Battle of The Chinese Farm

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 (GBL) and just east of the Suez Canal, near an Egyptian agricultural research station. The farm featured specialised, Japanese-made machinery; Israeli soldiers mistook Japanese characters on this equipment for Chinese, leading to the area being labeled 'Chinese Farm' on Israeli military maps. The battle began when the IDF launched Operation Abiray-Lev ("Stouthearted Men"), attempting to establish a corridor to the canal and allow bridges to be laid for a crossing. Accordingly, 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, tasked with clearing anti-tank defenses for the armor, but these became pinned down by heavy Egyptian fire. The paratroopers drew Egyptian attention long enough for the Israelis to move bridging equipment to the canal undetected. Armored forces later extricated the paratroopers from battle.

The Egyptians attempted to restore their defenses to their initial dispositions with an armored attack on October 17. It initially succeeded but was pushed back by Israeli counterattacks, the armored battle lasting for the entire day. Seriously depleted by the continuous fighting the Egyptians relinquished control of the routes to the canal, opening them up to the Israelis. The battle is remembered as one of the most costly and brutal battles of the war.