Mohamed Abdel Ghani el-Gamasy ( ar, محمد عبد الغني الجمسي, 9 September 1921 – 7 June 2003) was an Egyptian Field Marshal (

Mushir ( ar, مشير) is an Arabic word meaning "counsellor" or "advisor". It is related to the word shura, meaning consultation or "taking counsel". As an official title, it historically indicates a personal advisor to the ruler. In this use it is ...

) and the Commander in Chief of The Armed Forces. He has been called "one of the architects of the 1973 War."

Early life

El Gamasy was born on 9 September 1921 in Batanoon,

Monufia Governorate Monufia Governorate ( ar, محافظة المنوفية ' ) is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is located in the northern part of the country in the Nile Delta, to the south of Gharbia Governorate and to the north of Cairo. The governora ...

, Egypt. He was one of two brothers and five sisters. After high school, El Gamassy joined the

Egyptian Military Academy The Egyptian Military Academy ( ar, الكلية الحربية) is the oldest and most prominent military academy in Egypt. Traditionally, graduates of the Military Academy are commissioned as officers in the Egyptian Army. However, they may se ...

and was commissioned in 1941 as a reconnaissance officer in the Cavalry (1st Cavalry Regiment) As a Major, he was GSO-II of a cavalry battalion during the 1948 War.

October War

During the

War of Attrition The War of Attrition ( ar, حرب الاستنزاف, Ḥarb al-Istinzāf; he, מלחמת ההתשה, Milhemet haHatashah) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from ...

, in March 1969, then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser appointed el-Gamasy as commander of the

Second Field Army The Second Field Army (第二野战军), initially known as the Central Plains Field Army (中原野战军) or the Liu-Deng Army, was a major military formation of the Chinese Communist Party during the last stages of the Chinese Civil War. The ...

. His appointment was part of a process of rooting out former general commander

Abdel Hakim Amer Mohamed Abdel Hakim Amer ( arz, محمد عبد الحكيم عامر, ; 11 December 1919 – 13 September 1967) was an Egyptian military officer and politician. Amer served in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and played a leading role in the m ...

's mostly incompetent loyalists with capable commanders, including Abdul Munim Riad,

Saad el-Shazly Saad el-Din Mohamed el-Husseiny el-Shazly ( ar, سعد الدين محمد الحسيني الشاذلي, )‎ (1 April 1922 – 10 February 2011)was an Egyptian military commander. He was Egypt's chief of staff during the October War. ...

and Ahmed Ismail. El-Gamasy later wrote that Nasser should have deconstructed Amer's autonomous web of control in the armed forces following the Egyptian military failure during the Suez Crisis in 1956. El-Gamasy was well known for being the Chief of Operations for all Ground Forces participating in the 1973

October War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Eg ...

. He was also appointed by

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

as the head of the group that participated in the disengagement talks on 28 October, at "Kilometer 101". Reportedly, he was sad for the lost souls at the war when the American secretary of state

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...

announced that the president Sadat agreed to pull the main part of the Egyptian forces from the east side of the Suez Canal in exchange of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the west side of the Suez Canal and retreat back into the depth of Sinai.

Death

On 7 June 2003, El Gamasy died in a hospital in Cairo after a long battle with illness.

Honors

*Honor Military Star. *1952 Liberation decoration. *1958 United Republic decoration.

Works

* ''The October War'' (Cairo, 1993)

References

External links

au.af.mil
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamasy, Mohamed Abdel Ghani El 1921 births 2003 deaths Field marshals of Egypt Defence Ministers of Egypt Directors of the Military Intelligence and Reconnaissance (Egypt) Egyptian people of the Yom Kippur War Egyptian Military Academy alumni People from Monufia Governorate Chiefs of the General Staff (Egypt)