The Valley of Tears

The Valley of Tears was the term coined for an area of land ahead of the central section of the Golan Heights, adopted by Israeli troops during the Yom Kippur War, in 1973.

It was here that the Syrian 7th Infantry Division in particular made repeated attacks to try and break the Israeli line of defenses. However, the Israelis were aided by the pre-prepared tank ramps which had been built in into the formidable Golan Heights, the entire focus of Syrian efforts during the Yom Kippur War. Unlike in the southern, and the tip of the northern, sector, where the Syrians had been able to break through and, in the south in particular, threatened to wipe out the entire Israeli position in the Golan Heights, the Israelis were able to maintain their position.

As stated, the Israelis, relying on the tank ramps, made this into, what some Israeli soldiers described as "a video game." As the Syrian armour rushed forward, the Israeli tanks picked them off at long and extreme ranges. By the end of the conflict, the Valley of Tears was litered with the wrecks of Syrian tanks.

However, an important advantage that the Syrians held was the fact that they had night-vision equipment, an addition which allowed the Syrians to attack at night, where the Israelis found it much more difficult to try and mount a defence.

Nevertheless, the Israelis emerged victorious on the Golan Heights, thus setting the stage for the eventual Israeli counter-attack. However, the battles in the Valley of Tears highlighted how a substantially reinforced Israeli defence could blunt the Syrian advance. By winning, the Israelis unwittingly highlighted how a much more thorough defense system at the beginning of the war could have prevented the Syrians from initially gaining the upper hand.

References

Dunstan, Simon "The Yom Kippur War 1973 (1) The Golan Heights" 2003, Osprey Publishing