Israeli Tanks
 

One of my favorite aspects of playing SP is researching battles and equipment before and after I play a scenario; however, one has me stumped.

Is there an 'expert' in Israeli tanks ranging from aprox. 1960-1970 that could give me a rundown of the Sh'ot tank, in particular the Sh'ot Meteor? According to the convoluted info that I've read it is a heavily modified Centurion (which flavor of the Centurion I have not been able to determine).

I'm confused as to what makes this tank so incredible. According to Wikipedia (a source I hate to use):

"Less than 100 Centurion tanks of the 7th Armor Brigade defeated the advance of some 500 Syrian T-55s and T-62s. The Sho't became emblematic of Israeli armour prowess."

I believe this is represented in the Egyptian armor scenario #4.

I use Avalon Hill games as research tools sometimes, the only reference to this tank in a game I have is in "IDF" a tank called the "Super Centurion" is depicted but its stats are not dramatically better then the T-54/55 so despite having similar weapons (main gun) I'm not entirely convinced that the Super Centurion is the same as the Sh'ot.


Specifically what characteristics make the Sh'ot Meteor different from the Sh'ot? Also, this tank seems to have incredible accuracy, what technology made this possible? Any other info would be useful.

Thanks for the input.

Re: Israeli Tanks
 

Additional point...

Scenario A-4 Rafa from Avalon Hill's "The Arab Israeli Wars" depicts a situation with the Israeli Centurions. In the WinSPMBT version, the centurions are represented by the Sh'ot Meteor.

Re: Israeli Tanks
 

The IDF CENTURIONs were derived from the British MK3 and MK5 variants the latter sold to Israel to help finance the CHIEFTAIN which I thought as a MUCH younger man was a pretty cool tank (You see I grew up around USA MBTs & SPA as a youngster-just a little insight.) anyway I digress, The "Meteor" refers to the Rolls Royce engine carried, though I've seen much to suggust the IDF modified theirs with American engines only because they had them on hand and were newer and considered more reliable due to the age of the tanks recieved. Also they modified the Main Gun as well to a 105mm vice the I believe 20 pdr. it came with if I recall correctly. They just devastated the T-62 tanks they faced in battle. The first video does touch on 2 IDF tanks that knocked out 60 (Div.) of 150 Syrian T-62 tanks. One of the great armored feats of all time, up their with the TIGER that took out ~50 SHERMAN tanks in Normandy in WWII. The first You Tube video was from a show done a couple of years ago on DISCOVERY Channel that ranked the CENTURIAN #5. The next a little history on the 1973 Yom Kippur War (Golan Heights.) touched on in the previous Post that some might find interesting. The first comes from Israel.
http://idf-armor.blogspot.com/2009/0...tion-2009.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeEHfMXThRs&feature=fvsr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TtF_hmef3g

Sometimes the Tank, Submarine (Had to sneak it in!) etc. modelers established websites can provide a useful starting point, sometimes.

Hope this helps.

"Do not fear Sabwau Fere is everywhere!"

Please excuse any error above , not so good with Francis.

Regards,
Pat

Re: Israeli Tanks
 

I am not an expert on british and israeli tanks but I will note that the T-55 had a problem: the primary antitank ammunition was still the full bore AP rounds of the BR-412 series. These were simply not upt to the task of dealing effectively with the increasingly more armored western cold war tanks and I imagine that the Centurion, constantly up armored at almost each of the early version, was no exception. There was also an HEAT round of course wich could penetrate nearly everything but it was less accurate and available only in limited numbers for export: practically speaking an arab T-55 would carry maybe 4-5 of them, if that, the rest would still be BR-412B or such.
This however is just a technical issue: while I do not know the specifics a smaller, better trained/organized force beating off a much bigger one is hardly unheard off. Terrain, luck, circumstances etc can play big roles in the outcome.

Re: Israeli Tanks
 

Thank you both,

That info is tremendously helpful.