Centurion vs T-55: Yom Kippur War 1973: No. 21 (Duel)

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On 14 May Syria invaded Israel with the 1st Infantry Brigade supported by a battalion of armoured cars, a company of French R35 and R39 tanks, an artillery battalion and other units. However within a week it had been halted in a series of battles around Degania. [30] Usually it was limited artillery duels and small-scale incursions into Sinai, but by 1969 the Egyptian Army started larger-scale operations. On March 8, 1969, Nasser proclaimed the official launch of the War of Attrition, characterized by large-scale shelling along the Suez Canal, extensive aerial warfare and commando raids. [45] [47] Hostilities continued until August 1970 shortly before Nasser's death and ended with a ceasefire, the frontiers remaining the same as when the war began, with no real commitment to serious peace negotiations. From the Mk II onwards, the Centurion featured a cast turret with a welded roofplate. Shown during crew training with the 8th Royal Tank Regiment in Yorkshire during 1948, these are Centurion Mk IIIs with the more powerful 20-pounder gun.

The Israelis broke through with tank-led assaults against the Egyptian army in Sinai. In the Battle of Abu-Ageila, the Israeli 38th Armored Division under Major-General Ariel Sharon assaulted Um-Katef a heavily fortified area defended by the Egyptian 2nd Infantry Division where the Egyptians also had a battalion of tank destroyers and a tank regiment, formed of Soviet World War II armour, which included 90 T-34-85 tanks, 22 SU-100 tank destroyers, and about 16,000 men. The Israelis had about 14,000 men and 150 post-World War II tanks including the AMX-13, Centurions, and M50 Super Shermans (modified M-4 Sherman tanks). Israeli tanks managed to penetrate the northern flank of Abu Ageila, and by dusk, all units were in position. The Israelis then brought up 90 105mm and 155mm artillery guns for a preparatory barrage, and Israeli tanks assaulted the northernmost Egyptian defenses and were largely successful, though an entire armoured brigade was stalled by mines, and had only one mine-clearance tank. The battle ended in an Israeli victory, with 40 Egyptian and 19 Israeli tanks destroyed. Crew: Four Combat weight: 50,728kg Power/Weight ratio: 12.81hp/tonne Ground Pressure: 0.9kg/sqcm Length overall: 9.829m Length hull: 7.556m Width: 3.39m Height: 2.94m Ground Clearance: 0.457m Max road speed: 34.6km/h Road range: 102km Engine: Meteor Mk 4B 12-cylinder petrol of 650hp Transmission: Merritt-Brown Z51R manual with five forward and two reverse gears A-4 Skyhawk aircraft 67 aircraft 48, 54, 67 Alison CD-850-6 automatic transmission 21 Angolan Civil War (1987–88) 74 armament Centurion tanks 9, 11, 14, 16, 17–19, 39 T-55 tanks 5, 19, 23, 25, 28 armour Centurion tanks 16, 17, 18, 20 T-55 tanks 23, 23, 24 Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS) ammunition 14 Askarov, Maj Shmuel 48, 54, 55, 56, 57, 60, 62, 69, 72, 73 Bar Lev Line 45 Barak Brigade, the stand of 56–62 Ben-Gal, Brig Yanosh 46, 53, 56, 57, 65, 69, 71–73, 76 Ben-Hanan, LtCol Yossi 72, 73 Ben-Shoham, Col Yitzhak 54, 55, 56, 57, 62, 63, 68, 76 Berlin Crisis (1961) 6, 30, 32 Besa machine guns 16, 19 British Army: Suez Crisis (1956) 37, 37–38 Browning machine guns 37 camouflage Centurion tanks 14 Syrian army 5 Centurion tanks 5, 26, 30 100 Hours War (1956) 37, 38 Angolan civil war (1987-88) 74 armament 9, 11, 14, 16, 17–19, 39 armour 16, 17, 18, 20 camouflage 14 chronology 6–7 Cold War 29–33, 30, 32, 33, 37 defence of the Golan Heights 18, 46, 49–51 design and development 11–12 Hungarian Uprising (1956) 6, 31, 31–32, 37 Lebanon, occupation of 5, 7, 14 Six Day War (1967) 12, 40, 40–42 technical specifications 13–21, 26 turrets 9, 14, 20 Water War (1967) 38–40, 39 Yom Kippur War (1973) 4, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 52–73, 63, 73, 77 chronology 6–7 Cold War 5, 29–33, 30, 31, 32, 33, 37 D-10T guns 22, 23 Dayan, Moshe 48–49, 52, 76 design and development 8–12 See also: Military equipment of Israel §Vehicles An Israeli Sho't Kal, an upgraded Centurion tank. It was considered in many respects superior to the Soviet T-54/55. [61]

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Ostfeld, Zehava (1994). Shoshana Shiftel (ed.). An Army is Born (Vol. 1) (in Hebrew). Israel Ministry of Defense. pp.104–106. ISBN 965-05-0695-0.

