There were three Gorodish brothers who were all senior officers in the IDF. We would call them the Yok (Yoel), the Bok (Baruch) and the Shmock. (Shmuel). It was my luck to serve in Yoel's brigade, the 274th Armored. On the 21st of October, shortly before the ceasefire, you'll gave the order to assault an Egyptian position called Hamutal. Israeli intelligence had concluded that this sand dune was lightly held, so, the task was given to two companies of mechanized infantry supported by tanks. These were reservists and back in the day everybody knew who ended up in mechanized infantry...not the brightest and not the most highly motivated shall we say. Plus these guys were older, mostly family men with little to gain and a lot to lose. Needless to say, another intelligence failure, as Hamutal was actually held by a large Egyptian force dug in with sagger missiles and supported by tanks emplaced on the adjoining dune. The assault was a disaster with many casualties on our side.
After the ceasefire I had the joy of living in a foxhole on another sand dune facing the 2nd Army. For the next 6 months I had plenty of time, in between shellings, to ponder the nature of Israeli society, the hubris after the six day war and the awful depression following Yom Kippur. I reached the conclusion that Israeli society was manic-depressive, driven by deep seated fear of annihilation and I wanted no more part in it. I left, only to return a few years ago, mostly out of curiosity and a little homesickness.
Israel's response to October 7 leads me to believe that nothing has changed, fundamentally, confirming my diagnosis.
Re: the Yom Kippur war.
There were three Gorodish brothers who were all senior officers in the IDF. We would call them the Yok (Yoel), the Bok (Baruch) and the Shmock. (Shmuel). It was my luck to serve in Yoel's brigade, the 274th Armored. On the 21st of October, shortly before the ceasefire, you'll gave the order to assault an Egyptian position called Hamutal. Israeli intelligence had concluded that this sand dune was lightly held, so, the task was given to two companies of mechanized infantry supported by tanks. These were reservists and back in the day everybody knew who ended up in mechanized infantry...not the brightest and not the most highly motivated shall we say. Plus these guys were older, mostly family men with little to gain and a lot to lose. Needless to say, another intelligence failure, as Hamutal was actually held by a large Egyptian force dug in with sagger missiles and supported by tanks emplaced on the adjoining dune. The assault was a disaster with many casualties on our side.
After the ceasefire I had the joy of living in a foxhole on another sand dune facing the 2nd Army. For the next 6 months I had plenty of time, in between shellings, to ponder the nature of Israeli society, the hubris after the six day war and the awful depression following Yom Kippur. I reached the conclusion that Israeli society was manic-depressive, driven by deep seated fear of annihilation and I wanted no more part in it. I left, only to return a few years ago, mostly out of curiosity and a little homesickness.
Israel's response to October 7 leads me to believe that nothing has changed, fundamentally, confirming my diagnosis.
Great report Marc!