THE PURPLE LINE
Arguably, the IDF victory on the Golan Heights in the closing hours of the Six Day War was of greater significance than that in the Sinai Peninsula. The towns and villages near the Sea of Galilee below the Golan escarpment were now safe from Syrian artillery fire while the vital head waters of the Jordan River were in Israeli hands: as was the dominating feature of Mount Hermon that allowed observation deep into Syrian territory. Over 2,000m above sea level, Mount Hermon was of immense strategic value to the Israelis and a heavily fortified observation post, bristling with electronic monitoring and optical viewing devices, was quickly established on its heights. On the Golan Plateau itself, the Israelis built numerous pillboxes and blockhouses, 112 in all, as well as 17 fortified positions just to the west of the ceasefire line with the Syrians. Running north to south for some 65km, it was known as the Purple Line from its colour on the maps of UNTSO personnel. The United Nations Truce Supervisory Organisation (UNTSO) had the unenviable task of monitoring the ceasefire and trying to maintain order between the two antagonistic belligerents.
FOLLOWING PAGE: MACHINE-GUN BUNKER
Fundamental to the construction of the Bar Lev Line was the widespread use of prefabricated components that were made in Israel and transported to the Suez Canal. A typical machine-gun emplacement comprised a steel shell with integral firing slits. Steel railway ties usually in two layers protected the roof of the shell. These supported a layer of interlocking concrete blocks above which were rock gabions as the final level of protection against artillery fire. All sides of the steel shell were lined with the standard concrete blocks that had lifting holes in their sides and four holes through the top and bottom faces. Through these were slotted steel ‘rebar’ (reinforcing bars) to strengthen the whole structure. The outsides were then lined with yet more rock gabions. Another prefabricated item was the concrete funnel that was aligned with the firing slits of the weapons. An emplacement commonly had up to three firing slits but the number used was dependent on the terrain and the fields of fire covered by the position. This method of construction was typical for many weapons emplacements and other structures such as observation posts.
The Southern Front in the Yom Kippur War
Unlike in the Sinai Desert, there was no room to trade space for time to allow the reserves to be mobilized as the Golan Plateau occupied by the Israelis was just 27km wide east to west. The volcanic plateau is undulating ground comprising basalt rock and lava flows that is extremely punishing to the suspension of any vehicle. It is poor tank country except in the south where the area is more suitable to cultivation. Because of the broken ground, there are just five roads running from east to west with only one major one, the age-old Damascus Road that ran from the Syrian capital to the Mediterranean port of Haifa. Similarly, there are only two significant roads running north to south with one following parallel to the path of the Purple Line from Rafid in the south to Masada while the other runs diagonally across the plateau beside the Trans-Arabian Pipeline or TAP that carries oil underground from Saudi Arabia via Jordan to Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, the Israeli defence plan of the Golan Plateau was based on the mobility of its armoured forces manoeuvring behind the line of static fortifications. As one Israeli commander on the Golan stated:
To this end, the Israelis built numerous tracks across the plateau to allow the deployment of tanks and supply vehicles across the difficult terrain as well as tracks to the 17 ‘fortified tactical localities’ along and behind the Purple Line. These were perched on some of the numerous volcanic mounds that dotted the plateau like gigantic anthills. Known as ‘tels’ or mounts, they offered excellent observation over the Purple Line and across the Damascus Plain, with wide fields of fire from the interlocking bunkers and firing pits. Other higher promontories to the west such as Tel Faris, Tel Hermonit and Tel Avital sprouted with sophisticated electronic monitoring and observation devices with communications equipment to coordinate rapidly the defensive fire plans of the artillery and the close air support of the air force. The bunkers were well protected against artillery fire by extensive overhead cover and thick walls of wire wrapped gabions of basalt rock. Each one was held by up to an infantry platoon but customarily between 12 and 15 troops when tension was low. The infantry were armed with multiple automatic and anti-tank weapons. Dense wire entanglements and minefields protected the positions. Nearby were elevated firing ramps to allow a platoon of tanks to engage enemy targets at maximum range. Forward of the line of bunkers and running the length of the Purple Line was a formidable anti-tank ditch some five metres deep with the spoil heaped up on the Syrian side to a height of some three metres. Along its length, the ditch was bordered by dense minefields, both anti-personnel and anti-tank, that were laid so as to channel enemy armour into killing zones dominated by the tanks on their ramps. With the command headquarters at Nafekh, the Golan Plateau was normally defended by two resident regular brigades, the 1st ‘Golani’ Infantry Brigade and the 188th ‘Barak’ Armored Brigade.
A Mirage IIICJ of IAF No. 119 Squadron ‘Atalef’ (Bat) stands ready for flight in May 1973 adorned with eight kill markings, denoting Mirage 58 as one of the greatest MiG killers during the War of Attrition. The Mirage or Shahak (meaning Firmament) was the air-superiority fighter par excellence during the fierce battles above the Bar Lev Line. With their superior aerial gunnery training, Mirage pilots fully exploited the delta-wing configuration of their aircraft at low levels where guns were commonly used at ranges of 50 to 100m and air-to-air missiles from 700 to 3,000m. During the War of Attrition, the Mirage IIICJ was credited with destroying approximately 100 enemy aircraft in aerial combat.