First Battle of Mount Hermon
Encyclopedia
The First Battle of Mount Hermon was fought at the outset of the Yom Kippur War
between the Syrian Army
and the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF). On Yom Kippur
, October 6 1973, Syria
n commandos attacked and captured the IDF outpost on Mount Hermon
. Two days later, the Syrians repelled an Israeli counterattack in the Second Battle of Mount Hermon
. It was eventually recaptured by Israel on October 21 in the Third battle.
. After Israel's capture of it in the Six-Day War
, it was used as a radar outpost, housing some of the IDF's most sensitive and secret electronic equipment. Israel also constructed an approach road and a ski lift. The troops manning the Hermon outpost could view the entire Syrian plain bordering on the Purple Line
, there were observation posts on the outpost itself and at the upper level of the ski lift. The outpost was constructed with much help from the Druze
living in the Golan. In April 1970, Colonel Hikmat Shahabi, chief of Syrian Military Intelligence, sent a letter with Sergeant-Major Nozi tewfik Abu Saleh, a Syrian Druze, to Kemal Kanj, a Golan Heights Druze leader and former member of the Syrian parliament whose brother was a general in the Syrian Army. Saleh, who was also related to Kanj, crossed the border on foot and delivered the letter, which asked Kanj to provide details regarding Israeli positions. Kanj agreed and carried out his mission. He was caught by the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate (AMAN) in May 1971. He was pardoned in June 1973.
The Hermon outpost was considered strategically important for several reasons, such as: gathering early warning information, real-time Intelligence collection, conducting electronic warfare
(EW) against ground or air attack, artillery spotting on the Damascus Plain, using the Hermon ridge and its western slopes for a strategic flanking move toward Syria, conducting operations in Syria and Lebanon and commanding Israel's main water sources.
The outpost was isolated in its sector with only a narrow access road connecting it to the Golan Heights and Har Dov. It was made up of three levels: an underground section of bunkers for quarters, ammunition, food and water, (which were connected by tunnels to the guard and observation posts) and two above-ground storeys which contained the work rooms, laboratories, infirmary, mess, generators, and observation and guard posts. When the war broke out, the outpost was still under construction and fighting positions, communication trenches and a command position were not yet built.
The outpost was situated in the 13th Battalion's sector, but was commanded by Lieutenant Gadi Zidover from the 820th regional brigade, whose operational subordination was not properly classified. On Yom Kippur
there were sixty soldiers in the outpost: Thirteen of them were 13th Battalion infantrymen, the rest were men from support units, artillerymen, non-commissioned officers from the Israeli Northern Command
(NC) and regional brigade Intelligence, and maintenance soldiers from the 820th Brigade. Some of the officers and soldiers had only arrived between October 4 and October 6 with just their personal weapons, others were unarmed. Most of them were not familiar with the layout of the outpost or with the sector in general.
In the days before the war, the artillery forward observation officer reported a growth in the number of Syrian artillery batteries and other forces. A section of troops were assigned to defend it. On Yom Kippur, October 6, 1973, fifty-five men were in the outpost, including the defense section from the Golani Brigade
, men from the Israeli Air Force
and intelligence personnel manning the electronic equipment. NC estimated that the Hermon was not a major axis of advance, and would therefore not be subject to a major attack, only routine raids. The fortifications were built to withstand artillery fire and air bombardments, but the trench system was incomplete. A week before the war, an antiaircraft battery was moved down to the Golan.
After the patrol, the infantrymen returned to the outpost, except for three men who took-up positions in an under-construction observation post on a hill north of the upper ski lift. One observation point and two guard positions were manned in the outpost itself. Three watches were deployed at dawn between Har Dov and the lower ski lift, manned by members of the same company, but were subordinated throughout the day to the 902nd Nahal
Battalion in Har Dov. Shortly before 14:00, an EW
blocking company from the 374th Communications unit, under the command of Lieutenant Moshe Sapir, arrived at the "tank curve" and located its equipment according to NC command. Due to coordination problems, its arrival was unknown to the outpost commander and the Hermon company commander at the employment camp in Masada.
The Syrians had put the Hermon at the top of their target list. The 82nd Paratroop Battalion, the elite combat unit of the Syrian army, under the command of Lieutenant Ahmed Rifai al-Joju, was given its final briefing on the morning of the attack. Al-Joju's company was to be landed by helicopter half a mile from the Israeli structure and take-up positions covering the Israeli outpost and the road leading toward it from the Golan. The rest of the battalion, about 200 men, were to set out on foot from the Syrian Hermon. This force was to attack the outpost while al-Joju's troops would provide them with covering fire. The plan used data collected through Kanj.
helicopters lifted off near Damascus and flew west into Lebanon, where they circled until forty-five minutes into the Syrian shelling of the Golan. They then headed southeast toward the Israeli outpost. The Israelis detected the helicopters at about 15:00, when the team at the upper ski lift reported the sighting and fired at them until they flew out of sight. At 13:45, the artillery officer, along with other officers, noticed that the Syrian artillery units in the plain below were taking the camouflage nets from their guns.
