More on the Soviet Claim

Various delegations from eastern Europe, including a group of Czechs, arrived in Egypt after the 1967 war. The Czechs investigated the causes of Egypt's military failure (including Israeli jamming of Egyptian SAM-2s). These studies coincided with the Soviet investigation. Marshal Zakharov arrived in Cairo on June 20 with a Military Mission, to do a post mortem on the Egyptian failure and arrange for re equipping of Nasser's forces. To an extent, the Soviet "investigation" was merely an exercise in public relations. Presumably it was Zakharov who, around early July, attributed the disaster to indolence.
Naturally Soviet investigators were hampered by lack of access to the battlefields. Virtually all of Sinai had been overrun by the IDF. There was no opportunity to inspect Egyptian wreckage, or abandoned vehicles (they were towed away by Israel). In addition, many Egyptian crews had perished and could not be interviewed. It was difficult to gather evidence of the kind needed for the startling pronouncement about Egypt's tanks.
As related, there is some evidence for Russia's claim. The 125th's armor was simply abandoned. In addition, the 4rth's tanks at Bir Lafhan may have had little chance to shoot back as they were often ambushed by IDF armor behind dunes. The Israelis also shot up a Egyptian tank column with impunity during a night action.
Other vehicles, however, made use of their guns. Referring to dug in(?) Egyptian tanks in the northern area, an Israeli general said that they usually revealed their positions with their first or second shell. IS-3Ms blasted several Pattons. Virtually all of the 100 tanks supporting the 7th Infantry opened fire, and many, such as those in the Jiradi pass, probably did so repeatedly. In one engagement, T-55s knocked out several Israeli tanks. Toward the end, an Egyptian counterattack destroyed some Israeli AMX tanks; in another battle, fought at longer range, it was said that every time the Egyptians changed tactics they hit more tanks.
A total of 394 IDF tanks were put out of action in '67. Of these, 61 were irrecoverably lost in Sinai. Many more were damaged but repaired. Using el-Alamein as an analogy (150 out of over 500 British tanks put out of action were a total loss) nearly 200 IDF tanks were probably knocked out. At a guess, most or about 150, were hit by Egyptian tanks. (Cairo didn't yet have the infantry weapons of '73, such as the RPG and the Sagger, and while it did have many antitank guns, these hit only a limited number of IDF tanks in frontier positions.) And how many rounds would the Egyptians have fired to account for 150? Probably about 6 shells for every tank they hit. Cairo's armor fought according to Soviet doctrine, in which a platoon of three tanks concentrated its fire on one target at a time. In addition, the first shots were probably just ranging shots. It is possible, therefore, that the total number of shells fired (perhaps 6 x 150 or roughly 900) equalled the total number of Egyptian tanks in Sinai (900). Therefore, each Egyptian tank, on average, did fire one shot. But the result was far from what the Soviets said it would be.
The Soviet claim is patently absurd. It was just propaganda, intended to reassure Soviet allies about the effectiveness of Russian weapons. What better way to exculpate Soviet weapons in the wake of disaster than to say that Egypt would've won if each of its tanks had fired just one shot? Great public relations indeed. But it did a disservice to the cause of historical truth.