"Lock Hour" presents some of the events of the 188th Brigade's containment battle in the Yom Kippur War • "I have no brigade", the brigadier general is heard saying a moment before he falls • This is how it sounds
Israeli tanks in the Yom Kippur War
Photography:
David Rubinger
The first season of "Lock Hour", the spoken word series of Here 11, deals with the heavy fighting in the first days of the Yom Kippur War in the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon.
In the first episode (spoilers caution), the armored fighters in the southern Golan Heights are seen for the first time encountering the huge Syrian forces and are forced to fight a mighty battle against them.
Liaison Voices of the 188th Brigade in the Yom Kippur War Credit: 188th Brigade Heritage Site // Photo courtesy of the IDF Archives at the Ministry of Defense
The fighters of the 188th Brigade had to face huge forces in the first day.
The brigade held a front line along the Golan Heights with 177 tanks, in the face of a combined attack by three enemy divisions with 800 tanks and commando and infantry forces, until Israeli reinforcements began to flow into the Golan Heights. Many others were injured.In post-war interrogations, senior officers called the situation "chaos."
The truth and exaggerations behind "lock time"
On the afternoon of October 7, the second day of the fighting, the brigade commander, Col. Yitzhak Ben Shoham, his deputy, Lt. Col. David Israel, and the brigade's AGM officer, Major Bnei Katzin, were killed.
The officers fell while defending the Volume Headquarters, the main headquarters of the Golan Heights in a battle of heroism, where individuals literally stopped mighty forces.
Colonel Res. Yehuda Wegman analyzed the first day of the Yom Kippur War as follows:
In the central sector, the Syrian 51st Armored Brigade crossed the barrier south of Post 111 without interruption and moved in the dark until it reached Hushnia and Mitza Junction.
Front forces of the brigade continued to move from the junction north on the oil axis in the direction of volume and west in the direction of its butchers.
At the same time, a mechanized brigade 132 penetrated south of post 116 and arrived without resistance.
The 46th Armored Brigade moved without resistance through Juhadar and stopped 7 in the Tel Saki area west of Tel Fares. "
The brigade fighters fought along the line in a way that is hard to describe.
"Until midnight, a tank platoon (3rd platoon 6th of Gad 188/74) fought against the Syrians' hatching attempts. The platoon under the command of Lt. The Syrian break-in.
During the fighting, the department destroyed about 40 tools of the scoring Syrian brigade.
As a result, it delayed its progress.
During the battle, Lieutenant Yoav Yakir was killed and replaced by the commander of the platoon sergeant, Sergeant Nir Atir.
Despite the hopeless situation in front of forces several times better the platoon continued in battle.
Only when the tanks ran out of ammunition did they return to equip Tel Ski to re-equip themselves. "This fighting allowed the forces that would arrive later to stop the Syrian force that was breaking in front of the Elal junction.
Meanwhile, Wegman adds, "Starting in the evening, Brigade 188 was located at the junction of the oil axis with the water axis northwest of Tel Fares, from where it tried to conduct brigade fighting in the 53rd Battalion sector, which was crumbling under the pressure of the mighty Syrian attack."
This is how it sounds about:
Team 92: "We have a report that they exceed 166 - for"
Team 20: "In the axis of a play there is a collapse, there is a collapse, I stabilized and I stabilize a line in a drop of a play and 17 descends on a play.
Team 92: "Make every effort for the outpost not to fall for."
On this night, Brigade Officer Zvika Gringold begins the difficult battles that he will wage almost alone on the oil axis, absorbing Syrian forces that are far superior to him, in what has to this day become the story of Zvika's force, one of the most dramatic events in the war.
The author writes that at nine o'clock in the evening, under the direction of Brigadier General 188, Zvika Gringold leaves the workshop with two tanks and moves on the oil axis to the south. the rest"
Midnight area, "A company of the 266th Battalion joins Zvika on the oil axis. The battalion commander instructs Zvika to cover to the right of the axis and he and Company A go on an assault.
In a short time, all the tanks of the Amnon Company are hit, except for two who load themselves wounded and return to the volume.
The battalion commander is wounded and the battalion commander is taken prisoner.
Zvika, who was hit by our forces and replaced a tank, was left alone again.
"Zvika requests and receives permission from Brigade Brigade 188 to cut off contact and move backwards. He moves on the axis backwards, three kilometers south of Ein al-Kora, and from there continues to conduct fire with the Syrians."
"Towards dawn, the brigadier general" accumulates the understanding that the detachment of the oil axis no longer allows for a "full refill" in the empty tanks of ammunition in the line, and those who are still firing are no longer able to stop the Syrian force flowing deep into the plateau.
On the morning of the second day of the fighting, the brigadier general moved to the volume area and tried to gather forces there. "When Brigadier General 188 arrived in the volume and before entering the oil axis, he ordered his liaison officer Hanan Schwartz and the commanding officer to stand on the volume road - Elaika Who comes to them and transfer it to the operations network 188th Brigade - "Toffee".
The brigadier general also told the staff officers: "I have no brigade, the only force there is is the force fighting on the oil axis" The brigadier general remained in the volume, the AGM officer rose as a fifth crew member and the lone tank went out to the oil axis to join the brigadier general force. " .
Meanwhile, the Syrian commander of Division 1 in the area at 11 a.m. launches a two-brigade attack in the direction of volume and its forces encountering weak Israeli forces break through in two axes and actually reach the division headquarters in volume.
The Syrians bypass the remains of the 188th Brigade and the brigadier general who tries to return to the volume later in the afternoon in an attempt to stop the Syrians who completely surrounded him will be killed in area two and a half along with the AGM officer by gunfire from a Syrian machine gun.
At the same time, the brigade's lieutenant colonel was killed and the brigade command disappeared from the connection. However, the brigade, together with other forces, managed to stop huge Syrian forces that attacked them and allowed the IDF reserve forces to stop the attack.
