“The Syrian tanks crossed the anti-tank trenches and advanced like a Greek phalanx, with grinding artillery advancing before them—a hundred state-of-the-art T-62 tanks, commanded by the president’s brother, followed by some 70 infantry division tanks. The artillery force at my disposal by that point constituted six battalions, eighteen batteries total. They all fired on targets, and a hailstorm of steel and fire came down on the Valley of Tears.”

How does a negligible corps full of outdated machinery and unmotivated soldiers transform into a battle-hardened, cutting-edge force capable of turning even the most dire, hopeless tides of war?

By the time Brigadier General (Ret.) Arie Mizrachi had become the commanding officer of the Israeli Defense Force’s Artillery Corps, he had already seen the incredible potential of what a unit of highly trained and incredibly precise artillerymen could achieve. From his days as a captain on the front lines of the Six-Day War to commanding daring rescue missions during the 1982 Lebanon War, Brig. Gen. Mizrachi’s career spanned four major wars as well as countless operations, accounting for the meteoric rise of the Corps’ role in the conflicts that reshaped the Middle East.

With compelling narratives and a historian’s precision, Mizrachi’s Pillars of Smoke and Fire is, at once, a personal memoir of a commanding officer and an unprecedented historical document that mirrors the story of the State of Israel throughout its bitter defeats and remarkable victories—a definitive read for anyone interested in understanding the history of the state, the region, and the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people.