Battle of The Chinese Farm - Aftermath

Aftermath

At around 4:00 PM on October 17 the pontoon bridge had been fully assembled, opening the first Israeli bridge across the canal. The roller bridge was laid soon after at dawn on October 18 and, by the afternoon, Adan's division crossed to the west bank followed by Kalman Magen's division. Adan, supported by Magen, would go on to reach Suez after the failure of a United Nations ceasefire, thereby cutting off two infantry divisions of the Egyptian Third Field Army. Sharon also crossed with part of his division, simultaneously trying to defend and expand the Israeli corridor to the Suez Canal—as well attacking northwards on the west bank to Ismailia, in an attempt to similarly cut off Second Army. His efforts bogged down and he was unable to reach Ismailia (see Battle of Ismailia), while attempts to seize critical positions and expand the Israeli corridor on the east bank saw little to no success.

While ultimately an Israeli victory, the Battle of the Chinese Farm has an especially infamous legacy among Israeli participants, and it is remembered for as one of the most brutal battles of the war—and for the heavy losses it incurred on Israelis. The losses suffered by both the Israelis and the Egyptians in the battle were severe. Israeli units suffered heavy casualties in men and equipment; Reshef's armored losses during the first night of the battle alone were comparable to Egyptian armored losses on the disastrous October 14 offensive. For their part, the numbers of Egyptian armored forces within 16th Division's bridgehead severely dwindled. As of 18 October the 21st Armored Division had no more than 40 tanks remaining, of an original 136 tanks available at the start of the battle (not counting 21 tanks received as reinforcements), while the 16th Infantry Division had just 20 tanks remaining in its organic tank battalion. This attrition served Egypt's war strategy of inflicting maximum casualties on the Israelis even though, from another perspective, the initiative had passed to the Israelis during the battle.