Battle of the Chinese Farm
1973 CE.
Shown on the map at 30.450°, 32.400°.
The Battle of the Chinese Farm took place during October 15 to October 17, 1973 between the Egyptian Army and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as part of the Yom Kippur War. It was fought in the Sinai Peninsula, north of the Great Bitter Lake and just east of the Suez Canal, near an Egyptian agricultural research station. The area was known to the Israeli military as the Chinese Farm – a misnomer resulting from the research station's use of Japanese-made equipment, with Japanese writing on the machinery mistaken by Israeli observers for Chinese. Combat began when the IDF launched Operation Abiray-Lev ("Knights of the Heart"): an attempt to establish a corridor to the canal, and allow bridges to be laid for a crossing. Under Abiray-Lev, the Israelis attacked Egyptian forces in and around the Chinese Farm. Determined Egyptian resistance made progress extremely slow for the Israelis, who suffered heavy losses. The Israelis were repeatedly reinforced with armor but were unable to make much headway, only managing to seize an important crossroad on the second day. Suffering from a lack of infantry, the Israelis brought up paratroopers during the night of October 16–17.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Chinese Farm, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.