Tanks of the Early IDF

Written by Tom Gannon

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This book looks at examples of the first tank types to enter Israeli service.

Modern-day Israel’s fight for independence began at the end of November 1947, after the UN issued its ‘UN Partition Resolution for Palestine’ and continued well beyond its actual Declaration of Independence in May 1948. Knowing that there was a danger of invasion by multiple neighboring countries, efforts to obtain weapons spread to various places around the world, plus Jewish forces took advantage of opportunities to do so locally.

This volume deals with the first tanks used by Haganah/PALMACH and the newly established TZAHAL (IDF or Israel Defense Force). These include the vehicles described here: Hotchkiss H39, Renault R35, Cromwell and Sherman.

As with nearly all weapons acquisitions in the Yishuv/Israel, improvisation and creativity was the name
of the game, and those efforts are honored with monuments all over the country.