The anti-tank defences along the Purple Line proved crucial in stalling the Syrian offensive for sufficient time to allow the reserve units to reach the Golan. The anti-tank ditch was five metres across and three metres deep with the spoil heaped up on the Israeli side to make bridgelaying operations more difficult. Anti-tank mines were laid on each side of the ditch and a maintenance road ran along the Israeli side. Such an obstacle is only effective if covered by fire and the IDF constructed a series of firing ramps on higher ground some 1,500 to 2,000 metres to the west of the ditch. From these dominating positions, the Shot Cals were in hull-down positions with just their gun and turret tops showing that made them extremely difficult targets from the front. They in turn were able to engage and destroy Syrian tanks out to a distance of 3,000 metres, such as these ones with a group of T-62As and BTR-152 APCs in the foreground, a T-54A in the ditch and a T-55A(M) toppled off the bridge of an MTU-20. Note how the ditch has been levelled by Caterpillar bulldozers that breached the anti-tank ditch under the cover of darkness. This part of the Purple Line was in the northern sector of the 7th Armored Brigade. (IGPO)At the forefront of the Syrian offensive at the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War were special-purpose variants of the T-55 whose task was to breach the Israeli anti-tank defences along the Purple Line. This T-55 is fitted with a KMT-5 mine-roller and integral mine plough. The system weighs 7.5 tonnes and can be operated at 12–18km/h depending on terrain and soil conditions. Such vehicles were priority targets to Israeli gunners. (United Nations) H. Gerrard 11 Oaks Road Tenterden Kent TN30 6RD The Publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon this matter. So with British and French support, Israel reacted and sent its armoured forces into the Sinai and Gaza Strip in the 1956 Suez Crisis, the IDF's first test of strength after 1949, the new army proved itself by capturing the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. The main IDF tank at the time was the AMX-13 along with some US made World War II armor and faced the Egyptian military well equipped with weapons from the Soviet Union such as T-34 and JS-3 tanks, and self-propelled guns. In the Gaza strip city of Rafah was strategically important to Israel because control of that city would sever the Gaza Strip from the Sinai and provide a way to the main centres of the northern Sinai, al-Arish and al-Qantarah. [38] Holding the forts outside of Rafah were a mixture of Egyptian and Palestinian forces in the 5th Infantry Brigade commanded by Brigadier General Jaafar al-Abd. [38] In Rafah itself the 87th Palestinian Infantry Brigade was stationed. [38] Assigned to capture Rafah were 1st Infantry Brigade led by Colonel Benjamin Givli and 27th Armored Brigade commanded by Colonel Haim Bar-Lev of the IDF. [38] To the south of Rafah were a series of mine-filled sand dunes and to the north were a series of fortified hills. [38] Gunner’s sight 7. Gun control equipment 8. Turret traverse indicator 9. Breech opening lever 10.105mm ready ammunition rounds

The Arab League began to believe that the Palestinian Arabs, reinforced by the Arab Liberation Army, could put an end to partition. The British decided on 7 February 1948 to support the annexation of the Arab part of Palestine by Jordan. [5] Commander’s sight Turret traverse handle Gunner’s sight Gun control equipment Breech of D-10T2S 100mm main armament Israeli reservists hastily load their Shot Meteor tanks with ammunition and stores soon after the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. The fate of Israel depended on the speed of mobilization of the IDF reserve armoured formations arriving on the Golan Plateau before the Syrian army captured the Golan Heights and thus threatened Israel proper. (IGPO) Karsh, Efraim (2002). The Arab-Israeli Conflict. The Palestine War 1948. Osprey. p.25. ISBN 978-1-84176-372-9.

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A Shot Cal manoeuvres over the broken ground of the Golan Plateau. With its rugged Horstmann suspension, the Centurion was better suited to the difficult terrain of the Golan whereas the M-48/60 Magach series, with its torsion bar suspension but superior speed, was more suited to the sands of the Sinai Peninsula. Furthermore, the heavy frontal armour of the Centurion was deemed an asset in the defensive battle envisaged from the prepared positions along the Purple Line as well as for any offensive into Syria that would, perforce, be on a narrow axis. (IGPO) On the other side of the city divide were the Centurion Mk 5 tanks of C Squadron, 4th Royal Tank Regiment, acting as the Independent Tank Squadron of the Berlin Brigade.