When a single tank saved Israel

on binco's battlegrounds we often analyze and compare military weapons and equipment of various armed forces but even with the most sophisticated military hardware one man in the right place at the right time can change the course of a battle lieutenant v greengold also known as zvika is one such man a tank commander in the israeli defense forces fighting in one tank he held off the progress of an entire enemy brigade he did it by adapting clever hit and run tactics and by simply refusing to back down his actions during the yom kippur war not only helped turn the tide of battle for golan heights but might have even changed the course of the entire war so how did that happen [Music] armored formations and the air force can turn the tide of a war try it yourself in warpath a game sponsoring this video warpath combines the world war ii setting with real-time strategy gameplay ever wondered how you'd fare as a commander landing on normandy or defending moscow now you can try it out warpath models historical tanks guns planes and other toys the game's newest update focuses on the air force there are 42 new fighters and bombers to collect and modify the three-dimensional battlefield offers various strategies but i'd say it's crucial to achieve that synergy of your bombers above and your tanks mowing down the enemies below you can command units freely in warpath decide on routes and times of attack the new update offers horizontal screenplay and vast city construction options the game is completely free available on google play and app store and i'll bet you didn't expect this jean-claude van damme arrives to warpath with generous rewards find him in game to unlock your commanders and aircraft click on the link in the description to download the game use my code and you will get the gift pack of gold oil steel and army experience worth 10 dollars use those resources to kickstart yourself in the upcoming battles the yom kippur war began on october 6 1973 when a coalition of countries led by egypt and syria launched a surprise attack against israel to the south egyptian forces established a foothold on the eastern side of the suaz canal they intended to compel the israelis to return the sinai peninsula to egypt simultaneously syria launched an offensive in the north planning to recapture the strategically critical area of golan heights syrian offensive consisted of 1400 tanks and a thousand artillery pieces accompanied by the supporting airpower by comparison israeli defense forces had only two tank brigades in the area the 188th barak armored brigade with roughly 60 israeli centurions and shermans and 7th armored brigade with 110 tanks how is this monumental mismatch of forces possible there are several reasons for this first the coalition deliberately launched the attack on yom kippur the holiest day in judaism during which people pray and fast from dawn to dusk during yom kippur israeli forces typically underwent large-scale demobilization furthermore by the time the offensive began the syrian army had been fully mobilized for months this meant their attack liked early warning signs in addition while israeli leaders were acutely aware of syrian activity they didn't want to escalate tensions further they believed probably correctly that syrians would perceive any amassing of the idf troops at the border as a preparation for a preemptive strike finally israeli intelligence wrongly assumed that any syrian attack could be contained by the forces in the golan heights long enough for israel to mobilize its reserves syrian plan was to break through israeli lines using mechanized divisions supported by 900 tanks then additional 500 tanks would move in to retake the golan heights their forces split into two prongs while the northern one was contained by the idea of defense the southern one managed to break through two syrian infantry divisions accompanied by over 400 tanks attacked two israeli brigades which had 170 tanks between them vastly outnumbered israelis could merely try to slow down the enemy attack while awaiting reinforcements and that brings us to zvika gringold when the yom kippur war broke out then 21 year old lieutenant zv gringold was on leave when he saw combat jets flying and heard the air raid sirens he realized israel was under attack at the time greengold was stationed at the army base in afaq as a tank officer so he hitched a ride to the base only to learn there was almost no military equipment available there were two slightly damaged british-made centurion tanks he radioed the command requesting permission to engage the enemy with his so-called tank force greengold then assembled skeleton crews from soldiers in the base repaired the vehicles and loaded the ammunition he took command of the more damaged tank giving company commander haggai tur the better one around 9pm israeli forces in the area heard the radio report about zvika force being on the way nobody knew it consisted of just two damaged tanks the zika force headed into the night towards the syrian border along the so-called petroleum road after several hours of slow driving green gold and two encountered their first enemy tank possibly part of syrian forward recon following their training the israelis promptly drove their centurion tanks into hull down positions