Mt. Hermon.

This is coolbert:

 From a comment to the blog by Moshe:

"About Golani's unit 51. I was in that unit from 1971-1974 after intensive training we were on the very edge of the suez Canal, then Gaza, more training and Israel in 1973 was attacked . . . I was in the north. It was our unit 51 which captured the Hermon mountain . . . 44 of about 280 soldiers were killed within a short time during that fierce battle"

"Mount Hermon . . . is a mountain cluster in the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the border between Syria and Lebanon"

  Mount Hermon DOMINANT TERRAIN FROM THE MILITARY STANDPOINT!!

So much so in the manner of say a Monte Cassino. during World War Two [WW2].

Dominant in that the military force occupying the summit and heights of Mount Hermon said to have a distinct and overwhelming advantage.

 Mount Hermon the summit and heights captured by the Israeli during the Six Day War [1967], the Israeli military understanding instantly the vital importance of the summit and heights and occupying same, AN OUTPOST ESTABLISHED without delay!!

 Radar, signal, intelligence personnel, not combat arms troops manning the various facilities in place, Mount Hermon the summit and heights now having a significance deemed of extraordinary importance to the Israeli!

 "The Hermon outpost was considered strategically important for several reasons, such as: gathering early warning information, real-time Intelligence collection, conducting electronic warfare (EW) against ground or air attack, artillery spotting on the Damascus Plain, using the Hermon ridge and its western slopes for a strategic flanking move toward Syria, conducting operations in Syria and Lebanon and commanding Israel's main water sources."

 "it was used as a radar outpost, housing some of the IDF's most sensitive and secret electronic equipment . . . The troops manning the Hermon outpost could view the entire Syrian plain"

 Mount Hermon dominant terrain to say the least. A mountain the summit and heights it is believed where the Transfiguration of JESUS occurred!! 

 During the very initial stages of the Yom Kippur/Ramadan War of 1973, those Israeli personnel high at the summit of Mt. Hermon finding themselves in an impossible situation. NOT trained, equipped, or mentally prepared to fight, attacked upon by the BEST infantry of the Syrian army, air assault paratroopers! Israeli troops normally highly regarded NOT able to defend their installations and equipment, personnel and vital equipment more or less captured intact.

 ISRAELI FORCES NOT POSSESSING THE PHYSICAL, MENTAL, OR PSYCHOLOGICAL WHEREWITHAL TO DEFEND THEIR POSITIONS A DEBACLE THE CONSEQUENCES OF WHICH MOST SERIOUS.

 1. "The First Battle of Mount Hermon was fought at the outset of the Yom Kippur War between the Syrian Army and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). On Yom Kippur, October 6 1973, Syrian commandos attacked and captured the IDF outpost on Mount Hermon."

 2. "The Second Battle of Mount Hermon was fought on October 8, 1973, during the Yom Kippur War between the Syrian Army and the Israeli Army.

 3. "The Third Battle of Mount Hermon was fought on the night of October 21–22, 1973, between the Israeli Army and the Syrian Army over Mount Hermon, during the last days of the Yom Kippur War"

Golani brigade of the Israeli army engaged during the Second and Third Battle of Mount Hermon, a tested and ready combat arms unit the esprit, preparation, and mental wherewithal for the military mission in marked contrast to those Israeli forces engaged during the First Battle of Mount Hermon.

 Thanks to Golani the summit and heights of Mt. Hermon once again dominant terrain occupied by Israeli forces.

These events of the Yom Kippur/Ramadan War as occurred for the contested ground of Mt. Hermon reminding me of the USS Pueblo and Site 85.

 American military personnel [naval and air force] also on two occasions placed into an impossible situation, not equipped or trained, mentally and psychologically unprepared for combat, sailors and airmen having to confront a very determined and well armed adversary, the BEST the enemy could muster!!

 In both instances also debacle being the result. 

The USS Pueblo, crew and gear more or less captured intact, those prisoners of the North Koreans subject to a harsh and brutal regimen of capture. Site 85 that last airman having only recently more than forty years later being awarded the Medal of Honor for heroics body-not-recovered [BNR]!!

 The high command having made estimates of the situation that proved to be invalid, catastrophe the result, much to the detriment of all involved.

 coolbert.