Egyptian General Abdel-Moneim Riad: the creation of an adaptive military thinker

Infantry Magazine, March-April, 2004 by Youssef Aboul-Enein

Arab militaries are notoriously known for lack of individual initiative and a rigidity that tends to favor scripted methods of warfare. Some nations like Egypt are trying to get away from Soviet-style doctrine and are slowly attempting to adopt combined arms and western-style tactics. Arab general staffs, on a more philosophical level, must understand that whether adopting eastern bloc or western arms by default buy into their doctrine and military methods of fighting. When posed with this question, senior Egyptian generals point to the 1973 Yore-Kippur War as an example of using Soviet technology with Egyptian improvisation and tactics. It is hard to argue the success of the opening days of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, but what is troubling with this answer is that they are fighting the last war and see the war from the lens of the opening days and not in its entirety. Many Arabic books on the 1973 war focus on the opening successes of Egyptian and Syrian forces but pay scarce attention to lessons learned as Israeli forces tactically achieved the entrapment of the Egyptian Third Army. When confronted, it is easy to blame superpower politics for their loss.

Mohammed Mohammed Al-Gawady, a prolific military author and historian, has conducted quality research and interviewed more than a dozen Egyptian generals, revealing the depth of their tactical and strategic thoughts. He has published several volumes on Egyptian generals who fought, planned, and discussed the 1967 Six-Day War, 1967 Reconstruction of the Egyptian Armed Forces, and 1973 Yom-Kippur War. In the late '90s and early 2000, Al-Gawady wrote the biographies and strategic thoughts of several Egyptian generals like the late Abdel-Ghanny Al-Gamassy (Operations Director, 1973 War), Madkoor Abu-al-Eez (Air Marshal after the 1967 War) and many more. Egyptians owe this writer gratitude for preserving the Arab perspective of modern warfare.

In 1984, as a young physician, Al-Gawady wrote a small, 54-page pocket book entitled Al-Shaheed Abdel-Moneim Riad, Samaa Al-Askariyah Al-Misriyah (The Martyr [General] Abdel-Moneim Riad, Sky [Model] of the Egyptian Army). The book is published by Dar-Al-Atebaa (Physician's House Press) in Cairo and won Al-Gawady the 1984 National Literature Prize for Biography by Arabic Language Academy Prize for Literature. For members of the U.S. armed forces who train and exercise with the Egyptians, this book offers insight into what Egyptian officers consider as the model modern military commander; his military style is similar to the American way of military leadership. General Riad, who served less than two years as Egypt's chief of staff from 1967-1969, was a warrior-scholar, admired for his ability to formulate strategic plans and for pointing out problems to his superiors and proposing solutions. His martyrdom is not due to a callous suicidal religious misinterpretation; instead his death came while inspecting the front lines along the Suez Canal, motivating Egyptian artillery and infantrymen when an artillery duel broke out and a shell landed directly in his foxhole. The book focuses on his life from his childhood until his death and specifically the cultivation of an Egyptian military tactician. Officers and Soldiers today can take lessons from his ethic of education, caring for troops and bringing bad news to commanders.

Early Life

Abdel-Moneim Riad was born in 1919 near the village of Tanta along the Nile Delta. His father Mohammed Riad was a military officer--a lieutenant colonel who served as an instructor in Egypt's military academy. In 1928, his father received orders to El-Arish in Gaza. Abdel-Moneim spent his childhood playing in and around the sandy and craggy hills of Gaza, becoming an expert scout along Wadi Arish while playing with Bedouin children and observing military maneuvers conducted by his father. In 1930, the family moved to Alexandria where his father was promoted to colonel and given command of the 2nd Awritah (Battalion). After graduating high school in 1936, Riad wanted a career in the army, but his mother overruled him. He spent a semester at Qasr-el-Ainy Medical School, where he participated in anti-British demonstrations that led to the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty. The treaty opened Egypt's military schools to the lower classes of society, and over the years Riad would join other cadets like Anwar Sadat and Gamal Abdel Nasser, who would become Egypt's leaders, and Saad-Eddine Al-Shazly, Ismail Ali and a collection of future chiefs of staffs and war ministers.

After seeing a military recruiter once again, he implored his parents who finally relented and on October 6, 1936, he joined the military academy. The academy divided its curriculum into three stages of advancement: preparatory, middle, and senior. Riad was considered a strong personality who quickly grasped his lessons and proceeded to assist other cadets with their studies; he was not known to engage in any activity that did not advance his physical or mental abilities at the military academy. He would graduate with Anwar Sadat in 1938 as a class adjutant and at the top of his class. Colonel Futuh Bey, the academy dean, writes in his record, "He is an exemplary student in all aspects; he gives his best effort and can be relied upon."