Egyptian Army

The Egyptian Army is the largest service branch in the Egyptian Armed Forces. The modern army was started by Muhammad Ali Pasha (ruled 1805–1849), the founder of modern Egypt.

Egyptian Army
Egyptian Army insignia
Country	Egypt
Type	Army
Role	Land warfare
Size	310,000 active
March	"We painted the face of our nation on our hearts." (Arabic: رسمنا على القلب وجه الوطن, rasamna ala al qalb wagh al watan)
Commanders
Second Field Army	Major General Mohammed el-Shahat
Third Field Army	Major General Osama Askar

The most significant engagements by this army in the 20th century were in Egypt's five wars with the State of Israel (in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1967–1970, and 1973). In one of those wars, the Suez Crisis of 1956, the army also struggled against the forces of Britain, and France.

The Egyptian army also engaged in the North Yemen civil war, and the brief Libyan-Egyptian War in July 1977. Its last major engagement was Operation Desert Storm, the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in 1991, in this operation, the Egyptian army was the second-largest of the allied forces.

In 2014, the army had about 310,000 soldiers, approximately 90,000–120,000 of them are professionals, while the rest are conscripts.

Commissioned officers

Commissioned Officer rank insignia of the Egyptian Army
Lieutenant	First Lieutenant	Captain	Major	Lieutenant Colonel	Colonel	Brigadier	Major General	Lieutenant General	Colonel General	Field Marshal
Arabic: ملازم	Arabic: ملازم أول	Arabic: نقيب	Arabic: رائد	Arabic: مقدم	Arabic: عقيد	Arabic: عميد	Arabic: لواء	Arabic: فريق	Arabic: فريق أول	Arabic: مشير

Enlisted personnel

Warrant Officer rank insignia		Non-commissioned Officer rank insignia			Enlisted rank insignia
First Warrant Officer	Warrant Officer	First Sergeant	Sergeant	Corporal	Private
Arabic: مساعد أول	Arabic: مساعد	Arabic: رقيب أول	Arabic: رقيب	Arabic: عريف	Arabic: جندى

Egyptian Army Media

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  King Farouk I of Egypt inspecting army units in Abdeen Square

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  Members of the Free Officers gathered after the revolution. From left to right: Zakaria Mohieddin, Abdel Latif Boghdadi, Kamel el-Din Hussein, Gamal Abdel Nasser (seated), Abdel Hakim Amer, Muhammad Naguib, Youssef Seddik and Ahmed Shawki

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  Egyptian soldiers during a military parade in 1955

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  Egyptian army in Sanaa in 1962

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  DIA estimate of Egyptian Army dispositions as of 1 January 1967. Comparison with Dupuy 1978 reveals some errors, such as the location of the 6th Mechanised Division, which was in the Sinai.

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  Egyptian soldiers on the east bank. Notice the carts. Pulled by two men, these transports greatly assisted in the movement of weapons and matériel on the east bank, while no vehicles had yet crossed.

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  Egyptian forces crossing the Suez Canal on October 7

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  Egyptian soldiers with M113 armored personnel carriers during a demonstration for visiting dignitaries, part of Operation Desert Shield.

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  Egyptian Army Thunderbolt camouflage uniform

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  Egyptian Army Thunderbolt camouflage uniform

Further reading

• Steve Rothwell, Military Ally or Liability, The Egyptian Army 1936-42 Archived 2021-12-05 at the Wayback Machine, accessed February 2009