The

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i Armored Corps (, ''Heil HaShiryon'') is a corps of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

that, since 1998, has been subordinate to

GOC Army Headquarters The GOC Army Headquarters (, ''Mifkedet Zro'a HaYabasha'', abbreviated Mazi), is a multi-corps command headquarters of the Ground Forces of the Israel Defense Forces. The current size of the Israeli Ground Forces is estimated at 126,000 active ...

. The Armored Corps is the principal maneuvering corps, and primarily bases its strength on

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

s. The

Armored Corps An armoured corps (also mechanized corps or tank corps) is a specialized military organization whose role is to conduct armoured warfare. The units belonging to an armoured corps include military staff, and are equipped with tanks and other armou ...

is the decisive corps in GOC Army Headquarters, and bases its power on a combination of mobility, armor, and firepower. During wars, its primary role is to lead the first line of the attacking forces and to clear the area of the enemy. Secondarily, it blocks the armor forces of the enemy and seeks to destroy its tanks and armor. During peacetime, it reinforces the

Infantry Corps Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

while it performs security tasks, with the tanks serving as mobile

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

Armored Corps' role

The Armored Corps are the decisive part of Israel's Ground Forces. The main elements it uses to make crucial blows are

Mobility Mobility may refer to: Social sciences and humanities * Economic mobility, ability of individuals or families to improve their economic status * Geographic mobility, the measure of how populations and goods move over time * Mobilities, a conte ...

Durability Durability is the ability of a physical product to remain functional, without requiring excessive maintenance or repair, when faced with the challenges of normal operation over its design lifetime. There are several measures of durability in us ...

and Fire Power. The corps mostly operate

Main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

s but also

Mobile Infantry Mobile infantry refers to infantry that has superior mobility to traditional infantry, the latter being expected to march into battle. Mobile infantry, on the other hand, is better equipped with vehicles for transportation to and on the battlefiel ...

and Mobile Armor support. In wars there are two objectives that the armored corps are designated to accomplish. # Lead the way for the infantry in the front line, and help clear the area of enemy troops. # Block the enemy's armored forces and destroy it. In times of peace, the armored corps provide support for the infantry corps in the continuous-Security tasks such as prevention of underground activity or

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

gathering. The Tanks are used as Mobile outposts for the infantry.

Assembly

The Israeli Armored Corps were assembled during the War of Independence. The corps started from the Armored Service, the

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...

's armored unit, that was established on February 24, 1948. Yitzhak Sade was appointed as the head of the unit. On May 24, 1948, the first armored brigade of the IDF was announced, The 8th Brigade. The personnel were recruited from various places such as the

British army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and other allied countries' militaries, members of the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

, the Palmach, and other resistance movements. The corps consisted of ten obsolete Hotchkiss tanks from France, two

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially a ...

tanks stolen from the British Army, and a single

Sherman Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a World War II American tank S ...

tank stolen from the British Army. Later in the war, additional Sherman tanks were purchased from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Two of them participated in

Operation Horev Operation Horev was a large-scale offensive against the Egyptian army in the Western Negev towards the end of the Arab–Israeli War in 1948 and 1949. Its objective was to entrap the Egyptian Army in the Gaza Strip. The operation took place from ...

in December 1948.

Active armored brigades

The following list contains the currently active armored brigades: * 7thArmoredBrigade

7th Armored Brigade "Saar me-Golan" * Hativa188

188th Armored Brigade "Barak" * 401st Armored Brigade "I'kvot ha-Barzel" * 460th Armored Brigade "Bnei Or" (Training)

Unit histories

* 36th Division "Ga'ash": the division is stationed on the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

under Northern Command. ** 7th Armored Brigade "Saar me-Golan": the brigade was he first IDF armored brigade and has participated in all of Israel's wars. The brigade's fighting during the

Suez War The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

resulted in a breakthrough in how the army approached the character of armored warfare. , the brigade is transitioning from Merkava 2 tanks to Merkava 4 tanks. ** 188th Armored Brigade "Barak": beginning with the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, the brigade participated in all of Israel's wars. During the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

, the brigade was the first line of defense in the first days of the war in the Southern

Golan Golan (; ) is the name of a biblical town later known from the works of Josephus (first century CE) and Eusebius (''Onomasticon'', early 4th century CE). Archaeologists localize the biblical city of Golan at Sahm el-Jaulān, a Syrian village eas ...

, and saw almost all of its officers killed in action. It was the last armored brigade to use the

Centurion tank The FV4007 Centurion was the primary main battle tank of the British Army during the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing comba ...

, converting to Merkava 3 tanks in 1992, later completing their conversion to Merkava Mark 4M-400 in July 2019. * 162nd Division "Ha-Plada": the division is assigned to Southern Command. ** 401st Armored Brigade "I'kvot ha-Barzel": the brigade was formed in 1968 in order to control the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

line. During the Yom Kippur War, it faced the first line of attack in the canal and suffered heavy losses. During the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...

