"Cast A Giant Shadow"
Reminds me of the story of the Davidka mortar, so loud during a night of bad weather that Arabs mistook it for an atomic weapon (1948 remember) and fled.
Would make a great Movie!
Heroic pilots. And it’s hard not to conclude that God had something to do with turning their brave effort into a victory.
Sounds like the Arab armies were expecting to slaughter unarmed civilians, not expecting to fight a war. Just not mentally prepared to fight. Expected a genocide against the Jews.
His book on the Spartans was amazing.
Couple points.
These Arab armies were, like all Arab armies at the time, designed and structured to parade and to oppress the ruler's enemies. That means a very different type of army from one designed to fight and defeat another army.
Not to take anything away from the bravery of the Israelis, but they were extremely lucky in their enemies. Also, the population and theoretical military power of the Arab countries involved may have been impressive, but they never succeeded in bringing those forces to bear. The Israelis had considerably more fighters actually in the line for most of the war. The Arabs also had on paper a lot more equipment, but a very great deal of what they had wasn't effective, due to lack of maintenance.
The statement above also leaves out Transjordan/Jordan, which actually did have a functional army unit, the Arab Legion. It gave the Israelis a good deal more trouble than the rest of the Arab "armies" put together.