The Syrians began shelling the outpost at 14:00. All the Israeli soldiers in the outpost concentrated in the central hall of the bunker. The platoon officer and the mortar sergeant climbed up to the observation point but had to come back down due to the heavy shelling. An observation officer, a technical assistant and a driver from the 334th Artillery Battalion left the outpost in a half-track for their planned position in the "tank curve" to help pinpoint the artillery in the northern Golan. Six Syrian MiG-17 aircraft attacked the outpost. Three of the helicopters arrived from the west. Two of them landed about thirty paratroopers on Hill 2072, south of the lower ski lift. Most of the Syrian force deployed above the curve south of the upper ski lift to block access to the outpost. A few of them advanced toward the outpost to provide cover. A third helicopter with sixteen paratroopers, who were supposed to block the "tank curve", crashed (a rotor-blade hit the slope). Only three paratroopers survived and joined their comrades at the upper ski lift. They opened fire on the Israeli half-track, which kept driving. The company commander of the EW unit and his driver, who were riding in a jeep on their way to the outpost, saw the Syrians landing and turned back to their unit at the "tank curve", under fire. Three Golani soldiers at the upper ski lift observation post saw the Syrian landing but failed to fire at them due to a sub-machine gun malfunction. After a few minutes, they abandoned their post, which was equipped with a radio, and went down to the lower ski lift to join a platoon positioned there without informing the outpost of the Syrian landing.
While Joju's troops were taking-up positions, the rest of the 82nd Battalion, two companies under the command of Captains Jassam al Salah and Mahmoud Ma'aleh, advanced on foot from the Syrian Hermon position to the Israeli outpost. They were organized in eight platoon-sized forces. At around 15:15, when the first two forces arrived near the outpost, Syrian artillery opened fire and the covering force directed small-arms fire at the outpost. Meanwhile, the fourth helicopter approached and landed sixteen more commandos. Some of them joined the charge at the outpost while the rest formed a second covering force.
When the shelling subsided small-arms fire could be heard from the central hall, Zidover, Funk and four other Golani soldiers came out to the fighting platform through the upper western opening. They saw dozens of Syrian soldiers advancing on the road toward the outpost gate and a covering force lying on the embankment outside the outpost fence. Of the three machine guns, two were out of action after the shelling. Lacking fighting positions, the outpost commander and the infantrymen opened fire with a machine gun and their personal weapons. The Syrians were surprised by the fire and halted. The machine gunner was killed and the outpost sergeant took the weapon over. The outpost commander realized that ammunition was low and went down to the central hall to contact the 820th Brigade commander, Colonel Zvi Barazani. He explained the situation and asked him to "fire on our outposts". Barazani approved and the 334th Battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Aryeh Schwartz, accepted the mission. The Golani soldiers kept firing at the Syrians and prevented them from entering the outpost until approximately 15:45, when the Israeli shelling began. At this point Barazani ordered the outpost commander to shut his men in the outpost until the shelling was over and break out only on his command. Due to a misunderstanding, the soldiers did not leave the outpost and continued defending its openings from within.
The Syrians charged into the outpost courtyard and some managed to penetrate the upper western opening into the top storey, throwing fragmentation and stun grenades and firing into the work rooms. Their entrance was hesitant and slow, and included calls in Hebrew and Arabic to the Israeli soldiers to surrender. Some went down the staircase leading to the central hall and threw grenades into it. They reached the hall but did not enter the rooms or the connecting tunnels. They may have used a smoke generator operated by a small engine. The hall filled with smoke dust and the sounds of explosions, which induceded panic among the Israeli non-combatant soldiers. Many of them were choking and believed the Syrians were using gas. The room was full of dust, they had to cover their noses with flannelette soaked in urine to breathe. They tried to take cover in the tunnels, some were in a state of shock and remained frozen in the rooms near the central hall. Between 16:00 and 17:00, some of the soldiers returned fire from various corners of the central hall in the direction of the staircase and prevented the Syrians from coming down. The outpost commander tried to concentrate the men from the different tunnels and rooms into a single tunnel. At this point, the outpost lost its connection with the outside world.
At about 17:30, the outpost commander and several infantry soldiers tried to break out through one of the tunnels in order to get out and reach the upper ski lift, but they encountered some Syrians and had to return. Most of the men were now concentrated in the same tunnel, except for the doctor and two Golani soldiers, one of whom was dead and the other wounded. Five others hid in two bunkers in the bottom storey. Since some of the men did not know their way around the outpost, they split-up in the dark into two groups, which remained close to each other. At around 19:00, the Syrians stopped clearing the interior of the Israeli position and it became relatively quiet.
