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דע ותמונות רבות על טנק המרכבה
     Merkava 4 BAZ

      Current series 2007 - 2012 Merkava Mk4 BAZ displayed on Mt. Carmel
    Legend of 'Talik'
          For this story we have to begin way back in the early 1960's. On November 1, 1964 to be exact there was a number of senior
          personnel changes in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) by the then IDF Commanding General Yitzak Rabin by appointing Brig
          Gen David Elazar as OC or Operational Commander, for the entire Northern Frontier facing Lebanon as well as Syria and the
          Golan Heights. And to replace Gen Elazar was then promoted Colonel Israel Tal newly assigned IDF Armor Commander.

          That position was "Operational Commander of the Israel Tank Corps." Earlier January, the first Arab summit was held in Cairo
          and it was then decided that all 'waters' would be denied the Zionist state (Arabs would not even mention Israel by name back
          then), oil money was provided to acquire heavy construction machinery, huge amounts of Russian weapons & ammunition for
          this purpose. Syria was the designated battle front and executer of the Jordan River Diversion Plan. The nine Arab states of the
          summit could not have pick a worse location, or a casus-belli (cause for war) & a less propitious moment to try and rally world
          opinion. Israel had over the previous decade enlisted the USA, Russia and even the U.N. in supporting a massive water carrier
          project to bring the waters of the Israeli Northern biblical Sea of Galilee to the parched arid desert waste lands of South Negev
          desert thus benefiting: Druze, Arabs, Palestinians, Nomadic tribes as well as a hundred thousand Israeli farmers. The main water
          source for the entire Sea of Galilee and the newly built National Water Carrier is the biblical River Jordan. Just after ten years
          of construction and three weeks after the waters started flowing in the National Carrier to the Negev Dessert, we have what is
          generally referred to as 'the Incident.' Because on the very second day of General Elazar's command (which was Nov 2nd)
          Aluf Elazar had a meeting of his staff to assess the military situation of a now large diversion project seen under way on the
          Jordan over looking Lake Galilee below and all of Elazar's military positions. Syrian artillery, tanks & canons now lay across the
          entire border ridge line to kill any Israeli farmers tilling their fields, harvesting crops, tending flocks or setting up irrigation rigs.

          This was Tel Dan in Israel and Nuheilleh fortifications in Syria. On November 3rd there was a big military exchange of fire,
          farm equipment destroyed and even settlers were injured. Col Tal was summoned and he immediately interviewed all of HIS
          participants... the on scene armor commander Lt/Col Benny Omri, all his tank commanders and tank gunners. Question One;
          how many enemy tanks were taken out? None Sir. How many shells were fired? 89 sir. Storming out of the meeting seemingly
          as soon as it had begun, Tal shouted out over his shoulder "There'll be a commission of inquiry and heads will roll" The armor
          command just got a taste of what lie in wait from a "Two Day Old Commander!" Few of the more than 100,000 clashes which
          would take place on Israel's borders from 1948 all the way through the June 1967 War ever proved to be of such momentous
          importance as the Tel Dan incident and is now taught in all army war colleges around the world to this very day.

          It can now be said that as a result of the experience at Tel Dan, Israel Tank Corps would never be the same again. It also would lead to a
          new breed of armor the world has ever seen before... the rise of the Israeli War Chariots the "MERKAVA tank series."

         Tal's commission met, fault was found & heads did roll. Two weeks later Col Tal met with Gen Elazar. A plan was formed based on known
         military intelligence, Israeli patrols were sent out every day around 2:50 pm & Syria would respond around 3 pm. 1 salient point, if the patrol
         would just set out ONE hour later around 4 pm, then the setting sun would be directly in the eyes of the Syrian fortress defenders. A direct
         strike by the IAF was not an option since their bunkers were over five feet thick. Tal got his best gunner, SSgt Cohen. They both practiced
         Long Range marksmanship away in the desert to the South for the two weeks. Tal told Elazar to tell commanding general Rabin they had an
         answer. They would use Israeli tank marksmanship and remove the threat without causing an all out war from breaking out. Rabin took the
         call outside the office of the Israeli Prime Minister's office before going into a meeting. The PM came back and asked 'what assurances could
         Elazar give that this would work?' Elazar then wisely handed the phone to Col Tal and repeated the question 'what guarantees can you give this
         plan of Yours will work?' Col Tal, without so much as missing a single beat said... "the guarantee is that I will be the one firing the gun!"

         The following day General Rabin told Elazar and Tal they were free to act. Both knew they were taking a personal career risk. Tal & Elazar
         set the date for the 17th, only several days from then. On the scheduled morning the commanders involved identified eight pieces of military
         hardware. A natural ravine divided the eight pieces into two groups of four. Tal picked the four on the left and SSgt Cohen got the four on
         the right. The rest is as they say was... History.

