Diary of The Sinai Campaign

New York, N.Y.: Schocken Books, 1967. Second printing [stated]. Trade paperback. Good. [8], 236 pages. Cover has some wear and soiling. Includes Foreword, Also contains chapters on The Background; Prelude to Sinai; Kalkiliah; On the Eve; The Campaign Opens; Breakthrough; Decision; Sharm E-Sheikh; and Epilogue. 14 black and white illustrations appear between pages 184 and 185. There are also 10 black and white maps in the text. Appendices on "Kadesh'' Planning Order No. 1; Directives for Operational Order; Egyptian Order of Battle in Sinai; Israel Army Formations Taking Part in Operation 'Kadesh'; Dates of Major Actions by Israel Formations (ground forces); and Captured Egyptian Weapons and Equipment in Sinai Campaign. Index. Moshe Dayan (20 May 1915 - 16 October 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces during the 1956 Suez Crisis, but mainly as Defense Minister during the Six-Day War in 1967, he became a worldwide fighting symbol of the state of Israel. In the 1930s, Dayan joined the Haganah, the pre-state Jewish defense force of Mandatory Palestine. He served in the Special Night Squads under Orde Wingate during the Arab revolt. Dayan joined Ben-Gurion setting up the Rafi party. Dayan became Defence Minister just before the 1967 Six-Day War. After the Yom Kippur War of 1973, he was blamed for the lack of preparedness. In 1977, following the election of Menachem Begin as Prime Minister, Dayan joined the Likud-led government as Foreign Minister, playing an important part in negotiating the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. This book is based on the diary for the years 1955-7 kept by the office of the Chief of Staff. The entries covered fully not only the military items which reached the Chief of Staff's table each day, but also the political context in which they were set. This diary is not, of course, presented here in its entirety, nor has the shorthand style of the original text necessarily been followed. Some sections have been eliminated, others shortened, still others expanded. Much additional material has been included from the written reports of the units taking part in the campaign and from the accounts Moshe Dayan received in talks with the commanders. In the second half of 1954, the anti-Israel terrorism was intensified. In the succeeding months, it became clear to the Israel Government that these were not isolated incidents prompted by individual whim, but an organized operation undertaken with the knowledge of the Arab Governments and at the initiative and on the responsibility of Egypt. Israel's security situation steadily worsened, reaching a point of gravity in 1955-5 unknown since the war days of 1948. The basic causes of this tension were three-fold: Egyptian preparations for an all-out war against Israel; Arab acts of terror by trained guerrilla bands; and the blockade of Israeli shipping in the Gulf of Akaba. Derived from a Kirkus review: The Sinai Campaign, for those with short memories, was the Israel part in what is usually referred to as the Suez Crisis. And General Dayan was the man who carried it to a successful conclusion, ending Egypt's terrorist raids and blockade of Israel's shipping, and gaining for his young country a healthy respect from friends and enemies alike. This operation was really a classic example of a new kind of war which, strictly limited in scope and objectives, takes place beneath a "political sword of Damocles." Israel had to act swiftly, while world attention was focused on the activities of England and France, and she had to achieve tangible results before the UN could stop her. And General Dayan is a new kind of military man: youngish, dashing, with a black patch over one eye, he had the agility of mind and the delicate flexibility of character to lead an eager army which faced political and military realities. His book, based on the 1955-57 official diary of the Chief of Staff, provides an excellent straightforward account. It is the first to come close to giving a complete version of a little-known but important episode.