Sheet

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scho't Kal
Scho't Kal Gimel in the memorial of the Israeli tank force Yad la-Shiryon near Latrun.

Scho't Kal Gimel in the memorial of the Israeli tank force Yad la-Shiryon near Latrun .
General properties
crew 4 (driver, commander, gunner, loader)
length 7.84 m
width 3.38 m
height 2.94 m
Dimensions 53 t
Armor and armament
Main armament 105mm L7 cannon
Secondary armament 1 × 7.62 mm blind MG, MG mounts on the turret
agility
drive Diesel engine Teledyne Continental AVD-S-1790-2A with automatic transmission Allison CD-850-6A1
550 kW
Top speed 50 km / h
Power / weight
Range 500 km
Centurion at a military parade in Tel Aviv , 1965
Nagmascho't
Nagmachon
Nakpadon
puma

Scho't ( Hebrew שוטGerman "whip") is the Israeli version of the British Centurion main battle tank.

development

To complement the outdated Sherman and light AMX 13 , the Israeli government initially bought 60 Centurion tanks in Great Britain in 1959. The negotiations had already started in 1955, but dragged on because of political considerations for the Arab states and doubts about the solvency of Israel. There were 16 Mk. 5 from stocks of the British Army and 44 newly built Mk. 8. The Mk. 5 still had an 83.3 mm cannon, the Mk. 8 already had the 105 mm L7 cannon . Between April 1959 and October 1962 Israel received 135 Centurions Mk. 5. Due to three orders in the years from 1965 onwards, Great Britain delivered another 250 Centurions, of which 190 were used Mk. 5 and 60 were new Mk. 6. This grew until the outbreak of the Six Day War the Israeli stock at 385 centurions. They made up the most important part of the tank fleet, ahead of the 250 copies of the M48 from US production. 293 of the 385 available tanks took part in the war. In the war against Jordan, 30 of the 44 Jordanian centurions were captured. The total number of Centurions purchased by Israel, including decommissioned specimens from South Africa and the Netherlands , is estimated at 1,080.

The Israeli tank force initially had significant difficulties with the type. He proved to be prone to failure. The heat often caused the engine to fail. The problems were eliminated by better training of the soldiers and by stronger engine cooling. The renovations in the years 1967 to 1970 eliminated several other weaknesses of the Centurion. The Scho't received a diesel engine with automatic transmission and larger tanks instead of the original gasoline engine. This increased the range fivefold on one tank of fuel to around 500 km. The Teledyne Continental AVD-S-1790-2A was also built into the Israeli M48. In addition, all Centurions have been upgraded to the 105 mm cannon, the armor reinforced, the fire control system and the fire extinguishing system modernized and the storage space for the grenades optimized. In the armored forces, the name Scho't (Hebrew for whip ) prevailed for the modernized Centurion , although this was initially not an official name.

The purchase of the Centurion in large numbers corresponded to the Israeli doctrine of tank warfare as developed by the commander of the armored forces, Israel Tal . The armies of NATO and the Warsaw Pact relied on battle tanks, in which mobility was more important than armor protection , based on the experience of World War II . On the other hand, the Israeli army was preparing for a war in which the relatively slow Centurions, superior in armor and firepower, were to break through the heavily defended Arab positions and advance deep into enemy territory. The Centurion's strong armor was also intended to protect the lives of the soldiers, as Israel, with its small population, could muster relatively few tank crews. In addition, the played for the Israeli planners combined arms combat , not matter because the army the needed armored personnel carriers , self-propelled guns were missing and other armored vehicles. Instead, the battle tanks should single-handedly decide the battle.

A number of Scho't variants are exhibited in Yad LaShiryon, the memorial of the tank troops of the Israeli army near Latrun .

Versions

  • Scho't Meteor : Centurion Mk 5 with the original Rolls-Royce Meteor engine.
  • Scho't Kal Alef : First modernized version with a 105 mm cannon and diesel engine. To save space, the engine compartment was increased. In addition, the commander's cupola and the support cage on the tower were modified.
  • Scho't Kal Bet : Reinforced armor and other improvements.
  • Scho't Kal Gimel : reactive armor on the bow and sides of the tower. New fire control system.
  • Scho't Kal Dalet : Laser distance measuring device, thermal protection cover for the on-board cannon.

Calls

When border battles with Syrian troops flared up again and again in the mid-1960s , the Centurions improved the firepower of the Israeli army. With the 105 mm cannon, the new tanks had a long-range gun, and thanks to their positive elevation range, they could aim it at the Syrian positions on the Golan Heights . Thanks to the long range of the cannon, the Centurion destroyed a number of construction vehicles that were supposed to interrupt the water flow of the Sea of ​​Galilee . The Syrians then gave up on the project.

