Mohamed Fawzi the General Commander of the Armed Forces.
General
Mohamed Abd Al-Ghany Al-Gamasy said in his memoirs (
On 11th of June, Abd
Al-Nasser
assigned General Mohamed Fawzi as the General
Commander of the Armed Forces,
General Abd Al-Moneim Riad as the Chief of Staff, and General Madkour Abu
Al-Ezz (The Governor of Aswan at that time) as
the commander of Air Force and Air Defense.
On the same day
General Murtaga, Commander of Ground forces,
General Sedki, Commander of Air Forces, General Soliman Ezzat,
commander of Navy Forces. Chief of the armed forces
operations and the assistants of supreme
commander, gave their resignation. Abd
Al-Nasser decided that some
leaders, specially those who were very close to Marshal Amer,
must retire.
President Abd Al-Nasser gave a special concern to
control the Armed Forces, for the situation
necessitate to do so. )
Mahmmoud Riad, the Egyptian Foreign Minister at that
time, mentioned in his memoirs ( Abd Al-Nasser said in one of the cabinet sessions, I
could not forget the first days we passed after June. I had a bitter feeling that was
indescribable. The events of June affected us psychologically,
morally and materially. I wished at that time to
resign. I was expecting hard times inside and outside the country; because our enemy was strong, ready to destroy us and having
enough money to do so.
On 11 of June, when I decided not to resign I was in
a very bad condition; I sent my family out of Cairo and hold my pistol to use it at last. I asked about the number of tanks in
Cairo, they told me they were only seven of them. Everyday, before going to
bed, I used to talk with General Fawzi.
Then I phone him again at six
O’clock in the morning to discuss the situation of the Armed Forces, leaderships
and name of every commander in each field. If I did not do this;
situation could have turned bad. ) Mahmmoud Riad
memoirs.
Source:
October War 1973, second edition 1998. General Mohamed Abd Al-Ghany Al-Gamasy
chief of operations of Egyptian Army during the war.
Related links on the Internet:
General Mohamed Fawzi talking
to Al-Ahram Weekly about the three year
war.
