Barak Armored Brigade
The Barak Brigade is one of the regular armored brigades
of the Northern Command. The Barak Brigade was formed before the establishment of the State of Israel, when it was
known as the Carmeli Brigade. It was then an infantry brigade which
fought in the north of Israel, from the Western Galilee to kibbutz Manara.
Today, the brigade's symbol is that of the Carmeli
brigade, which has been used since the brigade was established. After
the establishment of the State, all the independent Jewish fighting
units were dismantled, the IDF was created and the Carmeli brigade became the “18th Brigade.”
During the Sinai Campaign,
the brigade was deployed on the Jordanian border, and therefore did
not have an active role in the combat. One of the main conclusions after
the war was that the army needed armored units, and the 18th Brigade
started the changeover by becoming “the 45th Armored Brigade.”
The brigade commander, Moshe Bar-Kochba (Brill) commanded
the brigade in the Six Day War.
The brigade received the Eastern sector. The IDF took the initiative
to attack, in order to remove the threat of the Long Tom guns on the
valley settlements and on the Ramat David airfield. The brigade fought
a number of bloody battles in the Dotan Valley, which ended with the
blowing up of the Jordan river bridges.
At the start of the 1970s, the brigade participated
in armored attacks on terrorist bases in South Lebanon and Syria.
The experiences of the brigade during the Yom
Kippur War in 1973 were particularly difficult. At the time, the
Barak brigade was the only regular armored force on the Golan Heights.
In the light of intelligence reports, the 7th Armored Division was sent
to the Golan Heights two
days before the outbreak of hostilities. However, the 7th Division soldiers
were not familiar with the Golan
Heights. The two brigades were spread out is isolated teams along
the border line. The Barak brigade was responsible for the Southern Golan Heights sector. The
main Syrian efforts to break through the border was in the Southern Golan Heights area, and the
ratio of defenders to attackers forces was extremely unfavorable.
During the Yom
Kippur War, 112 soldiers from the Barak brigade were killed in action.
After the war the brigade rebuilt itself and later participated in the
Litani Campaign and other armored operations.
In the Peace
for Galilee War, the brigade led division forces into Lebanon.
This war was in built-up areas, hardly the typical combat arena for
armor. The brigade fought in the Beirut sector, and participated in
the capture of the airport. It then continued to fight in the eastern
sector in Lebanon. The brigade participated in all subsequent redeployments
stabilizing the lines in the Lebanese sector, and was among the last
forces to leave Lebanon.
Similar to the past, today the brigade is responsible
for defending the northern sector of the Golan
Heights and participates in ongoing security operations in Judea,
Samaria and Lebanon.
In recent years, the brigade has changed over from
the Centurion tank, which it used for an entire generation, to the ultramodern
Merkava Mark 3 main battle tank. This changeover to the best combat
tank in the world today has just been completed.
Sources: Israel Defense Forces |