Fear in the blood: How Soviet air defenses beat Israeli "aces"
The extremely nervous reaction of official Tel Aviv to the deployment of Russian S-300 air defense systems in Syria, in addition to purely topical reasons, has one more motive. It’s just that Israeli vultures, who love to bombard foreign territory from a safe distance, remember too well what their direct clash with Soviet air defense fighters at one time led to. And this fear discourages any desire to be again under Russian fire.
The "landing" of the vaunted Israeli Air Force, equipped with the latest French and American aircraft at that time, took place at the very beginning of the 70s of the last century. The background to these events, it must be said, was very sad. The famous “six-day war” of 1967 was not just unsuccessful for the Arab countries ... It would be much more correct to call it one of the greatest military disgraces of all time. Suffering huge losses in manpower and technology (Soviet-made trophy tanks in Israel were equipped with a whole division!), the Arabs also lost very solid territories.
Almost most of the six-day days went to Egypt. His aircraft, for example, the Israeli Air Force "rolled out" directly at the airfields. The situation was no better with other troops. The country at that time was ruled by the “great friend of the USSR” Gamal Abdel Nasser and Moscow, not wanting to lose their main strategic ally in the Middle East, gritting their teeth loudly, began arming Egypt with a new one, sending military equipment and equipment for millions to it, and on credit not at full cost. However, this did not lead to anything good.
Perked up by the proud descendants of the pharaohs, they decided to continue the "disassembly" and quickly unleashed a new conflict, called the "war of attrition". Long-range and large-caliber “gifts” began to fly through the Suez Canal, which at that time was, in fact, a front line, into Israeli territory, and the emboldened Egyptian special forces began to conduct deep-seated raids on enemy territory. And again, Egypt, not calculating the strength and underestimating the enemy, sat in a deep puddle ...
Responding to every raid and artillery strike with rather painful counterattacks, the Israelis, in addition, began to systematically destroy the Egyptian air defense system - and were very successful in this. In the near future, not only the military, but also the strategic objects of Egypt’s civil and industrial infrastructure were hit by aircraft with the “stars of David” on their wings. The situation was sharply worsened by the fact that the Americans, parting, threw up the latest tactical fighters F-4E Phantom to Tel Aviv.
In truth, the Israelis, having absolute dominance in the sky, did what they wanted - their bombs began to pour already on Cairo. Not only that, in Abu Zaabal, a metallurgical plant was destroyed by air raid, in the construction of which the USSR just literally swelled a lot of money ... Not only did the dispersed Israeli "aces" begin to wipe out schools and entire suburbs of the capital, with many victims among civilians ... Aswan hydroelectric power station was under attack! One or a couple of successful missile and bomb attacks on the dam there - and all of Egypt would have been washed away to such a mother!
In the Kremlin, naturally, they grabbed their heads. And then back to Moscow, he hurriedly rushed to the cry "Save-Help!" personally Abdel Nasser. The Soviet leadership simply had no choice but to push the stupid "allies" aside and take matters into their own hands. That was the beginning of Operation Caucasus. It is worth mentioning that to death, the terrified president of Egypt for the sake of Soviet military assistance was ready for everything, right up to the country's entry into the Warsaw Pact. However, Moscow decided differently.
The military operation in Egypt was given the status of top-secret, and for its implementation a powerful group was formed, which included air units, EW units, and even a special detachment of ships of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets. The main force was the specially created 18th anti-aircraft missile defense division. Of special purpose, of course ... All this armada was delivered to Egypt by merchant ships, in the cargo declarations of which was listed exclusively agricultural machinery. But for some reason, they were guarded by unsmiling thugs with AKM deeply hidden in holds and the captains of the ships didn’t know either their destination or the route to it, opening packages with the stamp “top secret” while passing the next control points.
The most interesting thing is that the combat duty of Soviet air defense to protect the Egyptian sky began with exactly the same tragic accident that occurred recently in Syria! Only, so to speak, in the mirror version - our anti-aircraft gunners planted two missiles in the Egyptian reconnaissance aircraft Il-28BM, returning from the mission. The reasons were elementary - on the downed "board" there was an outdated recognition system "friend or foe": long since withdrawn from service in the USSR, "Silicon-1." Yes, besides, the Egyptian airfield duty officers absolutely unequivocally declared: “Our planes are not in the air!” And an unidentified target came precisely at the air base ...
Subsequently, all the "charms" of Soviet missiles were already recognized by Israeli pilots. The account for the downed Skyhawks was opened in air battles, but the honor of destroying the first Phantom belongs to the Air Defense Division, armed with S-125. The myth of the invulnerability of American "miracle fighters" was dispelled over the desert sands. Acting on the experience of the Vietnam War in small maneuverable groups, together with the Egyptian allies, our missiles shot down three or four enemy aircraft at a time. This led the command of the Israeli Air Force into a rage.
