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

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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) The T-55/59 is used during the Sri Lankan civil war and to crush the Tamil Tigers in the final battles of May 2009. Prior to the Yom Kippur War of 1973 Israel and her Middle East neighbours had engaged in a number of conflicts. In many cases armour had been the key to the decisive battles and in the decades prior to 1973 there had been a protracted arms race throughout the region fuelled by the Cold War. Immediately before Second ArabIsraeli War of 1956, the Israeli Armored Corps (IAC) was painfully aware of the limitations of its principal tank, the M-4 Sherman. This was exacerbated by the massive arms deal of 1954 between Egypt and the Soviet Union that saw numerous AFVs being introduced into the inventory of the Egyptian army. Among them was the powerful IS-3M that could not be penetrated by the IAC’s most numerous tank, the standard M4A1 armed with a 76.2mm gun that was known as the M-1 Sherman in Israeli service. As soon as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) learnt of the Soviet arms deal, they approached the French for a means to up-gun the M-1 in a similar manner as the Sherman Firefly of World War II fame. By 1955, a prototype vehicle was produced by the Atelier de Bourges arsenal. It mounted the French CN 75-50 75mm gun, as fitted to the AMX-13, in a heavily modified Sherman turret on an M4A4 chassis. A modification programme began during early 1956 in Israel: it was to be the birth of a fledgling Israeli tank industry. The first new M-50 Sherman was delivered to Company Bet of the 82nd Tank Battalion of 7th Armored Brigade for user trials and it saw combat during Operation Kadesh in the Sinai. The M-50 also equipped two tank companies of the 27th Reserve Armored Brigade during the assault on the Gaza Strip on 1 November 1956.

The first Centurion model featured a turret with a cast front and welded rear with an independent machine gun beside the 17-pounder main armament. Six prototypes of Centurion arrived in Germany in May 1945 but too late to see action. The T-54/59 sees extensive combat in South East Asia in Laos, South Vietnam, Cambodia and during the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979. Commander’s sight Turret traverse handle Gunner’s sight Gun control equipment Breech of D-10T2S 100mm main armamentThe surprise of the Yom Kippur War, and its aftermath completely changed the IDF's procedures and approach to warfare. Organizational changes were made [ by whom?] and more time was dedicated to training for conventional warfare. The armoured forces also were involved in the Lebanese Civil War, Operation Litani and later the 1982 Lebanon War, where the IDF ousted Palestinian guerilla organizations from Lebanon.

Roislien, Hanne Eggen (2013). "Religion and Military Conscription: The Case of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)". Armed Forces & Society. 39 (3): 213–232. doi: 10.1177/0095327X12449429. S2CID 144226866. In 1943, the Directorate of Tank Design, under Sir Claude Gibb, was asked to produce a new design for a heavy cruiser tank under the General Staff designation A41. After a series of fairly mediocre designs in the A series in the past, and bearing in mind the threat posed by the German 88 mm gun, the War Office demanded a major revision of the design requirements, specifically: increased durability and reliability, the ability to withstand a direct hit from the German 88mm gun and providing greater protection against mines. Initially in September 1943 the A41 tank was to weigh no more than 40 long tons (45 short tons; 41t), the limit for existing Mark I and Mark II transport trailers and for a Bailey bridge of 80ft (24m) span. The British railway loading gauge required that the width should not exceed 10ft 8in (3.25m) and the optimum width was 10ft 3in (3.12m), [15] but, critically, for the new tank this restriction had been lifted by the War Office under pressure from the Department of Tank Design. A high top speed was not important, while agility was to be equal to that of the Comet. A high reverse speed was specified, as during the fighting in southern Italy, Allied tanks were trapped in narrow sunken roads by the German Army. The modified production gearbox had a two-speed reverse, with the higher reverse speed similar to second gear. [16] [17] 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 Within the framework of creating Jewish territorial continuity according to Plan Dalet, the forces of Haganah, Palmach and Irgun moved to consolidate areas with Jewish populations as the British had essentially withdrawn their troops.

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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] Yoav Gelber (1 January 2006). Palestine 1948: War, Escape and the Emergence of the Palestinian Refugee Problem. Sussex Academic Press. p.138. ISBN 978-1-84519-075-0 . Retrieved 14 July 2013. A war between Israel and the Arab States broke out immediately, and the Arab armies invaded Palestine. Gun recuperators 7. Coaxial machine gun 8. NBC filtration system 9. Breech opening lever 10.Turret traverse indicator Perhaps the Centurion’s greatest strength was something common to all great war machines: an amazing degree of adaptability. “It was its ability to be updated with changing technology which really kept the Centurion as a gun tank in service for so long,” Wheeler says.

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)Staff Writer (16 February 2012), The Centurion Sho't of Israel - Centurion (A41) - Main Battle Tank, militaryfactory.com , retrieved 23 December 2012 Hundreds of T-54/55 tanks have been used in the countless wars that have ravaged the continent of Africa to this day, from Angola to Sudan and from Ethiopia to Eritrea. This T-55A(M) was sold by Ukraine to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2006 and is being prepared for action on 26 October 2008 against the renegade forces of Laurent Nkunda that had captured the village of Rugari, some 40 kilometres north of the provincial capital of Goma. (Getty Images)