El método de Participación Constante en el Mercado (CMS)

Prior to the Yom Kippur War of 1973 Israel and her Middle East neighbours had engaged in a number of conflicts. In many cases armour had been the key to the decisive battles and in the decades prior to 1973 there had been a protracted arms race throughout the region fuelled by the Cold War. Immediately before Second Arab- Israeli War of 1956, the Israeli Armored Corps (IAC) was painfully aware of the limitations of its principal tank, the M-4 Sherman. This was exacerbated by the massive arms deal of 1954 between Egypt and the Soviet Union that saw numerous AFVs being introduced into the inventory of the Egyptian army. Among them was the powerful IS-3M that could not be penetrated by the IAC’s most numerous tank, the standard M4A1 armed with a 76.2mm gun that was known as the M-1 Sherman in Israeli service. As soon as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) learnt of the Soviet arms deal, they approached the French for a means to up-gun the M-1 in a similar manner as the Sherman Firefly of World War II fame. By 1955, a prototype vehicle was produced by the Atelier de Bourges arsenal. It mounted the French CN 75-50 75mm gun, as fitted to the AMX-13, in a heavily modified Sherman turret on an M4A4 chassis. A modification programme began during early 1956 in Israel: it was to be the birth of a fledgling Israeli tank industry. The first new M-50 Sherman was delivered to Company Bet of the 82nd Tank Battalion of 7th Armored Brigade for user trials and it saw combat during Operation Kadesh in the Sinai. The M-50 also equipped two tank companies of the 27th Reserve Armored Brigade during the assault on the Gaza Strip on 1 November 1956.

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The 100 Hours War that resulted in the conquest of the complete Sinai Peninsula was undertaken in collusion with Britain and France. Both countries wished to regain control of the Suez Canal after it had been nationalized by President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. The Israeli invasion of the Sinai was used as a pretext for an Anglo- French amphibious landing at Port Said at the northern end of the canal with the intention of occupying the whole Suez Canal Zone. As part of the Order of Battle, the British Army included a complete armoured regiment – the 6th Royal Tank Regiment

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Both the Centurion and the T-54/55 saw action in the same month of November 1956 when the Soviet army crushed the Hungarian Revolution and an Anglo- French force made an amphibious landing at Port Said to occupy the Suez Canal Zone. Here, Centurion Mk 5s of B Squadron, 6th Royal Tank Regiment, patrol the streets of Port Said after the ceasefire. The Mk 5 was essentially the same as the Mk 3 but had a .30-calibre Browning coaxial machine gun in place of the Besa. The Israeli Armored Corps had never purchased special- purpose variants of the Centurion in sufficient numbers due to cost, preferring to spend funds on gun tanks instead. In particular, Armoured Recovery Vehicles were in short supply so recovery tasks often fell to gun tanks such as these two Shot Cals: a procedure that could overload the transmission of the towing tank. (IOP)

– equipped with Centurion Mk 5s. The initial assault landing of 6 November 1956 was supported by C Squadron, 6RTR, whose Centurions were fitted with deep wading equipment and came ashore with the first wave of Royal Marine Commandos. The Centurions of 6RTR were intended to thwart any Egyptian army counterattack with its recently supplied Soviet T-34/85s and IS-3Ms or even the Centurion tanks supplied by the British in 1954. In the event, only a few SU-100 self-propelled guns were encountered and no armoured engagements ensued although the Centurions of 6RTR gave invaluable fire support to the Commandos throughout the day until a ceasefire was imposed by the United Nations at the instigation of the United States. Under intense political pressure, the Anglo-French forces departed Port Said by 10 December 1956. Similarly, Israel was forced to evacuate the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip by February 1957 at the insistence of the United States and Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the 100 Hours War brought about a fundamental change in the IDF perception of armoured warfare. No longer were tanks to be used largely for infantry support. Now due to their firepower and mobility, they were to become the main striking force during offensive operations in a combined arms division-sized formation designated

ugda that differed in configuration depending on the tactical situation or the task

in hand. To this end, more capable and modern tanks than the Sherman or even the M-50 were required to fulfil the new armoured doctrine of the Israeli Armored Corps. For political reasons, the Israeli government wished to procure M-48 Pattons from the United States so that a ‘special relationship’ was forged between the two nations, although America had resisted such an arrangement for many years. Even so, permission was granted for M-48A2C Pattons of the Bundeswehr to be transferred to Israel as part of German reparations for the Holocaust. A total of 250 Pattons was shipped to Israel between 1960 and 1964 including a quantity directly from the United States on a clandestine basis. Since much of the IDF’s equipment including tanks and aircraft were produced in France, Israel wanted to diversify her arms suppliers as she did not fully trust any European government to be constant in the face of Arab political pressure, particularly in the provision of vital ammunition. Accordingly, Israel also approached Britain with the wish to procure Centurion tanks as a quid pro quo for her involvement in the Suez campaign. After protracted negotiations, the first shipment of Centurions arrived in Israel in late 1959.