, were ordered to move back to Masada through the lower ski lift with their armored personnel carrier (APC). At about 17:00, the APC, along with a 81mm mortar half-track approached Wadi Si'on, (where the "Tali" observation point was located); both positions came under heavy fire from the ridge above them. The APC was hit by an RPG
and stopped in the middle of the road. Three Israeli soldiers were killed instantly, the rest were wounded and took cover. The "Tali" commander, exposed in his half-track, was hit by a bullet in the back, but the driver started the vehicle and sped off toward the lower ski lift.
The attacking Syrians were probably the blocking force from the 87th Reconnaissance Battalion, which was supposed to take-up positions in the "tank curve" that night, but strayed into the area above the road from the lower ski lift and Har Dov. The Syrians maintained a constant fire and left without coming down to the road. At nightfall, at around 17:35, after the Syrians left, the "Hedva" observation post reported the encounter to the 902nd Battalion company headquarters at Har Dov and asked for assistance. Company headquarters reported to the 820th Brigade headquarters at Nafakh. Putting together a rescue force which included a doctor, a paramedic and five infantrymen, took an hour. The force, advancing in two APCs, moved slowly and carefully with its lights off. At about 18:30, it arrived at the location, treated the wounded and evacuated them. From that moment until the end of the war, no IDF troops entered the territory between Har Dov and the Hermon mountainside.
At around 19:30, Barazani ordered the commander of the Hermon Company, Lieutenant Yiftah Sagiv, to head from Masada to the lower ski lift with an APC and a tank platoon from the attached 71st Battalion, to check on the outpost and evacuate the wounded that had arrived in the afternoon. The force reached the lower ski lift at around 21:00. Saqiv saw that everything was in order and reported that fact to the battalion commander. Barazani ordered him to leave the tank platoon to defend the place. The company commander left on his own accord to evacuate the wounded to Nafakh. When he arrived near midnight, he reported to the NC chief and the others about the incidents at the Hermon.
At around 21:00, the outpost commander decided to try to escape to the lower ski lift. Due to a lack of communication with the other men, only he, five officers and eleven soldiers got out. They crossed a minefield, went down the Bul'an valley and headed west toward the upper ski lift. Just before 23:00, as they began to head down a rocky slope from the upper ski lift, the Syrian blocking force saw them and opened fire. The platoon commander and five of his men charged down the hill. Three were killed, including the platoon commander, two were taken prisoner the next day. Other officers and soldiers took cover and returned fire. The observation officer was badly wounded and later died. The other eleven, some of whom were wounded, escaped the encounter and scattered. The escapees ran down the road and encountered three Israeli tanks heading their way. One of the tanks fired at them before they could identify themselves. During the night and the next day, ten of them made their way back to the Israeli lines. A soldier from the Air Force unit in the outpost accidentally entered a 183rd Syrian Battalion position, deployed on high point 1614. He was caught and executed the next day.
at 04:01, but NC ordered Drori to stop, fearing a Syrian breakthrough in the Hadar-Masada sector and ordered him to deploy for a block around bunkers 103, 104 and 105, with the 13th Battalion subordinated to the brigade. Unaware of the situation throughout the Golan, Drori objected, assuming it was best to strike as early as possible and deny the Syrians time to organize. He was denied, and the force started moving back via the Sa'ar Bridge toward Masada. At 04:21, Drori was ordered to organize for a block, and at 05:19 his troops were deployed in their sector.
While the reduced 51st Battalion and the 69th Company were deployed around Masada at around 07:00, a convoy came down from the lower ski lift, having been ordered to do so by the 13th Battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Ze'ev Oren. It included a tank platoon from the 71st Battalion, the infantry platoon from the 13th Battalion manning the lower ski lift in two BTR-152
APCs, the observation officer's half-track and the communications company from the 374th unit in its three vehicles. It also included the five survivors from the outpost. The three tanks remained attached to the Golani Brigade. Thirty-six soldiers were still trapped in the outpost. Two Israeli soldiers wounded in the encounter on the ridge were captured by the Syrians. Six of the soldiers who escaped made their way down the mountain, along with three observation soldiers who escaped from the upper ski lift.
Perhaps as a response to the Syrian calls to surrender, the sergeant opened fire and threw two grenades at the Syrians. The three Israelis were killed soon after. The others who got out lay in a trench, the Syrians firing at them but missing. When they concluded they had no chance, they surrendered. The radio technician, who waved a piece of white cloth, was killed. The Syrians held their fire, ordered the Israelis down to the courtyard and told them to lay down their weapons and helmets. At about 11:30, two Syrians entered the doctor's room on the top storey and captured him along with two Golani soldiers who were with him, one of them badly wounded. In the late afternoon, the twenty-six captured Israelis were disarmed and their hands tied with telephone wire; they were then led, tied in pairs, toward the Syrian outpost. They were escorted by about thirty Syrian soldiers from the 82nd Battalion. A badly wounded Golani soldier who fell behind was killed, his body left behind. From the Syrian outpost, the prisoners were transferred by trucks to a special forces training base at Qabun, near Damascus
, where they stayed for four days.
