By Steven Pressfield
Israel's 1967 war through soldiers' eyes
Subject
Themes
Three weeks before war erupts in June 1967, an Israeli helicopter pilot visits his brother Nechemiah in Jerusalem. From a rooftop above no-man's-land, they gaze at the Old City's Western Wall, mere metres away yet sealed behind enemy lines. Nechemiah, a decorated special forces captain, predicts what seems impossible: Jerusalem will be liberated. Days later, he dies in Gaza on the war's first day, never witnessing the miracle he foretold.
Three weeks before war erupts in June 1967, an Israeli helicopter pilot visits his brother Nechemiah in Jerusalem. From a rooftop above no-man's-land, they gaze at the Old City's Western Wall, mere metres away yet sealed behind enemy lines. Nechemiah, a decorated special forces captain, predicts…
Steven Pressfield's narrative approach combines oral history methodology with novelistic techniques, creating hybrid form that some critics celebrate whilst others question. The author conducted extensive interviews with Israeli veterans, Palestinians, journalists, and others who experienced June…
Numerical superiority defines every calculation facing Israel in 1967. The disparity extends beyond mere statistics into existential mathematics: 2.7 million Jews confronting 122 million Arabs, a nation smaller than New Jersey facing combined enemy territory exceeding that of the entire United…
Three weeks stretch into an eternity when national survival hangs in the balance. From mid-May through early June 1967, Israeli forces stand mobilised whilst politicians debate, negotiate, seek guarantees from foreign powers that never materialise. Each morning soldiers wake in tent cities under…
From a rooftop in Abu Tor, two brothers gaze across no-man's-land at the Old City in May 1967. Eliezer Cohen, a helicopter pilot, and his younger brother Nechemiah, a decorated special forces captain, can almost touch the poplar grove above the Western Wall, Judaism's most sacred site. Barbed wire,…
Nechemiah Cohen earns five medals for valour before age twenty-four, surviving countless special forces operations to become one of Israel's most decorated soldiers. His brother Eliezer commands a helicopter squadron, flying rescue missions that save dozens of wounded men under fire. On the war's…
On 10 June 1967, silence descends across battlefields that have convulsed for six days. Israeli forces control territory three times their pre-war holdings: the Sinai Peninsula stretching to the Suez Canal, the West Bank extending to the Jordan River, the Golan Heights overlooking Syrian plains,…
Three weeks before war erupts, helicopter pilot Eliezer Cohen visits his brother Nechemiah at a forward position in Abu Tor, Jerusalem's highest hill south of the Old City. From their rooftop vantage point, they gaze across barbed wire and minefields at the Western Wall, metres away yet utterly…
Dayan arrives at military headquarters on 1 June and immediately meets with air force commander Motti Hod and Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin. The plan they present, codenamed Moked ("Focus"), calls for pre-emptive strikes against Egyptian airfields at 7:45 a.m. on 5 June. Israeli pilots have rehearsed…
Israeli fighters sweep across the Mediterranean at wave-top height, invisible to Egyptian radar. At exactly 7:45 a.m. on 5 June, they turn inland and strike. Within minutes, Egyptian aircraft burn on their airfields. Pilots strafe parked MiGs, bomb runways, destroy fuel depots, eliminate radar…
King Hussein receives false Egyptian reports claiming victories in Sinai, jets destroyed, Israeli forces retreating. Believing Arab triumph imminent, he orders Jordanian artillery to bombard Israeli positions on 5 June. Shells rain on Tel Aviv, strike kibbutzim, explode in Israeli Jerusalem…
Israeli armoured columns race deeper into Sinai, pursuing retreating Egyptian forces toward the Suez Canal. The desert becomes killing ground for Egyptian units attempting withdrawal. Israeli air force dominates the skies, pilots flying continuous ground-attack missions against tanks, trucks,…
Jordanian forces in the West Bank find themselves isolated after Jerusalem falls. Hussein's decision to enter the war has proven disastrous. His Arab Legion, though professional and well-trained, cannot match Israeli forces enjoying air superiority and momentum from victories elsewhere. Israeli…
Syrian forces on the Golan Heights have shelled Israeli settlements for years, raining artillery on kibbutzim below whilst enjoying impunity from counter-battery fire. The volcanic plateau rises steeply from Jordan Valley and Sea of Galilee, providing perfect positions for Syrian gunners. Farmers…
Israeli forces launch the Golan assault on afternoon of 9 June. Tank columns begin climbing the escarpment along narrow roads, immediately encountering Syrian fire. Artillery shells explode amongst advancing vehicles, destroying some tanks, damaging others. The steep grades stress engines and…
Silence descends on 10 June evening as ceasefire takes effect. Israeli soldiers, exhausted from six days of continuous combat, slump beside their vehicles, weapons, positions. Some sleep immediately, bodies demanding rest after adrenaline and terror. Others sit smoking, staring at nothing,…
By Steven Pressfield
Subject
Themes
Three weeks before war erupts in June 1967, an Israeli helicopter pilot visits his brother Nechemiah in Jerusalem. From a rooftop above no-man's-land, they gaze at the Old City's Western Wall, mere metres away yet sealed behind enemy lines. Nechemiah, a decorated special forces captain, predicts what seems impossible: Jerusalem will be liberated. Days later, he dies in Gaza on the war's first day, never witnessing the miracle he foretold.