The Third Field Army is a
field army
A field army (also known as numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps. It may be subordinate to an army group. Air army, Air armies are the equivalent formations in air forces, and ...
of the
Egyptian Army
The Egyptian Army (), officially the Egyptian Ground Forces (), is the land warfare branch (and largest service branch) of the Egyptian Armed Forces. Until the declaration of the Republic and the abolishment of the monarchy on 18 June 1953, it w ...
, with its headquarters in
Suez
Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...
. It is now part of the
Unified Command of the area east of the canal (Egypt).
On 31 January 2015 a
"unified command" was established to oversee counterterrorism operations east of the Suez Canal.
, commander of the Third Army, was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of the new "unified command." Askar will also retain his seat on the SCAF. Askar's former deputy, Muhammad Abdullah, has been appointed commander, and Tarek Anwar Helal the chief of staff, of the Third Army.
Structure
In May 2018 the Third Army comprised:
*
4th Armoured Division,
** 2nd Armoured Brigade;
** 3rd Armoured Brigade;
** 54th Mechanized Brigade;
** 188th Medium Range Artillery Brigade
*
19th Infantry Division, which included an armoured brigade, but whose remaining troops might have been un-mechanized infantry;
*
23rd Mechanized Division, army commander
Osama Askar had previously commanded the 23rd Mechanized Division earlier in his career. It was previously part of the
Second Field Army during the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...
.
* 11th Armoured Brigade.
Operation Badr order of battle, 1973
Just before the beginning of
Operation Badr in October 1973, the army had the following troops under its control:
*Headquarters Third Army (Southern Canal Zone) - Maj Gen Abdel Mun'im Wasel
:Chief of Staff - Maj Gen Mustafa Shaheen
:Chief of Artillery - Maj Gen Munir Shash
**''7th Infantry Division''* - Brig Gen Ahmad Badawi Said Ahmad
***2nd Infantry Brigade
***11th Mechanized Infantry Brigade
***8th Mechanized Infantry Brigade
**''
19th Infantry Division''* - Brig Gen Yusuf Afifi Mohamed
***5th Infantry Brigade
***7th Infantry Brigade
***2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade
**''
4th Armoured Division'' - Brig Gen Mohamed Abd el Aziz Qabil
***2nd Armored Brigade
***3rd Armored Brigade*
[Attached to 19th Division]
***6th Armored Brigade
**''
6th Mechanised Division'' - Brig Gen Mohamed Abul Fath Muharam
***22nd Armored Brigade*
***113th Mechanised Brigade
***1st Mechanised Brigade
**
130th Independent Amphibious Brigade - Col Mahmoud Shu'aib. At the start of the war the brigade had seventy-four
BTR-50
The BTR-50 (BTR stands for ''Bronetransporter'' (), literally "armored transporter") is a Soviet Union, Soviet tracked Amphibious vehicle, amphibious armored personnel carrier (APC) based on the PT-76 light tank chassis. The BTR-50 was developed ...
or
OT-64 SKOT
The OT-64 SKOT (Czech language, Czech acronym for: ''Střední Kolový Obrněný Transportér'', and/or Polish language, Polish ''Średni Kołowy Opancerzony Transporter'' – medium wheeled armoured transporter) is an Amphibious vehicle, amphib ...
armoured personnel carriers and 24
PT-76
The PT-76 is a Soviet Union, Soviet amphibious vehicle, amphibious light tank that was introduced in the early 1950s and soon became the standard reconnaissance tank of the Soviet Army and the other Warsaw Pact armed forces. It was widely exporte ...
amphibious light tanks.
**25th Independent Armored Brigade* - Col Ahmed Helmy Badawy
As a brigadier general,
Ahmed Badawi commanded the
7th Infantry Division during the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...
, and after the Third Field Army became encircled, was placed in command of the cut-off force. The isolated part of the army was made up of the 7th and 19th Infantry Divisions, plus two independent armoured brigades, on the east bank, and a mixture of units in
Suez
Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...
city itself.
[Trevor Dupuy, Elusive Victory, 1978, 543.]
Notes
References and external links
*
* https://search.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1976CAIRO16857_b.html - Third Army commander Maj Gen Ahmad Badawi speaks to
State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
officials, 7 December 1976.
{{Egyptian Army
Field armies of Egypt
Military units and formations established in 1968
1968 establishments in Egypt