Six Days Of War, June 1967 and the making of the modern Middle East, Michael B, Oren

 

The state of Israel was born in blood in 1948. With little resources using equipment that was surplus from World War Two it managed to survive against all odds. All of Israel’s neighbours plotted to destroy the new state and constantly harassed the plucky neighbour. War came again in 1954 an Isreal made gains and grew in size but the shift came in 1967 that was the year that defined Isreal as a Middle East power and from which all modern Middle Eastern politics can be traced. 

Egypt, Jordan and Syria sponsored by rich Arab countries where planning the ultimate downfall of Isreal, with modern weapons supplied by the USSR there were various plans being made on how to accomplish the destruction of Isreal. It started off with small cross border raids and harassing Israeli settlements. Mossad Israel’s security service was being overwhelmed with information of a planned attack. Israel decided to be bold and take the front foot, in probably the most audacious piece of military organisation the six day war was initiated. With in the first six hours the airforces of five of the Middle East’s biggest powers were destroyed on the ground and Israeli ground forces were powering towards the primary targets. The war itself is probably the biggest success in modern warfare, where once every Israeli city was in danger from shell fire now the capital’s of three enemy countries where in range of Israeli shell fire. 

Michael B, Oren is a fantastic military writer and guides the reader through this complex era of Middle Eastern history from the birth of Isreal in 1948 and through to the trigger points of the 1967 war. It’s written from the point of Israeli operations and their planning through to operations themselves. If you find this book interesting it might be worth further digging especially the Golan heights campaign. 

If you have an interest in Middle Eastern politics or warfare in general then this book is well worth a read. It’s a general book about the campaign and I would highly recommend looking at the planning and operations in more detail to see the just how well executed the campaign was with only one mistake over six days of warfare it’s the model for future wars. 

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Have funstsy safe 👍