shifting their 105 millimeter guns towards the syrian t-55 green gold's gunner destroyed it but their radio unit was damaged during the fight cutting them off from others gringold decided to switch the tanks with hagai tour and told him to follow his lead however in the dark and without radio contact the second tank couldn't keep up soon enough greengold and his crew were utterly alone there are several things here we should keep in mind first just like many other tank men in israeli defense forces zwika gringold was well trained both the soldiers and the command were keenly aware israeli tanks would probably be outnumbered in any battle because of that their training stressed the importance of speed and precision of attacks gunnery training of israeli tank crews was better than of their syrian counterparts their goal was to destroy enemy tanks in a single shot whenever possible in addition greengold already had some experience in combat since he participated in raids in syria and lebanon secondly israeli forces were not only vastly outnumbered but somewhat outmatched as well syrian tanks utilized sophisticated soviet night vision equipment that gave them a distinct advantage against israelis who had none on their tanks israeli centurions had a big and powerful gun but it was still not assured it could punch through t62's armor it did offer a much faster firing rate though centurion was well armored against the t-55s but not necessarily so against the more powerful gun on the t62s luckily most syrian tanks were indeed t-55s and not the more powerful t-62s finally israeli tanks couldn't rely on their air force's air support syrian command knew the idf utilized its combat jets like a4 skyhawks and f4 phantoms to help ground troops negate the enemy's superior numbers but the knight attack meant israel could not find any ground targets syrians also used soviet-made enter aircraft systems to thin out the israeli jets leaving their armored units mostly on their own even though he was isolated and separated gringold had an easier time spotting a moving enemy and attacked a column of syrian tanks allegedly with just three shots he hit three syrian t-55s he then shifted the position of his vehicle and within minutes hit another three tanks soon afterwards greengold spotted the lights of an incoming syrian unit advancing through the highlands it was the 452nd tank battalion under major ismail greengold reported this to his superiors by radio his superior officer colonel yitzhak ben shaham of the 188th brigade was at the time convinced the zvika force was considerably more powerful than it was the command wanted to know how many enemy vehicles there were compared to the strength of the zvika force however gringold couldn't tell them that he was aware syrians were most likely intercepting israeli radio communication they were using israeli radio chatter to locate their units and strike at them with artillery fire because of this green gold had to be vague and keep communication down to a minimum while the syrian column advanced with their lights turned on gringold waited in the dark until the first enemy tank was a mere 20 meters away before firing by deliberately attacking the first vehicle he forced the entire column to halt its progress for the next hour or so his lone centurion tank harried the immobilized syrians greengold ordered his driver to use the terrain to their advantage the tank would fire its gun then drive behind the mount to prevent exposure it would attack retreat into darkness shift location and then attack again at one point gringold's tank was driving backwards along the flank of the syrian column firing at close range while dodging enemy shells hoping to target their attacker easier sirians turned on their tank searchlights instead this only made them more vulnerable all this maneuvering paid off not only did gringold and his crew destroyed some 10 enemy tanks but they also convinced syrians they were ambushed by an entire tank company the commander ordered forces to temporarily halt their advance and deal with the israelis in the morning this gave the idf additional time to bring their reserves to the front and try to stop the syrian offensive meanwhile greengold's tank withdrew into darkness and disappeared but this time it was around midnight and gringold superior officers were acutely aware of the massive scale of an attack towards their base in afaq in response they ordered the zvika force to join lieutenant colonel uzi moore and his reserves around eight tanks their objective was to help relieve the brigade headquarters at nafak they joined forces around 2 am but their lock soon ran out in the darkness their unit encountered a large syrian tank force equipped with soviet-made t62s these not only had night vision equipment but were superior to older t-55s with slightly better armor but also a better gun stabilization and a more powerful 115 millimeter smoothbore gun first israeli centurion was promptly hit and caught fire as gringold ordered another tank to help him rescue the crew of the stricken vehicle his tank was hit as well gringold and his gunner escaped with their uniforms on fire suffering burns their driver was killed while lieutenant colonel moore was severely wounded gringold momentarily lost consciousness but then managed to take