Yum Kippur War

[Yahia Al Shaer]

Dear Dr,

The text below is taken from an account celebrating the Egyptian re-opening of the Suez canal in the wake of the war. It refers to the Israeli stone bridge or causeway and its removal post war byEgypt. A formidable acheivement by Egypt by the way, although one which relied on assistance from the UK, USA and France.

See http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issu....reopening.htm

"This was a permanent, 65-foot-wide roadway across the Canal near the town of Deversoir just north of the Great Bitter Lake. It had been built during the 1973 war by simply filling in the Canal at that point, and its foundation consisted of barges. There were 29 of them, each of 75 tons weight and each loaded with another 75 tons of sand and stone. They had been drawn into position and sunk in sequence so that they lay atop each other like a row of dominoes that has been knocked down. On top of them and alongside was a jumble of giant four-ton concrete blocks—12,000 of them—and an unknown quantity of rubble, stone and earth fill. And as a final complication, the length of the causeway, even more than the sites of the pontoon bridges elsewhere on the Canal, was lined with trucks, tanks and other vehicles that had fallen or been blown off the roadway while crossing. All of these had to be presumed full of explosives—indeed, nearly-all were—and every one had to be cleared before the causewav itself could be dismantled. But it was done. Grenade by grenade, truck by truck, step by step the preliminary obstructions were located, raised and disposed of."

There is a link on the above website which has a couple of photos of the slow, painstaking work it took to demolish the causeway and open the canal. Whislt it is a source of Israeli pride to have consrtucted such an impressive bridge, it is an equal acheivement by Egypt to have removed it. Never mind denying historical fact, this is one thing you should be proud of!

cheers
Marsh

Dear Marsh

Thanks a lot for the article and the URL.

This will help a lot, in addition to what Roy had published as well.

In fact, the books I have read until now, about the October 1973 "Yom-Kippur" war , did not include such info . Therefore, as for myself, I´d refrain from any comment, until finishing all the necessary fetch and search on this topic, particularly reading the article which Marsh had published and the book mentioned in his comment .

The objective, is never and will never be, to prove who is right or wrong, but to document the Deversoir crossing and its impacts as presize as possible .

In fact, i posted something about it, sometime last year, and found a really impressive cooperation by many of the members , who even supplied rare footage about the roller bridge.

Definately there are hooks here and there, particulary the circumstances and the implementation timing and the (when, where, how and of course who began it , at which stage ) .... as well.

What is clear cut ... this could never had happened during the first two weeks of the israeli crossing ..., because all availble photos about this operation, show other pontons ...

The implementation details as well as the time frame during which it was bulilt and other other related info are very essential for a better documenting .

Therefor, i ask for your understanding, when you wo´nt read from me for some time.


Cheers amd thanks again

Dr. Yahia Al Shaer

[RoyB]

Fair enough.

[Marsh]

Hi Dr Yahia,

you are correct in that the bridge was not constructed, or at least not finished, durring the height of the war. As far as I remember, and I had an associate who worked on the bridge, it was not completed until after the cease-fire.

Cheers
Marsh

[Yahia Al Shaer]

Hi Dr Yahia,

you are correct in that the bridge was not constructed, or at least not finished, durring the height of the war. As far as I remember, and I had an associate who worked on the bridge, it was not completed until after the cease-fire.

Cheers
Marsh

Thanks to you

The following photo, had been published by a friend in an egyptian forum, where they started to tacle this topic





The following comment had been published as well , that a israeli forum is discussing this issue
. Due to the fact, that I do not understand Hebrew, may be , you or any one else, could inform us
Unfortunately, there is no URL link to the israeli forum-topic

This bridge is one of four bridge crossings set up by Israel on the Suez, and is known as "The Land Bridge"(Hebrew = הגשר היבשתי). Truly an amazing engineering project. Old barges were broght down to Sinai and were filled with rocks and sunk into the canal waters, to form the basis for the bridge. From there on its was just a lot of sand, rocks and cement. Hard work too, of course