During the Six Day War , the Centurions were used to fight the Egyptian troops in the conquest of the Sinai Peninsula . The best tank unit in the Israeli army, the 7th Brigade, had 58 Centurions and 66 M48s at the beginning of the fighting. It advanced from the Gaza Strip parallel to the Mediterranean Sea to the Suez Canal . Farther south, nine centurions blocked the Mitla Pass , four of which had to be dragged to their destination by the others due to lack of fuel, the bottleneck for three retreating Egyptian divisions .

During the Yom Kippur War , the 1260 Syrian tanks faced 177 Scho't. In the decisive battle on the Golan Heights in the so-called Valley of Tears, the Israeli armored forces destroyed 260 Syrian tanks. The Sho't benefited from the negative elevation range, as they could fire from partially covered positions down from hills at the Syrian T-55 , whose positive elevation range was insufficient to return fire. The units equipped with Scho't were deployed on the Golan Heights, as their hard suspension and pure steel chains made them better suited for rocky terrain than the M48 and M60 that fought on the Sinai.

Reactive armor proved itself particularly in the 1982 Lebanon War against anti-tank rifles and anti-tank guided weapons . With the arms deliveries from the USA after the Yom Kippur War and the commissioning of the Merkava , the share of the Sho't in the Israeli main battle tank stock decreased continuously until they were completely retired in 1992.

Conversions based on Scho't / Centurion

  • Nagmascho't

In 1989, a heavily armored armed was armored personnel carrier under the name Nagmascho't introduced. The turret of the Scho't tank was removed and the hull provided with additional armor.

The Nagmachon is a further development of the Nagmascho't. An engine with smaller dimensions was installed so that access to the vehicle interior is possible via the rear. Instead of the armored turret, a rotating armored cabin was added through which infantry fighting can be conducted.

  • Nakpadon

The Nakpadon is a further development of the Nagmachon. It is equipped with additional armor on the underside of the hull and the 900 hp engine of the Merkava Mk 1 . It was also reactive armor installed.

  • puma

On the basis of the Nagmascho't a vehicle was developed for the Israeli pioneer troop , which was named Puma. Its crew consists of three soldiers, eight engineers can be transported. With the name "Puma carpet" the variant is referred to as a mine clearance tank.

Web links

Commons : Centurion tanks including Scho't variants  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

literature

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bill Munro: The Centurion Tank. Crowood Press, Ramsbary 2005, ISBN 1-86126-701-0 , p. 142.
  2. ^ Bill Munro: The Centurion Tank. Crowood Press, Ramsbary 2005, ISBN 1-86126-701-0 , pp. 138-144.
  3. ↑ Richard Ogórkiewicz: tanks. 100 Years of Evolution. Osprey, Oxford 2015, ISBN 978-1-4728-2981-8 , pp. 244ff.
  4. ^ Bill Munro: The Centurion Tank. Crowood Press, Ramsbary 2005, ISBN 1-86126-701-0 , p. 144.
  5. ↑ Simon Dunstan: Centurion Universal Tank. Osprey, Oxford 2003, ISBN 1-84176-387-X , p. 40.
  6. ↑ globalsecurity.org
  7. ↑ George W. Gawrych: Key to the Sinai: The Battles for Abu Ageila in the 1956 and 1967 Arab-Israeli Wars , US Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-6900, undated.
  8. ^ Martin van Creveld : The Sword and the Olive. A Critical History of the Israel Defense Force. Public Affairs, New York 2002, ISBN 978-1-58648-155-1 , pp. 159 ff.
  9. ↑ https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/modern/Israel/Shot-MBT.php
  10. ^ Martin van Creveld : The Sword and the Olive. A Critical History of the Israel Defense Force. Public Affairs, New York 2002, ISBN 978-1-58648-155-1 , pp. 171 f.
  11. ↑ David Eshel: Chariots of the Desert. The Story of the Israeli Armored Corps , Brassey's Defense Publishers, London et al. 1989, ISBN 0-08-036257-5 , p. 54
  12. ↑ Michael Oren: Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Presidio Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-345-46192-6 , pp. 179 ff, 256.
  13. ^ Abraham Rabinovich: Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East. Schocken Books, New York 2017, ISBN 978-0-8052-1124-5 .
  14. ↑ Simon Dunstan: Centurion Universal Tank. Osprey, Oxford 2003, ISBN 1-84176-387-X , pp. 40f.
  15. ↑ Richard Ogórkiewicz: tanks. 100 Years of Evolution. Osprey, Oxford 2015, ISBN 978-1-4728-2981-8 , p. 246.
  16. ↑ globalsecurity.org
  17. ↑ globalsecurity.org
  18. ↑ globalsecurity.org
  19. ^ Bill Munro: The Centurion Tank. Crowood Press, Ramsbary 2005, ISBN 1-86126-701-0 , pp. 143f.