Pacifica Military History Free Sample Chapters.pmd

262 Pacifica Military History
In sharp contrast, Colonel Mordechai Ben Porat’s 9th Armored
In-fantry Brigade, also equipped with Shermans, was perceived as being
a useful striking force. The Shermans had been upgunned and
exten-sively and expensively modernized, and the troops were younger
than the veterans of 70th Brigade. Moreover, 9th Brigade had long been
a stalwart fighting force, nearly always operating in Northern Com-mand.
Most of the officers and troops had trained on the Golan and knew their
way around.
Colonel Uri Orr’s 679th Armored Brigade, a relatively new
forma-tion, was equipped with early-model Centurion tanks that had
been scheduled to be upgraded over the next few years. The crews were
composed of younger men. In all, 679th Brigade was considered to be
only marginally inferior to Barak Brigade.
The two separate Reserve battalions—71st Armored Infantry
Battal-ion, under Lieutenant Colonel Yoav Vaspe, and an unnumbered
tank battalion directly attached to Northern Command—were perceived
as absolutely first-rate units. Seventy-first Battalion, which featured two
organic tank companies and one APC company, was earmarked for direct
attachment to Barak Brigade. The Northern Command Tank Battalion,
commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Uzi More, was equipped with
thoroughly updated Centurions; officially it was to operate as a weapon
of opportunity under the direct control of Northern Command
headquarters. Both of the separate Reserve battalions had trained
spe-cifically for assignment to the Golan.
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Brigadier General Rafoul Eitan was emerging as the sparkplug run-ning
the Israeli engine of war. A parachute officer, Eitan had trained for many
years in the art of instant assessment of battlefield puzzles and the fine
art of rapidly moving troops and equipment to solve them. While fellow
paratrooper Major General Yitzhak Hofi kept his attention riveted to
the larger panorama, and his ear glued to the phone linking him with the
chief of staff and the government, Eitan focused his energies and powers
of concentration on the shifting events and fragmentary reports from
the hard-hit bunkers and tank battalions.