Heroe's Arenas

 
This time soldiers were back in grief and panic; many of them needed to frequent the psychiatric department of the army to be treated of a combat shock, an Israeli military commentator.

The Egyptian Armed Forces heroes recorded great championships in the liberation war - October 1973. History of the Military recorded and is studying many of which at war academies worldwide.

Immortalize heroism
To immortalize such heroism Egypt kept some of the real sites of battles, to show how solid and strong were the fortresses and barriers the Israelis constructed for fortification. The decisive element in the breakthrough and seizure was efficiency of command and planning, and the bravery and courage of Egyptian soldier.

The big one
The most prominent of such fortifications extended along the Suez Canal in what was known as the Bar-Lev line. It is a military horizontal fortress with 27 strong points. Israel and many military experts estimated that Egypt was in need of an atomic bomb to invade that line which was definitely immune according to them.

They certainly miscalculated.... The posts were fortified enough; big equipment, arrangements, supplies, tools, weapons and mines. All of which were accumulated in each strong post. The only shortcoming was ignorance of the ability of the Egyptian mind to innovate and invent, and the capacity of the Egyptian leadership to plan against enormous difficulties and the power of the Egyptian soldiers to use feat and bravery to break into the most invincible of all.

So as not to forget
So that facts might not be obliterated, so that next generations might realize the greatness of their ancestors who recorded with their blood the victory of October 1973; some of these strongholds were kept and turned into tourist sites. They bear witness to the elements of the myth Israel tried to forge to prevent Egyptians from liberating their lands, they bear witness to the size of heroism which managed to break that myth.

Tabat El-Shagara, a stronghold turned into a site
Oyoun Moussa
The tourist-attractive military site of Oyoun Moussa is a living immortal record of one of the heroic acts secured by the Egyptian Armed Forces, particularly the Third Field Army in the glorious October 1973 war.

The tourist site is the same spot of the stronghold of the Israeli army in Oyoun Moussa, seized in the course of the great epic of crossing. It is 3.5 km to north west of the historical Moses Springs and a 30-minute car drive from the city of Suez. The site has a cafeteria and a souvenier shop, besides places for panoramic view of the strongholds and the civilian targets and economic facilities bombed by the fortified post in the war of attrition and the October war.

The whole area is famous for water springs by which to irrigate palm trees and fruit gardens. The history of the area dates back to the exit of Moses - may God peace be upon him - from the land of Egypt followed by the Jews. Moses trod Sinai in that spot and asked God for water to quench the thirst of his people. God ordered Moses to throw his stick and twelve springs blew up, and each tribe of the Jews drank from one.

Before 1973, that spot was vital to Israel, because it controls the northern part of the Gulf of Suez east the Suez Canal, also the cities of Suez and Port Tawfik west the Suez Canal. It also controls the Shat-Tor road leading to South Sinai. The Israeli side used that spot in bombing the oil facilities in Zayteyat, the fertilizers factories and Al-Adabeya Harbour, also some civilian establishments in Suez and Port Tawfik west the Canal. That same spot was also used in bombing the Egyptian forces which managed to cross the Suez Canal.

The post has six reinforced concrete blocks of thick walls covered with railway bars above which there are baskets of rocks and stones to bear 1000-ton bombs. There are one-inch thick steel gates and guns 155 mm pointed north and north west, in addition to residence of leaders and soldiers. There are also trenches for transport and surveillance, plus administrative, medical and supply facilities.

The post is also equipped with two electricity generators and all living requirements. Soldiers inside are self-sufficient for one month, as far as the living and military aspects are concerned. There are also two fields of barbed wires with anti-tanks and personal mines inbetween, in addition to an electronic network perfectly hidden for security reasons. Despite the perfect selection of the post and the fortified equipment and security means, the Egyptian Armed Forces managed, in the glorious October War, to seize that key post and destroy it.

On October 9, 1973, orders passed to a mechanical unit formed in three combat groups; the first headed to Ras Mesala, the second to Maketal El-Masri and the third to Oyoun Moussa. The enemy feeling the persistence of the troops to seize the post, lost morale and withdrew leaving behind the post in full arms and equipment. Before the sunset of October 9, Oyoun Moussa was back Egyptian and later turned into a tourist site