Magach (M48 / M60)
The Israeli Magach grew out of modified versions of American M48 and M60 Patton series tanks delivered throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
By JR Potts, AUS 173d AB
Israel needed tanks to defend her borders from the Arab states and the M-48 tank was the choice based on reliability and available stock. Israel ordered 1950 era M-48 tanks from stock piles in Germany as part of the reparations of the Holocaust. They were M48A1 & M48A2C’s, however the sales were stopped when the media found out about the story and the tanks were then shipped from the United States. The replacement for the M48 in Europe was the arrival in1960 of the new M-60 Patton tank that accomplished the needed upgraded platform deterrent to the Soviet Bloc.
The M48 upgraded version Israel developed was the Magach series. Named for an acronym the three letters “MEM –GIMEL-CHET , mem = 40 chet = 8 gimel is an arm of the service. The tanks arrived in Israel with 90 mm guns and at first only small modifications were made. As a point of reference the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) was and is not forth coming with specific changes and some data released is false on its face so not to allow enemies access to current data. In this case the M48 coming from the USA also came with uncompromised data. By 1965 the Magach had been progressively upgraded by adding the British Centurion 105mm main gun and reactive armor blocks.
In 1967 the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq attacked with 547,000 troops, 957 aircraft, and 2,800 of the best tanks the Soviets could provide, T-54’s, T-55’s, T-85’s with 85mm guns and 22 SU-100 tank destroyers with100mm guns. To counter the Arab world’s upcoming attack, Israel would field 50,000 active service troops calling up 214,000 reservists using 300 aircraft, naval forces and 800 tanks including the Magach, and M-4 Sherman’s early and upgraded versions.
Israeli forces concentrated on the border with Egypt included 6 armored brigades, one infantry brigade, one mechanized infantry brigade, 3 Paratrooper brigades and 700 tanks giving a total of around 70,000 men. The Israeli plan was to surprise the Egyptian forces using a pre-emptive tank attack coinciding with the IAF striking the Egyptian airfields.
The casualties of the war, far from Israel's anticipated heavy estimates, were quite low, with 338 soldiers lost on the Egyptian front, 300 on the Jordanian front, and 141 on the Syrian front. Egypt lost 80% of its military equipment with hundreds of tanks captured, 10,000 soldiers and 1,500 officers killed. Jordan suffered 6,000-7,000 killed. Syria lost 2,500 dead and half of their tanks and almost all the artillery positioned in the Golan Heights were captured or destroyed.
The major reasons that resulted in the Israeli Six Day War victory was the air campaign and superior tank tactics using flanking movements rather than head on attacks.
Performance specs shown are estimates.
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Last Updated: 11/11/2008
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