Five Israeli soldiers were left in the outpost: a quartermaster hiding in the emergency bunker and four soldiers hiding in the war room bunker. They found some rations in the nearby maintenance bunker and a plastic water tank, which sustained them until October 12. Using a transistor radio, they heard that the kibbutz
im members in the Golan had returned to their homes and so decided to keep hiding until the IDF recaptured the outpost. In the first three days, the Syrians raked the outpost with gunfire and grenades each morning and each night. When the outpost became relatively quiet, the Israelis tried on more than one occasion to get out, but returned after hearing the Syrian guards in the central hall. At around 11:00 on Friday, October 12, Syrian soldiers entered the tunnels to look for food and caught the Israelis, including the quartermaster, by accident. The prisoners were transferred through the Syrian outpost to Qabun. On October 15, all thirty-one prisoners were taken to an olive grove and photographed by journalists; they were transferred to a prison the next day.
Soviet advisers arrived at the outpost a few days later to dismantle the electronic equipment, they were pleased to find most of it intact. Syrian interrogators were also able to extract valuable information from the captured Israelis. The electronic equipment was sent to the Soviet Union for analysis, the documents captured compromised Israeli military codes. With the fall of the Hermon, AMAN lost its "eyes on the Golan", the loss of the antennas on the listening posts damaged its ability to collect information.
Author Abraham Rabinovich
wrote that "the fall of the Hermon was for Israel the single most humiliating episode of the Yom Kippur War". Author Walter J. Boyne commented that this was the first time in Israel's history that a commander had abandoned a position while his troops were still fighting. Funk was believed by many Israelis to be at fault for the defeat, as summarized by one soldier: "The officers ran away". The Israelis made a failed attempt
to recapture the Hermon on October 8, but finally succeeded on October 21, in Operation Dessert.
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
between the Syrian Army
Syrian Army
The Syrian Army, officially called the Syrian Arab Army, is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the senior most posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the...
and the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF). On Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
, October 6 1973, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n commandos attacked and captured the IDF outpost on Mount Hermon
Mount Hermon
Mount Hermon is a mountain cluster in the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the border between Syria and Lebanon and, at 2,814 m above sea level, is the highest point in Syria. On the top there is “Hermon Hotel”, in the buffer zone between Syria and Israeli-occupied...
. Two days later, the Syrians repelled an Israeli counterattack in the Second Battle of Mount Hermon
Second Battle of Mount Hermon
The Third Battle of Mount Hermon was fought on the night of October 21–22, 1973, between the Israeli Army and the Syrian Army over Mount Hermon, during the last days of the Yom Kippur War. Syrian troops had captured the IDF outpost on the mountain on October 6, and held it for two weeks...
. It was eventually recaptured by Israel on October 21 in the Third battle.
Background
At a height of about 6,600 feet, Mount Hermon has a commanding view of the GalileeGalilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
. After Israel's capture of it in the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
, it was used as a radar outpost, housing some of the IDF's most sensitive and secret electronic equipment. Israel also constructed an approach road and a ski lift. The troops manning the Hermon outpost could view the entire Syrian plain bordering on the Purple Line
Purple Line
- Public transit lines :The following public transit lines are either named the Purple Line, or colored purple on system maps:- In North America :* Purple Line , an elevated train line in Chicago...
, there were observation posts on the outpost itself and at the upper level of the ski lift. The outpost was constructed with much help from the Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
living in the Golan. In April 1970, Colonel Hikmat Shahabi, chief of Syrian Military Intelligence, sent a letter with Sergeant-Major Nozi tewfik Abu Saleh, a Syrian Druze, to Kemal Kanj, a Golan Heights Druze leader and former member of the Syrian parliament whose brother was a general in the Syrian Army. Saleh, who was also related to Kanj, crossed the border on foot and delivered the letter, which asked Kanj to provide details regarding Israeli positions. Kanj agreed and carried out his mission. He was caught by the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate (AMAN) in May 1971. He was pardoned in June 1973.
The Hermon outpost was considered strategically important for several reasons, such as: gathering early warning information, real-time Intelligence collection, conducting electronic warfare
Electronic warfare
Electronic warfare refers to any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of, and ensure friendly...
(EW) against ground or air attack, artillery spotting on the Damascus Plain, using the Hermon ridge and its western slopes for a strategic flanking move toward Syria, conducting operations in Syria and Lebanon and commanding Israel's main water sources.
The outpost was isolated in its sector with only a narrow access road connecting it to the Golan Heights and Har Dov. It was made up of three levels: an underground section of bunkers for quarters, ammunition, food and water, (which were connected by tunnels to the guard and observation posts) and two above-ground storeys which contained the work rooms, laboratories, infirmary, mess, generators, and observation and guard posts. When the war broke out, the outpost was still under construction and fighting positions, communication trenches and a command position were not yet built.
