8th Armored Brigade (Israel)

The 8th Armored Brigade (aka. "Shmone Brigade" and "8th Brigade" in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war) was an Israeli mechanized brigade headquartered near Jerusalem. It was the Israel Defense Forces' first brigade which possessed tanks, jeeps and armoured personnel carriers (APCs), whereas all other IDF units at the time were entirely infantry-based.

The brigade was called armored for moral reasons, although in reality it only had a single tank company (later in the war, two companies), and a single APC company (these companies became the brigade's armoured battalion), and an assault battalion composed of jeeps.

Following the 1948 war, the brigade served as the backbone of the IDF's armoured forces.

'Since no one in the brigade spoke both Russian and English,someone translated from Russian into Yiddish and then the Yiddish wastranslated into English. Despite this Tower of Babel of tongues, the Brigadetook part in Operation Danny (July 1948) on the central front, and in thedecisive battles on the southern front (Operations Yoav, Horev, TenPlagues, and Ayin). The 88th Mortar Battalion had some 30 volunteersfrom Switzerland, Holland, Britain, the U.S., South Africa, China, Brazil,France and the Belgian Congo, as well as a number of Machal mortar crewsfrom North African countries.'

List of Israeli military operations in which 8th Brigade participated

*Operation Danny
*Operation Yoav
*Operation Assaf
*Operation Horev

ee also

*List of Israeli military operations in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war

External links and references

*http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/arab-israeli/glossary.htm