401st Brigade (IDF)

401st Brigade (Hebrew: חטיבת עקבות הברזל Hat'ivat I'kvot Ha'Barzel "Iron Trails Brigade") is an Armored Brigade in the 162nd Army Division of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

History

This is the newest brigade in the IDF, established in 1968, so it has relatively little history. It took its current form in 1985.

War of Attrition

The brigade was formed by expanding and splitting the 14th Armored Brigade together with which they held the 160 kilometer long Suez Canal defensive line in Sinai. The brigade was the first to be equipped with American "Patton" M60 tanks.

Yom Kippur War

Similarly to the 188th Brigade on the Golan heights the Brigade fell victim to the shortsighted doctrine of the IDF and suffered terrible losses in the early days of the war. the 195th battalion אדם Adam belonged to the brigade in the war.

eventies

The brigade was re-formed and returned to Sinai to continue its existence in much the same manner as it did before the war, partaking in the evacuation of Sinai under the Camp David peace agreement with Egypt, moving to the lower Jordan Valley

Operation "Peace for the Galilee"/ Lebanon War

In the war the brigade took part as a part of the Eastern Corps through the Lebanon ridge, one of the brigade's battalions took part in the Sultan Yaakub engagement, making it all the way to the Beirut-Damascus highway.

Eighties and Nineties

The Brigade alternated between varied infantry missions in the West Bank, mainly in the Jordan Valley, with tank missions in the Security Zone in south Lebanon.

Current status

As of September 2004 the brigade is in the Israeli occupied territories, doing mostly infantry duty, after re-equipping to the modern Merkava Mk.4 tanks.

Units

* 9th "Eshet" Armor Battalion (Merkava Mk.4)
* 46th "Shelah" Armor Battalion (Merkava Mk.4)
* 52nd "Ha-Bok'im"/"The Breachers" Armor Battalion (Merkava Mk.4)
* 601st "Asaf" Armored Engineer Battalion
* Sayeret 401 Armored Reconnaissance Company
* Anti-Tank Guided Missile Company

Unit History

Original Units: 46th and 195th armored battalions, 52nd and 34th infantry battalions, which later where upgraded to armored. After the war, the 34th battalion was disbanded, re-established in 1988 as an anti-tank battalion, later renumbered 94th and named Duchifat ( _he. דוכיפת - hoopoe) and designated mechanized infantry, in 2002 it was returned to the brigade, and in 2005 the battalion was transferred to the "Judea and Samaria Area Division".

In 1981 195th battalion was transferred to the 500th armored brigade.

In 1982 the 9th battalion was transferred to the brigade.