The outpost was situated in the 13th Battalion's sector, but was commanded by Lieutenant Gadi Zidover from the 820th regional brigade, whose operational subordination was not properly classified. On Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
there were sixty soldiers in the outpost: Thirteen of them were 13th Battalion infantrymen, the rest were men from support units, artillerymen, non-commissioned officers from the Israeli Northern Command
Israeli Northern Command
The Israeli Northern Command is the Israel Defense Forces regional command responsible for the northern front with Syria and Lebanon.-History:...
(NC) and regional brigade Intelligence, and maintenance soldiers from the 820th Brigade. Some of the officers and soldiers had only arrived between October 4 and October 6 with just their personal weapons, others were unarmed. Most of them were not familiar with the layout of the outpost or with the sector in general.
In the days before the war, the artillery forward observation officer reported a growth in the number of Syrian artillery batteries and other forces. A section of troops were assigned to defend it. On Yom Kippur, October 6, 1973, fifty-five men were in the outpost, including the defense section from the Golani Brigade
Golani Brigade
The Golani Brigade is an Israeli infantry brigade that is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. Its symbol is a green tree on a yellow background, and its soldiers wear a brown beret. It is one of the most highly decorated infantry units in the...
, men from the Israeli Air Force
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
and intelligence personnel manning the electronic equipment. NC estimated that the Hermon was not a major axis of advance, and would therefore not be subject to a major attack, only routine raids. The fortifications were built to withstand artillery fire and air bombardments, but the trench system was incomplete. A week before the war, an antiaircraft battery was moved down to the Golan.
Prelude
On Friday, October 5, the outpost reported a vast concentration of Syrian forces on the plain below. The Israeli soldiers were ordered to be on the alert, they shut themselves in the main bunker. The next morning, the observation posts were manned as usual and routine reconnaissance along the approach routes took place. An alert was ordered, but for some reason the Hermon outpost was not reinforced by the required fourteen-man infantry section. The security routine was maintained and included a foot patrol to secure the access road from the outpost to the lower level of the ski lift. It was conducted by the Golani troops and commanded by the platoon commander, Second-Lieutenant Hagai Funk. Only two infantrymen were left to guard the outpost.After the patrol, the infantrymen returned to the outpost, except for three men who took-up positions in an under-construction observation post on a hill north of the upper ski lift. One observation point and two guard positions were manned in the outpost itself. Three watches were deployed at dawn between Har Dov and the lower ski lift, manned by members of the same company, but were subordinated throughout the day to the 902nd Nahal
Nahal
Nahal is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Historically, it refers to a program that combines military service and establishment of new agricultural settlements, often in outlying areas...
Battalion in Har Dov. Shortly before 14:00, an EW
EW
-EW:*The IATA code for Eurowings airline*The electro-chemical process of Electrowinning*Equivalent weight in chemistry*eBaum's World*Eggplant Wizard*Electric Wizard*Electronic Warfare *Entomological warfare*Emergency Ward of a hospital...
blocking company from the 374th Communications unit, under the command of Lieutenant Moshe Sapir, arrived at the "tank curve" and located its equipment according to NC command. Due to coordination problems, its arrival was unknown to the outpost commander and the Hermon company commander at the employment camp in Masada.
The Syrians had put the Hermon at the top of their target list. The 82nd Paratroop Battalion, the elite combat unit of the Syrian army, under the command of Lieutenant Ahmed Rifai al-Joju, was given its final briefing on the morning of the attack. Al-Joju's company was to be landed by helicopter half a mile from the Israeli structure and take-up positions covering the Israeli outpost and the road leading toward it from the Golan. The rest of the battalion, about 200 men, were to set out on foot from the Syrian Hermon. This force was to attack the outpost while al-Joju's troops would provide them with covering fire. The plan used data collected through Kanj.
Syrian attack
At around 13:00, four Soviet-built MI-8Mil Mi-8
The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. The Mi-8 is the world's most-produced helicopter, and is used by over 50 countries. Russia is the largest operator of the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopter....
helicopters lifted off near Damascus and flew west into Lebanon, where they circled until forty-five minutes into the Syrian shelling of the Golan. They then headed southeast toward the Israeli outpost. The Israelis detected the helicopters at about 15:00, when the team at the upper ski lift reported the sighting and fired at them until they flew out of sight. At 13:45, the artillery officer, along with other officers, noticed that the Syrian artillery units in the plain below were taking the camouflage nets from their guns.
