contemporary sources report that 35 Soviet servicemen died in the conflict. However, this information is most likely not correct. At present, it is known about almost 50 Soviet military personnel who died during their stay in Egypt. Their names and circumstances of death are known. Some died during the fighting (mainly air defense personnel), some from accidents and diseases. However, almost all deaths date back to 1969 and 1970, when the USSR deployed a military contingent in Egypt during the so-called. wars of attrition. In 1967, only four dead military personnel are known. All of them were sailors of the B-31 submarine, on which a fire broke out due to the careless handling of fire by one of the sailors. The USSR sent a fairly large squadron (30 ships and 10 submarines) to the region, which, however, did not interfere in the course of events and silently watched from the sidelines.
But it is known about the death of 34 American sailors from the ship "Liberty". An electronic intelligence vessel was attacked by Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats in the Mediterranean on 8 June. As a result of the attack, the ship remained afloat, although it received serious damage. Disputes about the circumstances of the attack are still ongoing. Israel issued a formal apology, stating that the ship was unmarked and was mistaken for an Egyptian ship (however, the Americans assured that the flags were in place). One way or another, both sides chose to hush up the case, and Israel paid compensation to the families of the victims of about $ 70 million (in current prices).
As is always the case in military conflicts, each side sought to underestimate its own losses and exaggerate the enemy's. According to more or less objective estimates, the Egyptian army lost about 10 thousand people dead and missing in the desert, the Jordanian army lost about 700 people, the Syrian army lost about one to one and a half thousand. Israel lost from 750 to a thousand soldiers, according to various estimates.
Loss count
On June 10, hostilities were stopped under pressure from the US and the USSR. Nasser demanded more support for him, but the Kremlin did not want to get involved in the war, so they limited themselves to a symbolic gesture. On June 10, the USSR and the countries participating in the Warsaw Pact (with the exception of Romania) severed diplomatic relations with Israel under the pretext that it was an aggressor.
temporarily occupied territories "and they were planned to be used for further diplomatic bargaining (with the exception of the part of Jerusalem that previously belonged to Jordan, which had an important symbolic value for Israel), but later they were officially annexed to the country. With the exception of the Sinai Peninsula, which in the early 80- x was returned to Egypt.
A direct consequence of the Six Day War was the Yom Kippur War in 1973. It lasted 18 days. This time, the initiative was on the side of the Arab coalition, which was the first to strike, for which the Israeli army was not ready. Although Israel eventually managed to go on the counteroffensive, the losses it suffered in the war were much greater than in 1967. The failures of the early days led to the resignation of the government and the fall in popularity of the Six-Day War legend Dayan, who also lost his post as defense minister.