This was a permanent, 65-foot-wide roadway across the Canal near the town of Deversoir just north of the Great Bitter Lake. It had been built during the 1973 war by simply filling in the Canal at that point, and its foundation consisted of barges. There were 29 of them, each of 75 tons weight and each loaded with another 75 tons of sand and stone. They had been drawn into position and sunk in sequence so that they lay atop each other like a row of dominoes that has been knocked down. On top of them and alongside was a jumble of giant four-ton concrete blocks—12,000 of them—and an unknown quantity of rubble, stone and earth fill. And as a final complication, the length of the causeway, even more than the sites of the pontoon bridges elsewhere on the Canal, was lined with trucks, tanks and other vehicles that had fallen or been blown off the roadway while crossing. All of these had to be presumed full of explosives—indeed, nearly-all were—and every one had to be cleared before the causewav itself could be dismantled. But it was done. Grenade by grenade, truck by truck, step by step the preliminary obstructions were located, raised and disposed of

Dr: Yahia Al Shaer

[the_Wicked]

I don't get it, how were ships supposed to cross these "permanent" bridges?

[RoyB]

I don't get it, how were ships supposed to cross these "permanent" bridges?

Why would ships cross the canal in the midst of a war?

[IDF_TANKER]

I don't get it, how were ships supposed to cross these "permanent" bridges?

They could skip over, like flat pebbles.

[Kobr4]

Dear Marsh

Thanks a lot for the article and the URL.

This will help a lot, in addition to what Roy had published as well.

In fact, the books I have read until now, about the October 1973 "Yom-Kippur" war , did not include such info . Therefore, as for myself, I´d refrain from any comment, until finishing all the necessary fetch and search on this topic, particularly reading the article which Marsh had published and the book mentioned in his comment .

Actually, Dr. Yahia, the most easily available source on the Israeli land bridge is Saad el Shazly. He describes the Egyptian effort to construct three land bridges north to south on the canal, because they were impenetrable to air strikes. Once the Israelis had crossed the canal, the bridge to be built at Deversoir was abandoned. Civilian contractors were tasked with constructing the bridges and completed both in early December, 1973, due to the difficulty of working with fast water currents and because the civilian contractors were engaged in construction projects in Libya and had to bring their equipment all the way from there. There was one bridge for both Egyptian field armies.

Shazly goes on: "Strangely enough, the enemy adopted the same idea and built a similar bridge at the very point where we were planning to build one in the Deversoir sector. This was the best place for it because the speed of the current there is minimal. That is why the enemy bridge became operational towards the end of November, 1973."

The similarity may have been mere coincidence, or perhaps the Israelis got wind of Egyptian plans, and after their own crossing adopted the Deversoir project.

يا دكتور يحيى الشاعر، بيتهيألي إني شفتك يا قبل كدة في منتديات و صفحات فيسبوك مشابهة للمنتدى ده... أنت مؤرخ ولا إيه؟

[Kobr4]

Dr Yahia, are you the same Yahia al Shaer who runs a Facebook page on the Helwan HA-300 fighter aircraft?

[alexz]

Dr Yahia, are the same Yahia al Shaer who runs a Facebook page on the Helwan HA-300 fighter aircraft?

How many Yahia Al Shaer's are there?

[Kaplanr]

Canal was closed from 1967 (Six Day War) through June, 1975. For 8 years it was the worlds longest (and not so successful) anti tank ditch.

I don't get it, how were ships supposed to cross these "permanent" bridges?

With somewhere between 76 and 80 million people in Egypt, it's reasonable to expect there might be more than one.

How many Yahia Al Shaer's are there?

[Kobr4]

How many Yahia Al Shaer's are there?

With somewhere between 76 and 80 million people in Egypt, it's reasonable to expect there might be more than one.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...7391715&v=wall

I'm sure there are quite a few in Egypt with that name . But aside the Facebook page, I've seen a Yahia Al Shaer on a number of forums and it's always related to the Arab-Israeli conflict or some closely related topic. Also, for all the myriad variations people use for writing the name (ie:Yahya or al-Shaer or El-Shaer or El Sha'er), the same variation of Yahia Al Shaer is used in these forums, and the man constantly refers to himself as a doctor as well.

