ABSTRACT
According to all the signs, the Presidents of Egypt and Syria agreed, late in March 1973 to start a war towards 6the end of the year. Sadat’s war plans began to take shape after he demanded, in summer 1972, the removal of Russian military personnel from Egypt. Once they were gone, Sadat no longer feared interference. He told a visiting newsman that, with the Russians out of the way, his critics could no longer argue that anything Egypt will do in the military field could only be a Soviet achievement. One week after the Russian departure, Sadat ordered War Minister Ahmad Tzadek to start planning the war.
