The Yom Kippur War And the Airlift Strike That Saved Israel

October 6, 1973. Yom Kippur. The holiest day of the Jewish calendar. At 2:00 pm, a blinding shower of explosives rains down on a collection of concrete bunkers sunk in the Sinai sand. Minutes later, 600 Egyptian tanks roll onto pontoon bridges to cross the Suez Canal. Simultaneously, 100 Syrian MiGs and Sukhoi bombers scream through the skies above the Golan Heights. Burning at both ends, Israel was caught completely by surprise. In two weeks' time, the U.S. armed forces would be at Def Con III as nuclear tensions continued to mount within the Kremlin. The Yom Kippur War is a harrowing minute-by-minute account of that fateful October when Israel was almost lost and the two super-powers stared down the barrel of the nuclear gun.

Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Walter J. Boyne served as director of the National Air and Space Museum from 1983-1986. His bestselling titles include The Wild Blue (with Steve Thompson), Weapons of the Gulf War and The Smithsonian Illustrated History of Flight. He lives in Ashburn, Virginia.