萨阿德·沙兹利

Saad el-Din Mohamed el-Husseiny el-Shazly (Arabic: سعد الدين محمد الحسيني الشاذلي, IPA: [sæʕd edˈdiːn elħoˈseːni eʃˈʃæzli])‎ (1 April 1922 – 10 February 2011) was an Egyptian military officer. He was Egypt's chief of staff during the Yom Kippur War.

He is credited with the equipping and preparation of the Egyptian Armed Forces in the years prior to the successful capture of the Israeli Bar-Lev line at the start of the Yom Kippur War. He was dismissed from his post on 13 December 1973.

Early life

He was born in the village of Shabratna, Basyoun Center, in Gharbia Governorate, in the Nile Delta, on 1 April 1922, in an upper-middle-class family. His father was a notary, and his family owned (70) acres. His father is Hajj el-Husseini el-Shazly, and his mother, Mrs. Tafidah al-Jawhari, is the second wife of his father. He was named after the 17th Prime Minister of Egypt, Saad Zaghloul. His father was one of the owners of agricultural lands who married twice and had nine children with first wife: Muhammad, Hamid, Abdel-Hakim, Al-Hussaini, Abdel-Salam, Nadhima, Farida, Bassima and Morsyah. As for the second wife, Al-Jawhari, she is the mother of Shazly.

His father's cousin is Abd el-Salam Pasha el-Shazly, who took over the lake directorate and the Ministry of Awqaf.

Shazly received sciences in the elementary school in Basioun School, which is about 6 kilometers from his village. After completing his primary education at age 11, his father moved to live in Cairo and he completed the preparatory and secondary levels in Cairo schools.

Commands Held

He joined the Military Academy in February 1939 and was the youngest student in his class.

He graduated from the Military College in July 1940 with the rank of a lieutenant in the infantry in the same class of Khaled Mohieddin.

In 1943, while a lieutenant, he was chosen to serve in the Royal Guard.

He participated in the Second World War.

Participated in the 1948 Palestine War.

Founder and Commander of the First Parachute Battalion in Egypt (1954 - 1961).

Commander of the 75th Parachute Battalion during the Tripartite Aggression.

Commander of the UAR Battalion in the United Nations Operation in the Congo (1960-1961).

London War Attaché (1961-1963).

Commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade (participated in the (Yemen War) (1965 - 1966).

Commander of the Special Forces (Parachutes and Thunderbolts) (1967-1969).

Commander of the Red Sea Military Region (1970 - 1971).

Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces (1971-1973).

Assistant Secretary General of the League of Arab States for Military Affairs (1971 - 1973).

Egyptian Ambassador to Britain (1974-1975).

Egyptian Ambassador to Portugal (1975-1978).

Social Status

Shazly got married on 13 December 1943 to Zeenat Muhammad Metwally el-Suhaimi, daughter of Muhammad Metwally Pasha el-Suhaimi, who was the director of the Military College in the 1930s, and had three daughters: Shahdan, Nahid and Samia.

Involvement in the Free Officers Movement

His relationship with Gamal Abdel Nasser began when he lived in the same building that Gamal Abdel Nasser inhabited in Abbasiya before the July 23 movement. They had family relations, and in addition to being officers teachers in the School of Administrative Affairs, they met on a daily basis. Gamal Abdel Nasser opened it to the Free Officers in 1951, and Shazly welcomed the idea and joined them, but he did not participate in the night of 23 July 1952 directly, as he was in a college course Pillars of the war.

Airborne Corps

At the rank of major, he traveled to the United States of America on an advanced training mission in 1953 to specialized in parachutes and was one of the first officers to receive the Rangers School course. He then became the commander of the 75th Parachute Battalion during the Triple Aggression of 1956. He took command of the Parachute Force during the period from 1954 to 1959.

During the celebrations of the Revolution Day, which was to be held on 23 July 1954, Shazly suggested to Major General Naguib Ghoneim, the commander of the Cairo military region, to show the parachute corps differently from the rest of the armed forces units that were walking in the normal step in front of the podium, as is well known. He suggested that the parachute corps parade walk by a quick step in front of the podium, and by that, he was the first to suggest walking in a quick step in the special military parades for the paratroopers, which became associated with the thunderbolt and paratroop forces and what distinguished them from other forces and were subsequently transferred by the Arab countries.

UN Mission in Congo

In 1960 (during the unity with Syria), President Gamal Abdel Nasser sent a parachute battalion as part of the United Nations forces to Congo, led by Colonel el Shazly, at the request of Prime Minister Lumumba and in coordination with the United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, to maintain security and law and with the aim of preventing Belgium from returning to occupy his country, which became independent on 30 June 1960.

The Arab Parachute battalion was made up of 5 companies (4 companies from Egypt and one from Syria), which got the name 'the Arab battalion in the Congo'. The battalion was stationed in the far north, more than 1,200 kilometers from the capital. It was the first Arab force sent to carry out foreign missions under the leadership of the United Nations.

Events developed and General Staff chief Mobutu Sese Seko led a military coup that controlled the country. Lumumba managed to escape, but he was arrested and killed in January 1961.

Gamal Abdel Nasser then sent a military committee headed by Brigadier Ahmed Ismail Ali to Congo to study what Egypt could offer to advance the Congolese army, but the situation had changed. The new government was eradicating hostility from Gamal Abdel Nasser and demanding the return of the Arab forces. During that period, the dispute occurred between Colonel Shazly and Colonel Ahmed Ismail Ali.