Battle of the Chinese Farm

Battle of the Chinese Farm
Part of the Yom Kippur War/October War
The Israeli plan for Operation Abiray-Lev
Date October 15–17, 1973 Location North of the Great Bitter Lake and east of the Suez Canal, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt Result Israeli victory
Belligerents
Egypt	Israel
Commanders and leaders
Abd Rab el-Nabi Hafez Ibrahim El-Orabi Abd el-Hamid Abd el-Sami' Sayed Saleh	Ariel Sharon Abraham Adan Amnon Reshef Uzi Ya'iri
Strength
One infantry brigade One mechanized brigade Two understrength armored brigades 136 tanks	One reinforced armored brigade Initially 97 tanks, later: One armored division and one paratrooper brigade
Casualties and losses
Heavy	Heavy

The Battle of the Chinese Farm took place during October 15 to October 17, 1973 between the Egyptian Army and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as part of the Yom Kippur War. It was fought in the Sinai Peninsula, north of the Great Bitter Lake and just east of the Suez Canal, near an Egyptian agricultural research station. The farm featured specialized Japanese-made machinery; Israeli soldiers mistook Japanese characters on this equipment for Chinese, leading to the area being labeled 'Chinese Farm' on Israeli military maps. The battle began when the IDF launched Operation Abiray-Lev ("Stouthearted Men"), attempting to establish a corridor to the canal and allow bridges to be laid for a crossing. Accordingly, the Israelis attacked Egyptian forces in and around the Chinese Farm.

Determined Egyptian resistance made progress extremely slow for the Israelis, who suffered heavy losses. The Israelis were repeatedly reinforced with armor but were unable to make much headway, only managing to seize an important crossroad on the second day. Suffering from a lack of infantry, the Israelis brought up paratroopers during the night of October 16/17. They were tasked with clearing anti-tank defenses for the armor, but they became pinned down by heavy Egyptian fire. The paratroopers drew Egyptian attention long enough for the Israelis to move bridging equipment to the canal undetected. Armored forces later extricated the paratroopers.

The Egyptians attempted to restore their defenses to their initial dispositions with an armored attack on October 17. It initially succeeded, but was pushed back by Israeli counterattacks in an armored battle lasting the entire day. Seriously depleted by the continuous fighting, the Egyptians relinquished control of the routes to the canal, opening them up to the Israelis. The battle is remembered as one of the most costly and brutal battles of the war.

On October 6, 1973, Egypt launched Operation Badr, intending to cross the Suez Canal and establish bridgeheads on the opposite bank of the Sinai Peninsula, which had been occupied by Israel since 1967. Coordinated with a Syrian assault on the Golan Heights, the crossing achieved tactical surprise and was a success. Thereafter, counterattacks by Israeli reserves were unsuccessful. By October 10, fighting along the front had come to a lull. The Egyptians dug in and hoped to wear down the Israelis by attrition, while remaining within range of their ground surface-to-air missiles, which provided air cover from the west bank of the canal, while the Israelis focused on directing their main efforts against the Syrians in the Golan and reorganizing their battered forces. Israeli failures led to the replacement of the chief of the Israeli Southern Command, Major General Shmuel Gonen, with Chaim Bar-Lev, although Gonen was retained as his aide.

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