On July 18, 1970, a battle unfolded in the Egyptian desert, worthy of comparison with the dramatic events of the summer of 1941. In any case, the heroism of our soldiers in him showed no less. That day, 24 (!) Israeli "Phantoms" fell on the position of a division of Soviet anti-aircraft gunners. The EW aircraft was covering the attack, whose task was to interfere with our early warning radars. The best aces were selected for this attack, including the commanders of two elite air squadrons, one of which found his death from a Soviet missile in the same place. In total, two Israeli aircraft were destroyed in this battle, one was shot down. However, our soldiers, who fought, literally, to the last missile, suffered heavy losses. The whole calculation of one of the air defense systems, including its commander, Lieutenant Sergey Sumin, who tried to fight even with de-energized radars, died from being dealt literally at point-blank range.
The last battle of Soviet and Egyptian air defense with the Israeli Air Force took place on August 3, 1970. He became a brilliant example of how a sufficiently strong opponent was replayed tactically and subjected to shameful rout. I must say that by that time rockets and bombs from Israeli aircraft more and more often “flew” to empty places. Our air defense perfectly mastered the tactics of creating false positions, quickly changing firing points and conducting maneuverable military operations. Moreover - in Cairo, a whole factory was working with might and main, engaged exclusively in the manufacture of models of Soviet air defense systems and combat aircraft! It was on these “goals” that the Israeli Phantoms and Skyhawks dumped their deadly cargo,
In a memorable August battle, two Soviet anti-aircraft missile divisions, supported by Egyptian comrades-in-arms, actually lured the Israelis into a pre-prepared trap and shot trying to destroy their planes, as in a shooting gallery. As a result, at least five Israeli cars were destroyed, one plane was shot down. Our troops did not suffer any losses at all! The enraged Israelis for two more days leveled long-empty positions with the earth, and on August 5, they spoke of a ceasefire. Both division commanders who won the main battle of Operation Caucasus were awarded the title Heroes of the Soviet Union.
What else? The 18th Special Purpose Air Defense Division left Egypt in the spring of 1971. And even earlier, another Abdel Nasser left for the world. The new president of the country, Anwar Saddat, who began by asking the USSR for new deliveries of weapons, soon turned into the best friend of the United States, and in 1972 he generally expelled our military from Egypt, completely forgetting how they saved him over and over again. country.
But in Israel, those hot days and the “Phantoms” dying in the sands of Sinai did not seem to be forgotten. Hence, such a fear of the prospect of again becoming a target for the Russian guardians of the sky.
Israel Air Force F-4E Phantom Tactical Fighter
The "landing" of the vaunted Israeli Air Force, equipped with the latest French and American aircraft at that time, took place at the very beginning of the 70s of the last century. The background to these events, it must be said, was very sad. The famous “six-day war” of 1967 was not just unsuccessful for the Arab countries ... It would be much more correct to call it one of the greatest military disgraces of all time. Suffering huge losses in manpower and technology (Soviet-made trophy tanks in Israel were equipped with a whole division!), the Arabs also lost very solid territories.
Almost most of the six-day days went to Egypt. His aircraft, for example, the Israeli Air Force "rolled out" directly at the airfields. The situation was no better with other troops. The country at that time was ruled by the “great friend of the USSR” Gamal Abdel Nasser and Moscow, not wanting to lose their main strategic ally in the Middle East, gritting their teeth loudly, began arming Egypt with a new one, sending military equipment and equipment for millions to it, and on credit not at full cost. However, this did not lead to anything good.
Perked up by the proud descendants of the pharaohs, they decided to continue the "disassembly" and quickly unleashed a new conflict, called the "war of attrition". Long-range and large-caliber “gifts” began to fly through the Suez Canal, which at that time was, in fact, a front line, into Israeli territory, and the emboldened Egyptian special forces began to conduct deep-seated raids on enemy territory. And again, Egypt, not calculating the strength and underestimating the enemy, sat in a deep puddle ...
Responding to every raid and artillery strike with rather painful counterattacks, the Israelis, in addition, began to systematically destroy the Egyptian air defense system - and were very successful in this. In the near future, not only the military, but also the strategic objects of Egypt’s civil and industrial infrastructure were hit by aircraft with the “stars of David” on their wings. The situation was sharply worsened by the fact that the Americans, parting, threw up the latest tactical fighters F-4E Phantom to Tel Aviv.
In truth, the Israelis, having absolute dominance in the sky, did what they wanted - their bombs began to pour already on Cairo. Not only that, in Abu Zaabal, a metallurgical plant was destroyed by air raid, in the construction of which the USSR just literally swelled a lot of money ... Not only did the dispersed Israeli "aces" begin to wipe out schools and entire suburbs of the capital, with many victims among civilians ... Aswan hydroelectric power station was under attack! One or a couple of successful missile and bomb attacks on the dam there - and all of Egypt would have been washed away to such a mother!