The Syrians began shelling the outpost at 14:00. All the Israeli soldiers in the outpost concentrated in the central hall of the bunker. The platoon officer and the mortar sergeant climbed up to the observation point but had to come back down due to the heavy shelling. An observation officer, a technical assistant and a driver from the 334th Artillery Battalion left the outpost in a half-track for their planned position in the "tank curve" to help pinpoint the artillery in the northern Golan. Six Syrian MiG-17 aircraft attacked the outpost. Three of the helicopters arrived from the west. Two of them landed about thirty paratroopers on Hill 2072, south of the lower ski lift. Most of the Syrian force deployed above the curve south of the upper ski lift to block access to the outpost. A few of them advanced toward the outpost to provide cover. A third helicopter with sixteen paratroopers, who were supposed to block the "tank curve", crashed (a rotor-blade hit the slope). Only three paratroopers survived and joined their comrades at the upper ski lift. They opened fire on the Israeli half-track, which kept driving. The company commander of the EW unit and his driver, who were riding in a jeep on their way to the outpost, saw the Syrians landing and turned back to their unit at the "tank curve", under fire. Three Golani soldiers at the upper ski lift observation post saw the Syrian landing but failed to fire at them due to a sub-machine gun malfunction. After a few minutes, they abandoned their post, which was equipped with a radio, and went down to the lower ski lift to join a platoon positioned there without informing the outpost of the Syrian landing.
While Joju's troops were taking-up positions, the rest of the 82nd Battalion, two companies under the command of Captains Jassam al Salah and Mahmoud Ma'aleh, advanced on foot from the Syrian Hermon position to the Israeli outpost. They were organized in eight platoon-sized forces. At around 15:15, when the first two forces arrived near the outpost, Syrian artillery opened fire and the covering force directed small-arms fire at the outpost. Meanwhile, the fourth helicopter approached and landed sixteen more commandos. Some of them joined the charge at the outpost while the rest formed a second covering force.
When the shelling subsided small-arms fire could be heard from the central hall, Zidover, Funk and four other Golani soldiers came out to the fighting platform through the upper western opening. They saw dozens of Syrian soldiers advancing on the road toward the outpost gate and a covering force lying on the embankment outside the outpost fence. Of the three machine guns, two were out of action after the shelling. Lacking fighting positions, the outpost commander and the infantrymen opened fire with a machine gun and their personal weapons. The Syrians were surprised by the fire and halted. The machine gunner was killed and the outpost sergeant took the weapon over. The outpost commander realized that ammunition was low and went down to the central hall to contact the 820th Brigade commander, Colonel Zvi Barazani. He explained the situation and asked him to "fire on our outposts". Barazani approved and the 334th Battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Aryeh Schwartz, accepted the mission. The Golani soldiers kept firing at the Syrians and prevented them from entering the outpost until approximately 15:45, when the Israeli shelling began. At this point Barazani ordered the outpost commander to shut his men in the outpost until the shelling was over and break out only on his command. Due to a misunderstanding, the soldiers did not leave the outpost and continued defending its openings from within.
The Syrians charged into the outpost courtyard and some managed to penetrate the upper western opening into the top storey, throwing fragmentation and stun grenades and firing into the work rooms. Their entrance was hesitant and slow, and included calls in Hebrew and Arabic to the Israeli soldiers to surrender. Some went down the staircase leading to the central hall and threw grenades into it. They reached the hall but did not enter the rooms or the connecting tunnels. They may have used a smoke generator operated by a small engine. The hall filled with smoke dust and the sounds of explosions, which induceded panic among the Israeli non-combatant soldiers. Many of them were choking and believed the Syrians were using gas. The room was full of dust, they had to cover their noses with flannelette soaked in urine to breathe. They tried to take cover in the tunnels, some were in a state of shock and remained frozen in the rooms near the central hall. Between 16:00 and 17:00, some of the soldiers returned fire from various corners of the central hall in the direction of the staircase and prevented the Syrians from coming down. The outpost commander tried to concentrate the men from the different tunnels and rooms into a single tunnel. At this point, the outpost lost its connection with the outside world.
At about 17:30, the outpost commander and several infantry soldiers tried to break out through one of the tunnels in order to get out and reach the upper ski lift, but they encountered some Syrians and had to return. Most of the men were now concentrated in the same tunnel, except for the doctor and two Golani soldiers, one of whom was dead and the other wounded. Five others hid in two bunkers in the bottom storey. Since some of the men did not know their way around the outpost, they split-up in the dark into two groups, which remained close to each other. At around 19:00, the Syrians stopped clearing the interior of the Israeli position and it became relatively quiet.
Wadi Si'on
At around 16:50, the men in the "Hedva" observation post, located near the Lebanese village of ShebaaShebaa
Shebaa may refer to:* Shebaa, Lebanon, a village* Shebaa Farms, an area disputed by Israel, Syria and LebanonSee also*Shaba...
, were ordered to move back to Masada through the lower ski lift with their armored personnel carrier (APC). At about 17:00, the APC, along with a 81mm mortar half-track approached Wadi Si'on, (where the "Tali" observation point was located); both positions came under heavy fire from the ridge above them. The APC was hit by an RPG
Rocket propelled grenade
A rocket-propelled grenade is a shoulder-fired, anti-tank weapon system which fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. These warheads are affixed to a rocket motor and stabilized in flight with fins. Some types of RPG are reloadable while others are single-use. RPGs, with the exception of...
and stopped in the middle of the road. Three Israeli soldiers were killed instantly, the rest were wounded and took cover. The "Tali" commander, exposed in his half-track, was hit by a bullet in the back, but the driver started the vehicle and sped off toward the lower ski lift.
