October War was a great achievement by great leaders including Major General Saad El Shazly Chief of Army Staff and Maj. Gen. Abdul Ghani Gamassi, director of operations for the Egyptian military.
Wars are usually led all over the world by chief of army staff, but in Egypt the president is considered the supreme commander of the army. Not only is the president entitled to set the general plans, but also to take care of the details instead of the Chief of Staff. In Egypt, the defense minister is called the general commander of the Army.
Sadat put military clothing for only 18 months. Yet, he used to interfere in the work of professional military personnel who gave their age in the army and received high training courses in the Soviet Union.
The international community asked Sadat to stop the shooting when Egypt was victories but he refused. This was one big mistake as things went bad for the Egyptian army later on.
Israel had overcome the surprising war. It decided to attack the Syrian front because it was more dangerous. The Syrian President al-Assad asked Sadat for help, but out of arrogance Sadat ordered more troops to cross to Sinai, causing a gap between the second and third armies. Commanders of the army refused this move but Sadat gave them no ears.
Israel spotted the gap, and used it for a counter on October 14. The gap was widened and Egypt had to ask for Russian intervene to stop the fire and start disengagement negotiations.