, it fought in the Southern force—one of its battalions participated in the Sultan Yaakov battle. During 2004–05, the brigade's

Magach Magach (, , " battering-ram") is the designation of a series of tanks in Israeli service. The tanks are based on the American M48 and M60 tanks. The name continued to be used for all M48/M60 tanks. Magach 1, 2, 3, and 5 are based on M48 series ...

tanks were replaced by Merkava 4 tanks. * 460th Armored Brigade "Bnei Or": the brigade is the training brigade of the Armored Corps. It maintains two bases: the ''Shizafon'' training base—the school for the corps' commanders, where the officers and tank commanders are instructed, as well as basic training for all brigades, and advanced training for the 401st and 7th brigades — and Camp ''Magen-Sayarim'', which is shared with the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps and Border Defense Corp as grounds for the advanced training for soldiers of the 188th Brigade. As an added footnote - Sayarim used to be the Armored Corp base for basic training for Armored Corpsmen. Advanced training was received in specific designated companies in active battalions under the operational brigades. Around 2004, advanced training was moved to Shizafon, whereafter basic training was also gradually moved to Shizafon. After the creation and later disbanding of in 2021 of the Mesaya'at fire support and reconnaissance training battalion and operational companies in active battalions, the advanced training of the 188th brigade was moved to Sayarim, where it remains, per 2022. Plans are discussed for the re-integration of the 188th advanced training to Shizafon, and of all advanced training returning to active battalions.

Reserve armored brigades

The following list contains the reserve armored brigades as of 2024: *

4th Armored Brigade "Kiryati" Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

8th Armored Brigade "HaZaken" * HarelBrigade

10th Armored Brigade "Harel" * Brigade 14 sign

14th Armored Brigade "Machatz" *

179th Armored Brigade "Re'em" * Logo hativa 514

205th Armored Brigade "Egrof HaBarzel" *

679th Armored Brigade "Yiftach"

Unit histories

* 252nd Division "Sinai", the division is assigned to Southern Command: ** 10th Armored Brigade "Harel": the brigade was established as a division of the Palmach on 16 April 1948, immediately after Operation Nachshon.

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

was appointed as its first commander. During the Suez Crisis (Kadesh Operation) in 1956, the brigade fought as an infantry brigade commanded by Shmuel Gudar. In 1959, the brigade was made into a reserve unit of the Armored Corps. In the

, the brigade fought in the battles for

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

under the command of Uri Ben Ari. Today, the brigade is part of Uzvat Amud ha-Esh ("Pillar of Fire"). ** 14th Armored Brigade "Machatz"': the brigade was active during the

War of Attrition The War of Attrition (; ) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from 1967 to 1970. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, no serious diplomatic efforts were made to resolve t ...

when it split to provide the basis for the 401st Armoured Brigade. During the

, it was initially an armored reserve supporting the infantry brigades holding the Bar-Lev Line. It suffered terrible casualties during the war but was rebuilt afterwards.

Selection and training

All recruits must have a minimum Medical Profile of 72. Cadets first undergo eight weeks of basic training, which is classed as Rifleman 04 level in the

Tironut Tironut () is the Hebrew term for the recruit training of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). There are different levels of recruit training, and each corps or major unit has their own training program. Upon completing tironut, non-combat recruits ...

system. They train in light weapons, field training, first aid, and physical fitness. Following the end of basic training, the cadets train for six weeks in one of three specialties: gunner, loader, and driver. They engage in theoretical and practical exercises during this period. After completing this training, the cadets are granted their beret and move on to complete 10 weeks of exercises, during which they practice engaging in combat and functioning as tank crews. At the end of the course, some soldiers are selected to attend the tank commander's course. The tank commander's course lasts about three and a half months. Cadets train in the two other specialties that they did not train in earlier, and in the principles of command, control, navigation, and assessment of situations. At the end of the course, exceptional soldiers are offered the opportunity to attend the officer's course, which lasts 7 months, where they learn to command an armored platoon in close cooperation with other field units. After Armored Corps soldiers complete their active service, they are moved into reserve units. Active reservists in the Armor Corps attend training exercises once a year.Lappin, Yaakov.

Disbanded units

211th Brigade Also known as the ''Yishai'' (acronym for "Guardians of Jerusalem Unit"), during the Lebanon War of 1982, it was famously led by Colonel Eli Geva, who, during the

Siege of Beirut During the 1982 Lebanon War, the city of Beirut was besieged by Israel following the breakdown of the ceasefire that had been imposed by the United Nations amidst the Lebanese Civil War. Beginning in mid-June, the two-month-long siege resulted in ...

, refused to lead his soldiers into the city for moral reasons. He was dismissed from the army. The brigade was dissolved in the early 1990s. *

500th Brigade The Israeli Armor Corps 500 Brigade, also known as the Kfir (Young Lion) Formation, was a regular-service armoured tank brigade that existed from 1972 to 2003. It was originally composed of three battalions: the Romach (429), Se'ara (430), and ...

Also known as the ''Kfir'' ("Young Lion") Formation, this was a regular armor brigade that operated from 1972 until 2003. During the Yom Kippur War, it participated in the Battle of Suez. During the Lebanon War of 1982, it fought in the framework of the Eastern force and participated in the Eyn Zhalata battle. In 2003, due to changes in the IDF structure, and the lessening of the threat from the eastern front, due to the US war in Iraq, the brigade was dissolved.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Nationstate armoured warfare branches Corps of Israel Military units and formations established in 1948

Armored Corps' role

Assembly

Active armored brigades

Unit histories

Reserve armored brigades

Unit histories

Selection and training

Disbanded units

See also

References