77th OZ Battalion at the Valley of Tears

WHM · Post by **WHM** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 9:12 pm

I have been doing some re-reading about the fighting on the Golan during the October War but I have not been able to determine just where the 77th Oz Armor Battalion was positioned. The Osprey book said between Booster and Tel Hermonit yet I am pretty sure I read from another source they were on Booster. If they were between Booster and Tel Hermonit then who was on Booster?

Booster in turn was described as part of the Kuenitra ridge but think it's more pleatau. I know another Armor battalion was there from the Barak Brigade but where?

Somewhere I have "Heights of Courage, but can't find it. The maps it included were not really readable.

Thinking wargamers are pretty good historians someone out there might know about the battalions dispositions and whether they were on Booster.

Thanks

BattlerBritain · Post by **BattlerBritain** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 2:18 am

I got the Osprey book "Centurion vs T-55" a few months back and it's the best book on The Golan I've come across.

In it it describes Kahalani ordering the 77th into position on the firing ramps overlooking the valley between Hermonit and Booster, called the Kuneitra gap.

It also describes to the north between Hermonit and Bukata were the depleted ranks of the 71st Battalion under the command of Lt Col Meshulam Rattes, with just 7 tanks on the 9th October.

The remnants of the 74th and 82nd were covering Kuneitra. Total of 34 tanks.

Hope this helps.

PS Sorry for the delay in replying - couldn't find the book!

WHM · Post by **WHM** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 5:40 pm

Thanks BattlerBritain I'll keep an eye out for it.

I was beginning this was a subject there wasn't much interest in.

Appreciate your help.

Firefight · Post by **Firefight** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:57 am

As a side note to this discussion, The MILITARY CHANNEL (287 on Direct TV) is running its new series, GREATEST TANK BATTLES. The show airs on Wednesday nights at 10 Eastern time. The last show was about the 1973 Israeli-Syrian battles on the Golan. Lots of animation of Centurions and T-55 tanks. May want to catch the repeat.

Mitch
North Carolina

WHM · Post by **WHM** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:36 am

Yeah, I've seen the advertisements but I may have already seen this episode due to already on youtube.

Considering it was one of the biggest tank battles to take place you would think there would be more detail, but perhaps it is a lot to hope to see an actual map of the battalion's deployment. Some sources say they were between Tel Hermonit and Booster but if I remember they were on Booster.

I've looked at satellite images on Google but not much luck to determine the lay of the ground. I think the real name of Booster is Mt Bental. But this might be to much detail for a not so hot model maker.

Cav Dog · Post by **Cav Dog** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:21 am

Amazon just shipped my order of Yom Kippur War books. Hopefully they can provide some insight as to who was where. From the Osprey books and google earth, I think Booster was the largest hill in the SW corner of a slight plateau just north of Kuneitira and south of Mt Hermonit. Mt Bental was west of Kuneitira. As best I can tell from several different maps and sources, Booster was the hill at 33 degrees 8'54.50" N and 35 degrees 48'31.41" E. If you go to that location in Google Earth and then switch to maps, turn on terrain, you can see the small plateau. Also, if you turn on photos in GE, there are pics of a couple of derelict Israeli Centurians on the eastern edge of that plateau on a small rise.

Cav Dog · Post by **Cav Dog** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:54 pm

If you are interested in the Yom Kippur War, check out this link:

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/sh ... Kippur-War

Tons of pics including some nice color shots although mostly from the Israeli side with the occasional caption error of vehicle/aircraft ID and location, Sinai or Golan.

Page 7 has some artists drawing of uniforms in color about 1/3 of the way down.

Edit update: I spent some more time going through this site. After the first 30 pages, the pictures become less frequent and it turns into a pretty comical debate about who won the war, Israel or Egypt. Some of the Egyptian points of view are interesting and don't fit at all into the common western perception of the war. I'm only at page 48 though and I think there are over 180 pages.

BattlerBritain · Post by **BattlerBritain** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:13 am

Just spent a hour or so going through the photos in that link.

Some pretty good pictures there. Some I'd seen before, some not.

I'd seen some of them in old 'Born in Battle' magazines that were around in the 80s.

Some of the pictures of destroyed tanks were quite something. You just have to wonder about the crews.