Description
Rare original Yom Kippur War "Combat Page" announcement #1 of 10 Oct. 1973, issued by General Shmuel Gonen of the Southern Regional Command: the broadsheet is an exhortation written in first person singlar, describing the war which broke out on the 6th as a war unlike any other that Gonen's generation has known, that the enemy is well equipped and merciless, and that Israel's army has no choice but to win because the alternative is existential; the war is presently being fought on the defensive but if the enemy's advances are stopped the battle will then be fought on his territory over his own homes. The announcement closes with well wishes for the Sukkot holiday. Signed off by General Gonen as "Commander of Southern Regional Command"; the masthead bears the emblem of the Southern Command.
As this is the 1st issued announcement of this type it serves to show how great a shock the Egyptian attack was when launched 5 days earlier on the 6th. On the day this announcement was issued, the former Chief of Staff Chaim Bar-Lev was appointed "Front Commander" for the South essentially replacing Gonen as the commander for the Egyptian front; Gonen's attempted counter-attack of the 8th was a failure and this in turn led the military leadership to supersede him with a different commander. Rare historical ephemera.