Anti-aircraft system S-75 of the Armed forces of Egypt
In the Kremlin, naturally, they grabbed their heads. And then back to Moscow, he hurriedly rushed to the cry "Save-Help!" personally Abdel Nasser. The Soviet leadership simply had no choice but to push the stupid "allies" aside and take matters into their own hands. That was the beginning of Operation Caucasus. It is worth mentioning that to death, the terrified president of Egypt for the sake of Soviet military assistance was ready for everything, right up to the country's entry into the Warsaw Pact. However, Moscow decided differently.
The military operation in Egypt was given the status of top-secret, and for its implementation a powerful group was formed, which included air units, EW units, and even a special detachment of ships of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets. The main force was the specially created 18th anti-aircraft missile defense division. Of special purpose, of course ... All this armada was delivered to Egypt by merchant ships, in the cargo declarations of which was listed exclusively agricultural machinery. But for some reason, they were guarded by unsmiling thugs with AKM deeply hidden in holds and the captains of the ships didn’t know either their destination or the route to it, opening packages with the stamp “top secret” while passing the next control points.
The most interesting thing is that the combat duty of Soviet air defense to protect the Egyptian sky began with exactly the same tragic accident that occurred recently in Syria! Only, so to speak, in the mirror version - our anti-aircraft gunners planted two missiles in the Egyptian reconnaissance aircraft Il-28BM, returning from the mission. The reasons were elementary - on the downed "board" there was an outdated recognition system "friend or foe": long since withdrawn from service in the USSR, "Silicon-1." Yes, besides, the Egyptian airfield duty officers absolutely unequivocally declared: “Our planes are not in the air!” And an unidentified target came precisely at the air base ...
Subsequently, all the "charms" of Soviet missiles were already recognized by Israeli pilots. The account for the downed Skyhawks was opened in air battles, but the honor of destroying the first Phantom belongs to the Air Defense Division, armed with S-125. The myth of the invulnerability of American "miracle fighters" was dispelled over the desert sands. Acting on the experience of the Vietnam War in small maneuverable groups, together with the Egyptian allies, our missiles shot down three or four enemy aircraft at a time. This led the command of the Israeli Air Force into a rage.
Light attack aircraft Douglas A-4 Skyhawk Israeli Air Force
On July 18, 1970, a battle unfolded in the Egyptian desert, worthy of comparison with the dramatic events of the summer of 1941. In any case, the heroism of our soldiers in him showed no less. That day, 24 (!) Israeli "Phantoms" fell on the position of a division of Soviet anti-aircraft gunners. The EW aircraft was covering the attack, whose task was to interfere with our early warning radars. The best aces were selected for this attack, including the commanders of two elite air squadrons, one of which found his death from a Soviet missile in the same place. In total, two Israeli aircraft were destroyed in this battle, one was shot down. However, our soldiers, who fought, literally, to the last missile, suffered heavy losses. The whole calculation of one of the air defense systems, including its commander, Lieutenant Sergey Sumin, who tried to fight even with de-energized radars, died from being dealt literally at point-blank range.
The last battle of Soviet and Egyptian air defense with the Israeli Air Force took place on August 3, 1970. He became a brilliant example of how a sufficiently strong opponent was replayed tactically and subjected to shameful rout. I must say that by that time rockets and bombs from Israeli aircraft more and more often “flew” to empty places. Our air defense perfectly mastered the tactics of creating false positions, quickly changing firing points and conducting maneuverable military operations. Moreover - in Cairo, a whole factory was working with might and main, engaged exclusively in the manufacture of models of Soviet air defense systems and combat aircraft! It was on these “goals” that the Israeli Phantoms and Skyhawks dumped their deadly cargo,
In a memorable August battle, two Soviet anti-aircraft missile divisions, supported by Egyptian comrades-in-arms, actually lured the Israelis into a pre-prepared trap and shot trying to destroy their planes, as in a shooting gallery. As a result, at least five Israeli cars were destroyed, one plane was shot down. Our troops did not suffer any losses at all! The enraged Israelis for two more days leveled long-empty positions with the earth, and on August 5, they spoke of a ceasefire. Both division commanders who won the main battle of Operation Caucasus were awarded the title Heroes of the Soviet Union.
What else? The 18th Special Purpose Air Defense Division left Egypt in the spring of 1971. And even earlier, another Abdel Nasser left for the world. The new president of the country, Anwar Saddat, who began by asking the USSR for new deliveries of weapons, soon turned into the best friend of the United States, and in 1972 he generally expelled our military from Egypt, completely forgetting how they saved him over and over again. country.
But in Israel, those hot days and the “Phantoms” dying in the sands of Sinai did not seem to be forgotten. Hence, such a fear of the prospect of again becoming a target for the Russian guardians of the sky.
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