Israel Valley

Israel Valley (1970)

Israel Tal (* 13. September 1924 in Kibbutz Mahanaim ( Galilee ), † 8. September 2010 in Rehovot ), also known as Talik was an Israeli Major General ( Aluf ), military theorist, and leader of the development team of the Merkava - battle tank .

Life

Israel Tal began his career in a machine gun unit in the British Army during World War II . There he achieved the rank of sergeant .

After the establishment of the State of Israel , he joined the Israel Defense Forces . In the Suez Crisis he served as a brigade commander . Tal worked out the Israeli tank war doctrine, which was to determine the success of the Israeli armed forces in the following wars. In the Six Day War he led the northernmost of the three tank divisions on the Sinai Peninsula . This advanced through the Gaza Strip . In the final stages of the Yom Kippur War he was in command of the southern front. For a while he negotiated with the Egyptians at 101 km (101 km from Cairo ).

After the Six Day War it became apparent that the relatively small Israel could not afford massive losses, and so in 1970, under the direction of Israel Tal, the development of a tank began that paid special attention to the protection of the crew, but at the same time had strong firepower. of the Merkava . The Israeli military leadership also recognized that they had to make themselves independent of the arms and spare parts deliveries from the Allied states.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ according to the newsletter of the Embassy of the State of Israel of September 13, 2010
2. ↑ http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=187548

Web links

Commons : Israel Tal  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Dominik Peters, Israel Tal: Death of a Tinkerer , zenithonline.de from September 11, 2010 , accessed on September 12, 2010
• Appreciation on yadlashiryon.com with many photos (hebr.)