The attacking Syrians were probably the blocking force from the 87th Reconnaissance Battalion, which was supposed to take-up positions in the "tank curve" that night, but strayed into the area above the road from the lower ski lift and Har Dov. The Syrians maintained a constant fire and left without coming down to the road. At nightfall, at around 17:35, after the Syrians left, the "Hedva" observation post reported the encounter to the 902nd Battalion company headquarters at Har Dov and asked for assistance. Company headquarters reported to the 820th Brigade headquarters at Nafakh. Putting together a rescue force which included a doctor, a paramedic and five infantrymen, took an hour. The force, advancing in two APCs, moved slowly and carefully with its lights off. At about 18:30, it arrived at the location, treated the wounded and evacuated them. From that moment until the end of the war, no IDF troops entered the territory between Har Dov and the Hermon mountainside.
At around 19:30, Barazani ordered the commander of the Hermon Company, Lieutenant Yiftah Sagiv, to head from Masada to the lower ski lift with an APC and a tank platoon from the attached 71st Battalion, to check on the outpost and evacuate the wounded that had arrived in the afternoon. The force reached the lower ski lift at around 21:00. Saqiv saw that everything was in order and reported that fact to the battalion commander. Barazani ordered him to leave the tank platoon to defend the place. The company commander left on his own accord to evacuate the wounded to Nafakh. When he arrived near midnight, he reported to the NC chief and the others about the incidents at the Hermon.
At around 21:00, the outpost commander decided to try to escape to the lower ski lift. Due to a lack of communication with the other men, only he, five officers and eleven soldiers got out. They crossed a minefield, went down the Bul'an valley and headed west toward the upper ski lift. Just before 23:00, as they began to head down a rocky slope from the upper ski lift, the Syrian blocking force saw them and opened fire. The platoon commander and five of his men charged down the hill. Three were killed, including the platoon commander, two were taken prisoner the next day. Other officers and soldiers took cover and returned fire. The observation officer was badly wounded and later died. The other eleven, some of whom were wounded, escaped the encounter and scattered. The escapees ran down the road and encountered three Israeli tanks heading their way. One of the tanks fired at them before they could identify themselves. During the night and the next day, ten of them made their way back to the Israeli lines. A soldier from the Air Force unit in the outpost accidentally entered a 183rd Syrian Battalion position, deployed on high point 1614. He was caught and executed the next day.
Counterattack
At 18:07, NC accepted the suggestion raised by the Golani Brigade commander, Colonel Amir Drori, to try to reach the outpost. While the eleven Israeli soldiers were trying to make their escape, a Golani force – made up of Drori's command half-track, the 51st Battalion command post with companies A and B in fifteen more half-tracks, the 69th Reconnaissance Company in eight other half-tracks and the brigade's battalion collecting station in an ambulance – was on its way to the Hermon. The force left Rosh Pina at 07:01 and reached Neve AtivNeve Ativ
Neve Ativ , is a small Alpine-styled Israeli settlement in the Golan Heights, founded in 1972, and located on the slopes of Mount Hermon, west of Majdal Shams. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights illegal under international law, but the Israeli...
at 04:01, but NC ordered Drori to stop, fearing a Syrian breakthrough in the Hadar-Masada sector and ordered him to deploy for a block around bunkers 103, 104 and 105, with the 13th Battalion subordinated to the brigade. Unaware of the situation throughout the Golan, Drori objected, assuming it was best to strike as early as possible and deny the Syrians time to organize. He was denied, and the force started moving back via the Sa'ar Bridge toward Masada. At 04:21, Drori was ordered to organize for a block, and at 05:19 his troops were deployed in their sector.
While the reduced 51st Battalion and the 69th Company were deployed around Masada at around 07:00, a convoy came down from the lower ski lift, having been ordered to do so by the 13th Battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Ze'ev Oren. It included a tank platoon from the 71st Battalion, the infantry platoon from the 13th Battalion manning the lower ski lift in two BTR-152
BTR-152
The BTR-152 was a non-amphibious Soviet wheeled armored personnel carrier that entered Soviet service in 1950. By the early 1970s it had been replaced in the infantry vehicle role by the BTR-60...
APCs, the observation officer's half-track and the communications company from the 374th unit in its three vehicles. It also included the five survivors from the outpost. The three tanks remained attached to the Golani Brigade. Thirty-six soldiers were still trapped in the outpost. Two Israeli soldiers wounded in the encounter on the ridge were captured by the Syrians. Six of the soldiers who escaped made their way down the mountain, along with three observation soldiers who escaped from the upper ski lift.