control of the nearest undamaged centurion he relocated as colonel ben shaham ordered him by radio to hold the position on the petroleum road two other tanks took the wounded back to the base at dawn zvika force once again received reinforcements a hastily assembled reserve force and led by colonel david israeli deputy commander of the 188th brigade 14 israeli tanks were facing an entire syrian armored brigade consisting of approximately 100 tanks and 40 armored personnel carriers the battle began at a distance of 1400 meters centurion's gun precision and idf training gave some advantage to the israelis in such long range engagements syrians used soviet-made sagar guided missiles that greengold had some previous experience with using radio he began issuing instructions to other tank commanders on how best to avoid getting hit but this was merely a faint while syrian tanks battled the zvika force more syrian units went around them their objective was to attack the nearby crossroads at nafek and the base green gold left from last evening their plan almost succeeded two syrian tank companies reached the base in nafek where there were no armored vehicles to stop them at one point officers began issuing weapons to office staff the only other forces left were two trackless centurions and several soldiers with anti-tank missile launchers in response the remains of the zvika force withdrew to help defend the fact one syrian t-55 crashed into the headquarters building only to be destroyed by green gold's tank the command sent out scouts and learned there was a single tank in the base fighting syrians gringold's actions weren't in vain he and other defenders bought the idf just enough time to bring in some of the reserves when syrians found themselves suddenly attacked from several directions at once they assumed they fell into an ambush and began retreating according to gringold himself this is what decided the battle for the golan heights it was around this point that zvika gringold finally broke down after spending over 24 hours in combat during which he changed his tanks several times he was burned wounded and tired during a lull in the fighting gringold climbed out of his tank saying i can't go on anymore he was instantly taken to medical care as gringold later explained in an interview at that moment he felt as if the israeli army had reached the end of the road zvika felt alone with just one tank to stop the enemy invasion but that's all it took while zwika's story is exceptional he wasn't the only hero that day in those first 24 hours of the yom kippur war groups of israeli tanks desperately attacked superior enemy forces hoping to halt their advance major baruch lengthner led the tank unit against syrian forces remaining in battle even when he was the only one left the aforementioned lieutenant colonel israeli and colonel ben shaham of the 188th brigade destroyed some 20 enemy tanks between them when israeli centurion ran out of ammunition it deliberately rammed the enemy t-62 attacking ben shaham's tank all these officers were killed in combat the battle raged for several days both sides knew time was working against them syrians fought to retake the golan heights before israelis sent in even more reinforcements israelis struggled to hold them off syrians obliterated the 188th brigade the 7th brigade was down to 6 tanks then as israelis began reinforcing their defenses the syrian offensive broke down and stopped they fought non-stop for three days straight the syrians didn't realize how close they were to victory before long the idf stabilized the front by october 11th the israelis not only pushed the syrians back but launched a counter-offensive into syria on october 23rd the united nations sanctioned ceasefire came into effect lieutenant zv greengold was awarded the medal of valor the highest military decoration in israel beside him only seven other people received it for their acts during the yom kippur war some sources claimed greengold took out 40 or even 60 enemy tanks gringold himself estimates he hit and neutralized around 20 armored vehicles despite the final number of actually destroyed tanks which may never be precisely known he single-handedly helped to turn the tide of war demonstrating that the right person in the right place at the right time can change the course of a battle nevertheless even though israel won the yom kippur war israeli victory was a bitter one between 2500 and 2800 soldiers died somewhere between seven thousand and nine thousand soldiers were wounded the idf lost approximately a thousand tanks and at least a hundred airplanes and yet if it wasn't for soldiers like zvika gringold the war could have ended much worse for israel and remember binkov may talk about hypothetical wars but only real peace can bring us all together [Music]

Channel: Binkov's Battlegrounds

Views: 227,097

Rating: 4.8826842 out of 5

Keywords: Zvika Greengold, Yom Kippur War, United Arab Republic, Israel Defense Forces, Centurion, T-55, T-62, Centurion tank, Skyhawk, A-4 Skyhawk, IDF

Id: GwJ4zk_t-Z4

Length: 17min 58sec (1078 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 03 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/TheKlorg]

You matter

[u/yuvalbeery]

Zvika force was faked. Gringold did take down many tanks but not as much as he says