New Delhi. 06 October 2020. In Egypt, Armed Forces Day is celebrated on 6 October, the date on which the October War of 1973 began with the Egyptian Army‘s successful crossing of the Suez Canal that culminated in the capture of the Bar Lev Line.
Armed Forces Day, public holiday observed in Egypt on October 6, celebrating the day in 1973 when combined Egyptian and Syrian military forces launched a surprise attack on Israel and crossed into the Sinai Peninsula, which marked the beginning of the October (Yom Kippur) War.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat planned the attack in an attempt to bolster Egyptian and Arab morale and to regain control of the Sinai territory that had been lost to Israel during the June (Six-Day) War in 1967. The plan met with initial success when more than 80,000 Egyptian soldiers crossed the Bar Lev line—massive fortifications built by the Israelis to withstand such attacks. The Egyptian forces held the territory for two days before being forced to pull back after an Israeli counterattack entirely surrounded the Egyptian Third Army. Although the assault by Egypt and Syria was ultimately unsuccessful, the initial regaining of the Sinai territory was a source of pride, representing the first Arab military victory over Israel since the Six-Day War. It eventually led Egypt and Israel to negotiate the 1977 Camp David Accords, brokered by U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter. As a result of the accords, the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egyptian control.