Thought I'd ask..

[Yahia Al Shaer]

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...7391715&v=wall

I'm sure there are quite a few in Egypt with that name . But aside the Facebook page, I've seen a Yahia Al Shaer on a number of forums and it's always related to the Arab-Israeli conflict or some closely related topic. Also, for all the myriad variations people use for writing the name (ie:Yahya or al-Shaer or El-Shaer or El Sha'er), the same variation of Yahia Al Shaer is used in these forums, and the man constantly refers to himself as a doctor as well.

Thought I'd ask..

Dr Yahia, are you the same Yahia al Shaer who runs a Facebook page on the Helwan HA-300 fighter aircraft?

There is ONLY one Yahia Al Shaer , from Port Said ....


Yes I am Yahia Al Shaer , and as you mentioned, here are my domains


http://yahialalshaer.com
http://yahial-alshaer.com
http://yahial-al-shaer.com


So, as you see, there is NO secret about it ....


By the way ... you forgot to mention the domain http://hakaek-misr.com


It will be easier for you, to submit a google search as follows "يحي الشاعر" or "د. يحي الشاعر"
and you will get a lot of arabic references



Dr: Yahia Al Shaer

[Yahia Al Shaer]

Actually, Dr. Yahia, the most easily available source on the Israeli land bridge is Saad el Shazly. He describes the Egyptian effort to construct three land bridges north to south on the canal, because they were impenetrable to air strikes. Once the Israelis had crossed the canal, the bridge to be built at Deversoir was abandoned. Civilian contractors were tasked with constructing the bridges and completed both in early December, 1973, due to the difficulty of working with fast water currents and because the civilian contractors were engaged in construction projects in Libya and had to bring their equipment all the way from there. There was one bridge for both Egyptian field armies.

Shazly goes on: "Strangely enough, the enemy adopted the same idea and built a similar bridge at the very point where we were planning to build one in the Deversoir sector. This was the best place for it because the speed of the current there is minimal. That is why the enemy bridge became operational towards the end of November, 1973."

The similarity may have been mere coincidence, or perhaps the Israelis got wind of Egyptian plans, and after their own crossing adopted the Deversoir project.

يا دكتور يحيى الشاعر، بيتهيألي إني شفتك يا قبل كدة في منتديات و صفحات فيسبوك مشابهة للمنتدى ده... أنت مؤرخ ولا إيه؟

Be sure, there are also additional good books about the October 1973 war "Yom Kippur" ...

You ought to read the following arabic excellent book, written by Gamal Hammad .... It is in arabic and is a real excellent reference , with names and many many details . المعارك الحربية علي الحبهة المصرية ، حرب أكتوبر 1973 ، بقلم جمال حماد

I do not want to refer to my topics, maps, evaluations and analysis of that war and its fighting , which you can easily read
in many forums, wher I DOCUMENT this war .... Even in the forum, from where YOU come.
as well as the 1967

Forgot to mention, that you can read other topics on the sixday war and of course the 1956 tripartite war (you can refer to my book "The Other Side of the Coin) ,

By the way ... you forgot to mention the domain http://hakaek-misr.com

May be , you would come there for a visit .... and you are welcome




Dr: Yahia Al Shaer

[IDF_TANKER]

Be sure, there are also additional good books about the October 1973 war "Yom Kippur" ...

You ought to read the following arabic excellent book, written by Gamal Hammad .... It is in arabic and is a real excellent reference , with names and many many details . المعارك الحربية علي الحبهة المصرية ، حرب أكتوبر 1973 ، بقلم جمال حماد

I do not want to refer to my topics, maps, evaluations and anylysis of that war and its fighting , which you can easily read
in many forums, wher I DOCUMENT this war .... Even in the forum, from where YOU come.


By the way ... you forgot to mention the domain http://hakaek-misr.com

Dr: Yahia Al Shaer

Why the tank on this book cover looks like an M60 with Blazer armor?