          During the hours of waiting from early morning to Zero hour (4 pm) Tal positioned his tanks behind a small hill in back of Tel Dan village
          unseen by the Syrians. They cleaned & they recalibrated their weapons all day in the shade. Finally the time arrived. General Elazar notified
          Tal and the afternoon patrol and farmers with their tractors set out into the valley fields, below the watching eyes of the enemy. The setting
          sun now approached the eyes of the Syrians and Tal ordered the farmers and equipment to go right up to the border fence where upon the
          Syrians opened withering fire down on the farmers in their armor tractors and farm trucks. Colonel Tal & Sgt Cohen leapt into action and at
          full speed went into a pre-positioned tank firing pad that Tal had planned out. Within Four minutes 9 tank rounds had been fired and all eight
          targets were piles of smoldering wrecks. Tal's took his 4 shots and hit his four targets. Sgt Cohen fired his four rounds and hit three targets.
          Tal then took another shot at remaining Syrian tank and it was now gone. There was silence for the longest time. It gets worse. Tal then with
          the rest of his company of tanks along with Sgt. Cohen in the lead slowly descended the valley, crossed the fields and then went up to what
          use to be a no mans land right on the very border fence and took aim at all the millions of dollars of water diversion equipment. One Hour
          later not a piece of machinery was left undamaged. Remarkably, it is still all there to this very day and is on show for tourist and sightseers
          to Israel to bear witness since this is now all inside modern day Israeli Golan Heights thanks to the 1973 Arab sneak attack Yom Kippor War.

          The Arabs called a hasty summit and decided to try it again miles away and out of Israel's sight and away from any tank reach. Tel Dan II
           would now be a fitting follow up. The Arabs brought in foremost world authorities on water diversion projects and they concluded a new
           location almost six miles away and views blocked by hill top ridges. The Arabs ordered in more troops, newer Soviet military hardware and
           double the expense of the latest construction equipment as Syria now wanted this done quietly and very quickly. For the next two months
           the stage was being set and Tal was told by military intel what was going on and where the new diversion site was being located. He asked
           for new and more detailed maps. He viewed for several days through special binoculars and even toured in IAF helicopters the terrain. His
           company and Sgt Cohen began intensive training, practice and took class room mathematics courses. He approached industry and worked
           close with IMI (Israel's military ammunition R&D designed after the Sandia Labs in the USA).

           For tanks this task was far from easy. In this instance the main problem would be distance, not so much for reach but accuracy. At the
           time no tank was considered accurate beyond 1500 meters. Then new ammunition from IMI came in and the whole team set out for the
           armor testing range Tzelim in the Southern dessert in order to extract the radically enhanced performance from tank guns matched to the
           new experimental ammunition.

           Usually the tanks back then used HE (high explosive) shells but, more accurate at longer distance was the new IMI armor piercing (AP) that
           could reach 5, 6 or 7 thousand meters (miles!) and even beyond visual range. A special pair of huge 60 pound 120X powerful binoculars
           was flown in from Switzerland to spot the target for the tank gunner. Later El Op would produce a 15 pound version until the first ballistic
           FCS (Fire Control Systems of the 1970's) could be developed. Tal & Cohen had replaced their gunners with themselves & made them the
           temporary TC (Tank Commander). Tal was wired up with 2 way radios. Once the co-ordinates were spotted & locked in then the stats
           were relayed to all the tanks. There was 64 heavy duty construction targets and about two dozen artillery & tank targets. Military targets
           were singled out first. In about 30 minutes, despite the military targets scrambling to get out of the line of fire as fast as they could, all were
           taken out, then the tank company took the rest of the day to eliminate all the heavy equipment. Although there would be one more attempt
           85 miles further away, the IAF destroyed that endeavor before it could even get started & shot down 14 Mig aircraft in the process that had
           the dumb idea of stopping the IAF. End of Water Diversions in the Middle East. Begin a massive recruitment & training program in Israel to
           rebuild the entire Armor Corps into a Tank Sharp Shooting Corps and the soon arrival of the Merkava series of MBT's including the BAZ
           (Sharp-Shooting) versions that can now bring down UAV's and gunship helicopters...     Talik, your country Thanks You Bro.

                                       Merkava Siman Aleph 1980 just prior to '82 Lebanon War

           Aluf (General) Israel Tal was given the go-ahead summer of 1970 to build the 1st Israeli MBT. Within months he had concept & tank mules
           running all over the place at Sarafand armor work shops and within 2 years had proto-types being assembled and by 1974 despite the 1973
           devastating Yom Kippor War had working units under going proof of design, by 1975 a working example that looks much like the final
           design that was pictured in February 1977 and publicly displayed on Independence Day 1978 at Jerusalem's main stadium. 40 years later this
           tank below is still state-of-the-art. Those that have to live and die by it... swear by the Merkava as the Very Best There Is... Bar None.