47 years after the heroic braking battle, fighters trained with Mark 4 chariot tanks on the spot • Among other things, they took back photos taken by the fallen operations officer • View the impressive documentation
A few hours after the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, Lieutenant Yohanan (Yochik) Zorea, the 82nd Battalion Operations Officer, picked up the camera he was carrying and photographed the whip tanks.
He did not know that these would be the last pictures he would take.
On the second day of the war, when the battalion's fighters were assisting the 188th Brigade fighters in the difficult containment battles in the Golan Heights, he fell in battle at Cindiana.
Eleven other fighters from his battalion were killed in heavy fighting in the area of Hoshenia, Tel Fares and Tel Saki in the south and center of the Golan Heights.
Photo: Gil Kramer, Yadi Cohen, IDF Spokesman
47 years have passed since that day, but the 7th Brigade fighters have never left the area.
These days they are concluding a great training, as part of which they chose to recreate the battles in Tel Fares and the Moshav Yonatan area.
The yellow-green spaces of the end of summer were painted red during the difficult days of 1973, and now the fighters are back to remember the fallen and prove to the whole world that the IDF is still on guard. "The Yom Kippur War is a significant point for anyone living in Israel, whether born before The war or after it ", the commander of the 7th Brigade, Colonel Udi Tzur, tells" Israel Today ".
"The wind is the same wind."
Col. Udi Tzur // Photo: Oren Cohen
"Sucking the battle heritage from the sources" // Photo: Oren Cohen
"We deal a lot with the battle heritage of the brigade. We have not left the Golan Heights since Yom Kippur, we have planted roots and we are sucking the battle heritage from the sources. We performed the 82nd Battalion exercise in areas where the battalion fought in the Yom Kippur War. "Among the photos taken by Yohanan, they are sowing in the same areas, to this day. Although the area looks completely different, and the tank is not the same tank, the people are the same people."
Tank Company A in the 82nd Battalion, Lt. Geva, at a firing position north of Tel Fares // Photo: The late Yohanan Zorea
82nd Battalion Tank at an observation post on Sunday, October 7, 1973. // Photo: Yohanan Zorea, a few minutes before he was killed
The 7th Brigade has a particularly significant history in the Yom Kippur War.
Alongside the familiar and heroic battle in the Valley of Weeping, many brigade fighters operated in the north and south of the plateau, braking the Syrian enemy with their bodies and weapons.
Many of the warriors did not return from the battle.
"We maintain close ties with the bereaved families. Unfortunately due to the corona some of the commemoration ceremonies will be done without families, but the connection is continuous and courageous. We are still engaged in passing on the legacy, commemorating them in a way that is not only a memory but also a meaning to our generation. "Weeping, but the 7th Brigade is far beyond this battle. The 82nd Battalion fought in the southern sector, fiercely defending the Cindiana area. The reconstruction of the battle has a deep and powerful meaning, both for the bereaved families and for us - the commanders and soldiers. This is a project of paramount importance."
Preparing for battle // Photo: Oren Cohen
The battlefield is the same, the tanks are different // Photo: Oren Cohen
For Colonel Tzur, this is a real closing of the circle.
He did most of his military service in the 82nd Battalion, the same battalion that stopped the Syrians in the first days of the Yom Kippur War.
“It is a national responsibility to be a Brigadier General 7, to step into the shoes of people who have shaped the road that have profoundly influenced the country.
The fact that we can today tread and walk in the regions of this country is due to these commanders and warriors, many of whom have paid with their lives.
It is a great honor to have a tremendous responsibility. "
The Glory of Israeli Technology // Photo: Oren Cohen
"The spirit of fighting and strength is taken from the war" // Photo: Oren Cohen
The fighters of the 7th Brigade who carried out the training and reconstruction are today in a completely different reality from the one in which the battalion members fought in 1973.
"The threat is different. We are talking about mountain axes in Lebanon and the threat of anti-tank missiles. Do the fighters understand in depth what it means tank battles in tanks and what was in the Valley of Weeping? I am not sure I know how to understand this in depth, but we take the values and capabilities and access them To the current reality, to values such as standing on the battlefield, the IDF spirit and "meeting the mission."
"We are taking from the Yom Kippur War the spirit of fighting, resilience and dealing with difficulties. Today we are fighting on the Mark 4 chariot, with the most advanced return (command and control) system.
We have updated the ZID system (made by Elbit), the luxury of technology. We have a combination of the most advanced weapons capabilities on land, along with air tools and intelligence.
The training we have done recently is the most complex training so far. "
High readiness at any moment to the northern border // Photo: Oren Cohen
"The warriors today have no less spirit than those who acted on Yom Kippur" // Photo: Oren Cohen
"The complexity today is high. We are highly prepared at any moment to leave for the northern border, against Hezbollah, alongside activities in Judea and Samaria and Gaza. Our enemies have chosen a different method of fighting in light of our combat superiority, which requires us to be much more lethal and professional." More than the Yom Kippur War. So it was a small force versus a huge enemy force, but we had the advantage of ranges and professionalism. Today we are in a different beacon - to locate a hiding enemy, face steep-track firing to the center of the country. We must be prepared to maneuver in depth and be Accurate. "
"When I talk to the commanders I understand that there is something that runs like the second thread from the War of Independence, through the Six Days, Yom Kippur, Lebanon to the soldier today. The ability to deal with the difficulties, the resilience. We sometimes look at the youth today a little spoiled, but they are not spoiled. "They are motivated. We tend to underestimate but they have no less spirit than the guys who worked on Yom Kippur, and if they are required to fight Lebanon I have no doubt they will do it in the best way. The tools are different, the technology is different, but the people are what determines the outcome." .
Mark 4 chariot tank next to Centurion tank from the Yom Kippur War // Archive photo: Yadi Cohen
