Abd
Al-Nasser
asks Soviet Union for help
General
Mohamed Abd Al-Ghany Al-Gamasy said in his memoirs (
On 21/6/1967, the Soviet president Podgorny
with a military delegation under command of Marshal Zakharov the chief
of the general staff of the Soviet Forces came to
Egypt to show their
political assistance to Egypt and to discuss the requirements of weapons
to reconstruct the Egyptian Army. The Marshal stayed in Egypt nearly for a month
to help organizing the forces and upgrading their war tactics in
co-operation with the general commander of Egyptian Armed Forces under direct
supervision of president Abd Al-Nasser."
Mahmmoud Riad, the foreign
minister at the time, wrote in his Memoirs " In the next day of
22/6/1967, talks started among Podgorny, Marshal
Zakharov and the
Soviet Ambassador in Cairo, President Abd Al-Nasser, Zakaria Mohi Al-Deen, Ali Sabry, General Mohamed Fawzi and I.
The first session of talks
was so important because it was a new stage of the Soviet-Egyptian
relations, which led to a strong soviet presence, not
only in Egypt but also in other places of the Arab
world. Consequently, it led to a gradual change in
Egypt policy toward nonalignment. The more
U.S.A. assistance increase to Israel the more soviet presence increase.
On 22, 23 June, during talks
between Abd Al-Nasser and Podgorny. President
Abd Al-Nasser asked to achieve the military balance
between Egypt and Israel, and provide Egyptian Armed Forces with weapons and soviet experts
especially in the Air Defense field.
He declared to the Soviet that the war of June
highly affected the spirit
of the Egyptian Armed Forces. Therefore, providing the Army with weapons
in the nearest time would be vital to affect the situation positively
and to raise the spirit of the officers and soldiers.
As for the Air
Forces Abd Al-Nasser declared that the Soviet sent 25
aircrafts ( MIG 21 )
and 93 aircrafts ( MIG 17 ) to Egypt after war, while they agreed to send
another 40 aircrafts ( MIG 21 ).
The MIG aircraft from the
technical perspective has a short distance, if it is compared with Mirage &
Mystère aircrafts that Israel had, which could reach
Marsa Matrouh.
Consequently, the Israeli aircrafts could advance deeply in Egypt, while the MIG
aircraft could not. Therefore, president Abd
Al-Nasser asked
for a new brand of long distance aircrafts that could reach Israel too.
Also demanded to provide Egypt quickly, by air and not by sea,
with number of MIG aircrafts to participate in the Air Defense of Egypt,
since we had pilots and didn't have aircrafts.
As for the stage of
reconstructing the Air Defense, Abd Al-Nasser preferred to achieve it in
the frame of joint defense Egyptian & Soviet. Then, our officers and
soldiers could join the soviet experts in air defense to have the
experience, but Podgorny said that it was better to be an Egyptian
Air Defense with aid and help from the Soviet Union.
President Abd
Al-Nasser explained the situation in Egypt during this
period saying "Here in Egypt we had been attacked before in 1956 and now
again in 1967. Because the western countries consider us taking the side
with the eastern countries, for our refusal to follow the U.S.A.
Policy. But our policy springs from our principle that depends on our
foreign policy of nonalignment.
Here in Egypt we find Israel
attacking and usurping our lands and is supported by the U.S.A., and during
that war many people were inquiring and asking? Where are our soviet
friends?
But it was clear that your
military assistance to us will be impossible before we reach an agreement
for necessary arrangements. I know that this agreement will increase U.S.A. enmity. But I know that the U.S.A.
stand to the Israeli side in
the security council and refuse any decision demanding Israel to return
to the lines of 4th of June. I know also that U.S.A. will continue
her aggressive policy toward us in the future. So, it is not logic to
deal with those who strike us as the same to those who help us. And we want
to deepen the Egyptian-Soviet co-operation to remove the remains of
the Israeli aggression.
At this point Podgorny commented saying "It is
difficult to find a nonaligned country one hundred percent". The president Abd
Al-Nasser resumed his talks saying
"If we ask you to join us in a
war we should be with you in war and peace, and we have hard times which
we can not overcome only by ourselves, and because the struggle this time
entail to use weapon to liberate our land, so we have to sign an
agreement with the Soviet Union and be ready to make facilities to your
navy from Port Said to Al-Saloom.
Of course we will listen to
people saying you kicked out the British Army and let the Soviet in, but
we can bear all for the sake of our country freedom." ) The
memoirs of Mahmmoud Riad, the foreign minister (at that time).
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
Nikolai Podgorny : The Chairman of the Presidium of
the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1965 to 1977.
