Polished steel rifles jangled as soldiers performed a drill before a small crowd to celebrate the anniversary of the October 1973 war with Israel, at a time of discontent with Egypt's military.

"God is the Greatest, and long live Egypt!" yelled a spectator before a military brass band outside the Egyptian Museum launched into the national anthem.

Overhead, fighter planes and bombers in formation roared past the Mogamma complex at the other end of Tahrir Square, startling the pigeons which roost in the vast Soviet-style government building.

Sami Mursi, 60, watched the jets go by with swelling pride.

"It reminds me of the first bullet that was fired in the war," said the battle-scarred air force veteran. "I feel just like when the war started."

The day has been celebrated with pomp every year since Egypt launched the surprise war, in tandem with Syria, to regain territory which the Arab states lost to Israel in the devastating 1967 Six-Day War.

The result was a stalemate.

But in Egypt it is considered an astounding victory. It helped nudge Egypt and Israel into signing a 1979 peace treaty -- the first between the Jewish state and an Arab country.

And it was on this day 30 years ago when fighter jets at a military parade distracted president Anwar Sadat as an Islamist army officer who opposed the peace treaty sprinted up to the stand and shot him dead.

Former airforce chief and vice president Hosni Mubarak took over power. Under his rule, Egyptians never warmed to Israel.

This year the anniversary came as the military, in power since a popular revolt ousted Mubarak in February, finds itself under growing fire from activists and political parties demanding a clear transition to civilian rule.

Rights activists also accuse soldiers of torturing detainees and stifling the press, charges the military has denied.

The military brass band in Tahrir Square, epicentre of the revolt that overthrew Mubarak, came after a broadcast speech by Egypt's military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

"The youths of this generation are a continuation of the October (war) generation, which has a sense of responsibility for the greater national good when they contributed to achieving victory through great sacrifices," he said.

Mursi, who revealed shrapnel scars on his head and torso as he reminisced about the war, said he hoped this anniversary would "reconcile the military with the people."

But for activists such as Rasha Azab, who says she was beaten by soldiers who set up a makeshift prison in the Egyptian Museum after a protest in March, Tantawi's words rang hollow.

The journalist and veteran campaigner said she respected "simple soldiers who fought to liberate our lands" such as Mursi.

But she accused the military leadership which took over from Mubarak of exploiting the anniversary of the war and the revolt against the president, himself a 1973 war hero.

"It no longer defends land and honour. It defends its own political interests," she said.

Tantawi has repeatedly pledged the military will cede power after Egypt holds a presidential election, expected to take place in 2012.

"Our great people, which rejected defeat and the Setback (in the 1967 defeat) and liberated every inch of its sacred territory is capable of crossing this difficult, sensitive and decisive period," Tantawi said in his speech.

He said Egypt would become "a civil, modern state, based on peaceful democracy."