Operation Shock () was a commando operation executed on October 31, 1968, by Israeli paratroopers. Targets of the raid were the new Qena bridge 280 miles south of

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, the Nag Hammadi bridge 35 miles west of Qena span and the Nag Hammadi transformer station near the bridge. The station provided electricity to the area and was described as a switching station on a high tension line between

and the

Aswan Dam The Aswan Dam, or Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, surpassing the Chatuge D ...

Background

The War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt lasted from 1968 to 1970 and was fought along the cease-fire lines that ended the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

. Both sides intended the war of attrition to weaken the other as much as possible in hopes of gaining advantages in subsequent negotiations. Egypt in particular sought to regain territory it had lost in 1967. Egypt's leader,

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

, calculated that by waging a low-grade war on Israel over territory it lost in the Six-Day War, international pressure would force Israel to withdraw. Nasser was also intent on redressing the humiliation he and Egypt had suffered in the 1967 war. Israel, for its part, attempted to solidify its hold on Sinai as some members of the Israeli cabinet and Knesset believed the Peninsula should be annexed to Israel—a step toward achieving the vision of a Greater Israel.

Planning

In response to two heavy artillery bombings conducted by the Egyptian army on IDF positions along the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

, which killed 25 soldiers, the IDF initiated a long series of operations against deep military and strategic targets in Egypt. Operation Shock was the first which targeted Egypt's electricity infrastructure.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{coord missing, Egypt Operations involving Israeli special forces Shock October 1968 in Africa Attacks on buildings and structures in 1968 1968 in Egypt Military operations involving dams Attacks on electrical infrastructure Attacks on bridges Attacks on buildings and structures in Egypt Bridge disasters in Africa Bridge disasters caused by warfare