Capture
At around 06:00 on October 7, the two wounded soldiers that were captured were questioned and taken to a ravine outside the outpost. At around 09:00, the Israeli soldiers in the northeastern tunnels heard shots in the courtyard. The Syrians may have fired Israeli weapons captured at the upper ski lift, and some of the Israeli soldiers thought it was their rescuers firing. Four soldiers hiding in the communication bunker heard the shots and came out through a position blown up by the Syrians that morning. Noticing soldiers with olive-colored uniforms, Uzis and an IDF helmet, a radio technician came out and yelled "Golani, Golani, don't shoot!", before his eyes had adapted to the sunlight when he noticed they were Syrians. He and the others ran back in and the Syrians chased them, throwing smoke grenades. Not knowing where the other Israelis were hiding, the Syrians called on them to surrender through the generator gratings and pointed flashlights inside, saying that whoever did not come out would be killed. The Israelis contemplated surrender, but the Golani platoon sergeant refused, opting instead to try to break out through the northeastern position. At around 11:00, he led them through the tunnel connecting the generators to the position. He came out onto the roof first, followed by a Golani soldier, an AMAN soldier and a radio operator. They were spotted on the roof, near the main entrance of the anti-aircraft hill north of the outpost.Perhaps as a response to the Syrian calls to surrender, the sergeant opened fire and threw two grenades at the Syrians. The three Israelis were killed soon after. The others who got out lay in a trench, the Syrians firing at them but missing. When they concluded they had no chance, they surrendered. The radio technician, who waved a piece of white cloth, was killed. The Syrians held their fire, ordered the Israelis down to the courtyard and told them to lay down their weapons and helmets. At about 11:30, two Syrians entered the doctor's room on the top storey and captured him along with two Golani soldiers who were with him, one of them badly wounded. In the late afternoon, the twenty-six captured Israelis were disarmed and their hands tied with telephone wire; they were then led, tied in pairs, toward the Syrian outpost. They were escorted by about thirty Syrian soldiers from the 82nd Battalion. A badly wounded Golani soldier who fell behind was killed, his body left behind. From the Syrian outpost, the prisoners were transferred by trucks to a special forces training base at Qabun, near Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, where they stayed for four days.
Five Israeli soldiers were left in the outpost: a quartermaster hiding in the emergency bunker and four soldiers hiding in the war room bunker. They found some rations in the nearby maintenance bunker and a plastic water tank, which sustained them until October 12. Using a transistor radio, they heard that the kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
im members in the Golan had returned to their homes and so decided to keep hiding until the IDF recaptured the outpost. In the first three days, the Syrians raked the outpost with gunfire and grenades each morning and each night. When the outpost became relatively quiet, the Israelis tried on more than one occasion to get out, but returned after hearing the Syrian guards in the central hall. At around 11:00 on Friday, October 12, Syrian soldiers entered the tunnels to look for food and caught the Israelis, including the quartermaster, by accident. The prisoners were transferred through the Syrian outpost to Qabun. On October 15, all thirty-one prisoners were taken to an olive grove and photographed by journalists; they were transferred to a prison the next day.
Aftermath
In the battles fought in the outpost itself, near the upper ski lift and in Wadi Si'on, sixteen Israelis were killed and twelve wounded. Seven were killed and four wounded in the outpost, four were killed and three wounded near the upper ski lift, three were killed and four wounded in the Si'on encounter. Two were executed by the Syrians after their capture, thirty-one were taken prisoner. Syrian casualties were fifteen killed (twelve commandos and three helicopter crewmen) and three officers wounded trying to penetrate the outpost. The Syrians captured the outpost, the lower ski lift and the entire Hermon mountainside.Soviet advisers arrived at the outpost a few days later to dismantle the electronic equipment, they were pleased to find most of it intact. Syrian interrogators were also able to extract valuable information from the captured Israelis. The electronic equipment was sent to the Soviet Union for analysis, the documents captured compromised Israeli military codes. With the fall of the Hermon, AMAN lost its "eyes on the Golan", the loss of the antennas on the listening posts damaged its ability to collect information.
Author Abraham Rabinovich
Abraham Rabinovich
Abraham Rabinovich is a historian and journalist who has published several books on recent Jewish history. As a reporter, his work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The New Republic, and the Christian Science Monitor. Before becoming a...
wrote that "the fall of the Hermon was for Israel the single most humiliating episode of the Yom Kippur War". Author Walter J. Boyne commented that this was the first time in Israel's history that a commander had abandoned a position while his troops were still fighting. Funk was believed by many Israelis to be at fault for the defeat, as summarized by one soldier: "The officers ran away". The Israelis made a failed attempt
Second Battle of Mount Hermon
The Third Battle of Mount Hermon was fought on the night of October 21–22, 1973, between the Israeli Army and the Syrian Army over Mount Hermon, during the last days of the Yom Kippur War. Syrian troops had captured the IDF outpost on the mountain on October 6, and held it for two weeks...
to recapture the Hermon on October 8, but finally succeeded on October 21, in Operation Dessert.