Russo-Ukraine War 2017 (January-April)

[Azor]

Nixon did nothing but pass information to the Soviets in the form of sat photos...the nuclear threat came directly from the Israeli side...and then vice versa later in Yom Kippur.

I am referring specifically to Nixon’s decision to go to DEFCON 3, which was about deterring the Soviets from intervening. I am aware that Israel threatened to use nuclear weapons against the Egyptians and Syrians in order to obtain US aid.

Of course, we must ask why did Israel’s nuclear saber-rattling work on the United States, but not Syria or Egypt?

I would say that it didn’t work on the Arabs for the following reasons:

1. Arab aims were actually rather limited (reconquest of Golan and Sinai)
2. Israel being unable to detonate a weapon on the battlefield without inflicting damage to Israelis and Israel
3. The expected outcry if Israel destroyed Cairo or Damascus
4. Soviet guarantees of retaliation (see further down)

As the Egyptian Army was advancing and the Israeli's were retreating and it did not look so hot for the IDF...the Israeli's parked a few nuclear devices on the runway of a major IDF airfield near Tel Aviv just in time for a US spy satellite pass...and the US "got the message"...and then passed that to the Soviets...urging them to reign in the EA...

I understood that Israel was serious about using nuclear weapons given Dayan’s initial shock, and that the satellite reconnaissance only confirmed what Tel Aviv had communicated verbally to Washington.

THEN when the IDF was on the verge of encircling the entire EA and causing a sound defeat the Soviets alerted an elite Soviet Airborne Div and were loading an Soviet elite Airborne Regt (the US picked up via NSA/ASA the alert status) on a well known Soviet airfield in full view of a passing US spy sat...that info was passed to the Israeli's via photos by Nixon and the IDF if you really check the open media pulled up short of a total win and allowed the EA to make it back across the Suez...

Indeed. I also gather that the Soviets had deployed SSBNs to the area, nuclear-armed Scuds to Egypt and had a vessel carrying nuclear weapons docked in Egypt, all to dissuade the Israelis from either pressing their advantage too far and/or using nuclear weapons. The US certainly noticed the ship and the Scuds and would have kept the Israelis in the loop as well…

BTW...on the day of the EA attack across the Suez and for the next four days...at midnight on a specific LW radio frequency there was a constant of messages in English for example..."Nate's mother is asking Nate to call home as she is sick"...for hours...and then they were repeated one more time...

This was the IDF calling up their strategic reserves scattered around the world to come home and merge with the IDF...and a number of US Army tank officers suddenly left their US units in Germany…took emergency leave and departed Europe to fight in the IDF tank units.

This is a very fun fact. Thanks for this.

Did it materially help the IDF?