Battle of the Chinese Farm

Battle of the Chinese Farm
Part of the Yom Kippur 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 30°27′0″N 32°24′0″E / 30.45000°N 32.40000°E / 30.45000; 32.40000 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 Avraham Adan Amnon Reshef Uzi Yairi
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
class=notpageimage| Location within Egypt

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 area was known to the Israeli military as the Chinese Farm – a misnomer resulting from the research station's use of Japanese-made equipment, with Japanese writing on the machinery mistaken by Israeli observers for Chinese characters.^[1][2]

Combat began when the IDF launched operation Operation Abiray-Lev ("Knights of the Heart"): an attempt to establish a corridor to the canal, and allow bridges to be laid for a crossing. Under Abiray-Lev, 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.