Battle of the Chinese Farm
The Battle of the Chinese Farm took place during October 15 to October 17, 1973 between the Egyptian Army and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as part of the Yom Kippur War. It was fought in the Sinai Peninsula, north of the Great Bitter Lake and just east of the Suez Canal, near an Egyptian agricultural research station. The area was known to the Israeli military as the Chinese Farm – a misnomer resulting from the research station's use of Japanese-made equipment, with Japanese writing on the machinery mistaken by Israeli observers for Chinese characters.
A post-war photograph of Brigadier General Abd Rab el-Nabi Hafez (Lieutenant-General at the time of the photograph), who commanded all Egyptian forces in the 16th Infantry Division's bridgehead during the battle. He was wounded by shrapnel from Israeli artillery on October 18, and was succeeded by his chief of staff.
Major General Ariel Sharon, commander of the 143rd Armored Division, photographed here as Prime Minister of Israel.
Colonel Abd el-Hamid Abd el-Sami', commander of the 16th Infantry Brigade. As of the night of October 15/16, his unit bore the main brunt of Israeli attacks throughout the battle.
Israeli armor knocked out near the Lexicon-Tirtur Junction.
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from 6 to 25 October 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. The majority of combat between the two sides took place in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights—both of which had been occupied by Israel in 1967—with some fighting in African Egypt and northern Israel. Egypt's initial objective in the war was to seize a foothold on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal and subsequently leverage these gains to negotiate the return of the rest of the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
Upon learning of the impending attack, Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir made the controversial decision not to launch a pre-emptive strike.
Egyptian forces crossing the Suez Canal
Wreckage from an Egyptian Sukhoi Su-7 shot down over the Sinai on 6 October, on display at the Israeli Air Force Museum