AIthough US President Richard Nixon and his cabinet supported Israeli PM Golda Meir's requests for more aid, by 8 October the Israeli government was begging for a torrent of armaments to replenish its overstretched ground forces. In the Sinai alone US intelligence estimated the IDF lost 432 tanks after just three days of fighting (the Soviets were not far off, estimating 500 Israeli tanks lost) and the aerial battles were taking a toll as well. Pre-war Israeli air power counted 358 modern fighter jets and as many as one-third were shot down by the enemy in the duration of the war. The US decision to send weapons and supplies for Israel was made on 9 October and organised by the White House, the State Department and the Department of Defense, with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger acting as liaison between Tel Aviv and the Oval Office. Kissinger remained divisive: the US foreign policy establishment saw him as too pro-Israel but public opinion in the Jewish state loathed him as an appeaser. Regardless, the first flights of C-5 Galaxy transports landed in Tel Aviv's Lod International Airport on 14 October with much needed 4in (105mm) howitzer ammunition. Over the next 13 days the US Air Force's Military Airlift Command (MAC) were off-loading tanks, howitzers, and even additional Phantom and Skyhawk jets. The 6,450mile (10,380km) distance was further complicated by the reluctance of NATO allies to share their own supplies. What became Operation Nickel Grass was a unilateral US effort.
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THE OTHER OPERATION OVERLORD D-DAY'S GHOST ARMY
Historian Taylor Downing discusses the cunning use of intrigue and deception during Operation Fortitude
D-DAY LANDING CRAFT
Over 4,000 Allied landing craft took part in the Normandy Landings with a huge range of designs created for specific roles and capabilities
BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Spearheading the invasion of occupied France in 1944 were a small number of Special Forces soldiers dropped deep into enemy territory. Among them was a young Londoner, fresh from training here he reveals how he survived guerrilla warfare in France and beyond as part of the fledgling Special Air Service
JIMMIE MONTEITH
In the crucible of battle at Omaha Beach on D-Day, this officer of the famed 1st Infantry Division earned his nation’s highest honour at the cost of his life
KLEINKAMPFVERBÄNDE - GERMANY'S COUNTER-ATTACKS
As Allied forces crossed the Channel and stormed into Normandy, Hitler's navy fought back using a deadly new breed of maritime weaponry
STORMING GOLD BEACH
War veteran Ron Peet helped assault Gold Beach on D-Day Here he shares his experiences
UNDERGROUND WREN
Deep in the bowels of Fort Southwick, radio operator Marie Scott was one of the first to hear reports as Operation Overlord got underway, passing critical communications between the men on the beaches and high command
MINESWEEPER OFF NORMANDY
After helping clear the path to France, Royal Navy veteran Claude Sealey and his crewmates experienced a deadly encounter with their own countrymen
THE RECCE RIDER OF RANVILLE
After fencing behind enemy lines in Normandy, William Bill’ Gladden conducted us reconnaissance on his motorcycle
SWORD BEACH
The easternmost sector of the 6 June Normandy Landings was a mostly British affair, and Saw some of the biggest territorial gains of the first day of the Allied invasion