In the final operation of the Six-Day War in 1967 Israeli forces suffered heavy losses storming the Golan Heights but succeeded in evicting the well-entrenched Syrians. In the early 1970s Syria cooperated with Egypt on a strategy to regain the territories lost in the 1967 debacle. The Syrian operational plan was simple: in the largest armored assault since the battle of Kursk in 1943 Syrian forces would push the Israeli Defense Forces off the Golan Heights by sheer overwhelming numbers. The key to Syrian success would be speed ? Syrian armored spearheads had to capture key objectives before the Israelis could rush hastily mobilized reserves onto the Heights to stop them. The Syrian attack would be coordinated with a massive Egyptian assault crossing of the Suez Canal (simulated in the companion scenario Suez Canal 1973).

In order to achieve a ?Strategic Breakthrough? the Syrian player must achieve a 50 victory point differential by October 9th (turns 7 or 8). In practical terms this entails capturing some combination of the following objectives:

If Syria achieves a Strategic Breakthrough the P.O. may switch to objective track 2 and attempt to launch a limited offensive into the northern Galilee. In the event Syrian forces succeed in pushing far enough into northern Galilee there is a 50% probability Israel will authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons (a special nuclear-capable detachment of the IAF?s 119th Squadron will appear at Tel Nof airbase if this occurs). If Israel uses nuclear weapons there is a 50% probability the Soviet Union will launch a massive nuclear retaliatory strike resulting in an automatic Syrian victory. Israeli use of nuclear weapons will result in 50 victory points for the Syrian side regardless of Soviet response.

In the more likely case that Syria fails to achieve a Strategic Breakthrough the P.O. will switch to objective track 3 which simulates the historical withdrawal of their forces into defensive positions behind the Syrian side of the Purple Line.

In the first few turns several Israeli ?ad hoc? units will appear as reinforcements ? they are emergency companies organized into the Northern Command Tank Battalion. These units will automatically disband around October 8th ? their surviving equipment will be absorbed by arriving understrength reinforcements.

Once the Syrian forces begin pulling back behind their side of the Purple Line, the Israeli player will receive a series of Theater Options to withdraw remnants of the first-line brigades (188th and 7th Armored, 1st Golani Infantry) for re-organization. When the Theater Options are selected the brigades? constituent units remaining on the map are disbanded in the following turns and replaced by battalion-sized cadre units. The equipment from the disbanded remnant units is dumped into the replacement pool; the new cadre units have their replacement priority set to ?Very High? and ?High? and should rapidly regain their combat effectiveness.

After October 8th the Israeli Air Force is handicapped by an Air Shock level of 95 until either a certain number of Syrian Air Defense units are destroyed or the US airlift begins supplying advanced ECM and ARM capabilities (on or around October 13th ? 14th). The start of the US airlift will trigger an increase in Israeli Air Shock to 101, and then to 103 after several days. Destruction of a large proportion of Syrian Air Defense units can further raise Israeli Air Shock to as high as 110.

Although historically the Syrian forces were the aggressors, the Israeli player is the first player in the scenario. This way Opart's P1-P2 asymmetries will help the Israelis seize the initiative and gain the offensive advantages they historically enjoyed. The Israeli player is well advised to move all available units into defensive positions on turn 1 in anticipation of a massive Syrian assault.

On or around October 11th ? 12th the Israeli High Command will make a decision to take the offensive on the Sinai front and push forces across the Suez Canal. As a result IAF Wings at Hatzerim, Hatzor, and Tel Nof will gradually be withdrawn; supplies and replacements will also be reduced over several turns. Finally several Israeli formations will be withdrawn for refit and redeployment to the Sinai front (these are Sarig?s and Orr?s Brigades and Laner?s Division).

The practical effects of these redeployments and diversion of resources will force the Israeli player to adopt a largely defensive posture, though local attacks should still be feasible.

Soviet airlift will help the Syrians starting on turns 6-10 (variable) and the US airlift the Israelis starting on turns 16-17 (variable), providing an increase in both replacements and supply. From Turns 9-10 El Al begins an emergency airlift of supplies from the US, increasing Israeli supply slightly. In addition, both sides begin receiving air replacements about the same time as the Soviet and US re-supply operations begin.

Note that this scenario?s custom ACoW executable, Middle East 1973.exe, has modified AA values for many key Anti-Aircraft weapons, making them much more lethal than in the original ACoW. Most, but not all, of these values are based on a custom ACoW executable published by Jose Maria Serrano as ?Modern.exe.? Below is a list of equipment which was modified with the format Original AA value / Modified AA value (Modern.exe modified AA value):

In addition several key aircraft in use by both sides have had their AA and DF values modified:

The following sources (in Hebrew) were used by Oded Berkowitz, who provided very useful information on historical Israeli OOBs, TOEs, and force dispositions:

My thanks to Oded Berkowitz and Ben Turner for valuable playtesting assistance.