Last German Panzer Battle - Six Day War 1967

The

last

time German

panzer

tanks from World War II saw action was during the Six Day War between Syria and Israel in

1967

, during heavy fighting along the infamous Golan Heights, the Syrians had managed to muster a interesting group of German vehicles before the six. day war in

1967

. its main

battle

tank was the late war versions

panzer

iv with the 75 millimeter kwk 40 long gun, which could penetrate the armor of the sherman m4 at ranges of up to a thousand yards, so of course where had Syria obtained the panzerfaus? that the war had ended 22 years earlier former colonial power france is believed to have supplied syria with around 40 panzer fours in the 1950s some had been used briefly by the french army all of the french panzer fours were captured or recovered in the field of

battle

and some were improvised from different types of panzer fours creating frankenstein tanks the french had stockpiled the panzer force between 1945 and the early 1950s after israel became independent in 1948 france had tried to remain on good terms both with Israel as with Syria and supplied weapons to both transfers of Panzer IV they had to have the diplomatic favor of Syria.

Syria also got some power puns from communist Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Red Army had captured large quantities of this type at the end of the war and had established a collection point in the former German barracks. at Milovice, near Prague, in January 1946 there were 146 Panzer Fours in storage, then Czechoslovak battlefield clearance efforts added another 102 destroyed Panzer 4s and of these 80 operational tanks were rebuilt in January 1947, the Czechoslovak Army It had 245 Panzer Four operational, the different Versions all mixed together like in France. These tanks were used by the Czechoslovaks until 1948, when large numbers of Soviet T-34s replaced them.

The Syrian army was sniffing around Europe for Panzer Fours and in 1955 a delegation arrived in Czechoslovakia purchasing 45 tanks, paying cash. pounds sterling, the price was five thousand four hundred pounds sterling per tank, which is equivalent to about one hundred and ten thousand pounds or one hundred and forty-something thousand US dollars today. Each tank came with spare parts and a full supply of ammunition and was delivered in November 1955. In 1957, Syria bought another 15 four-puns from Czechoslovakia, another 17 Panzerforce came from Spain, all versions of the Alph H. They had been Originally purchased by General Franco of Germany in 1943 and were like new.

They arrived in Syria in December 1965. Syria would also deploy the Sturm Geschutz III or Stough III assault gun armed with a 75-millimeter Stuk 40 cannon. Syria had 28, but never all at once. Nine were purchased from France in 1950, they were combat captures from Vermont that Czechoslovakia had in its possession in 1953. Stug 3 when the type was retired and put into storage 12 were sold to Syria in November 1955 the entire Alps G version at three thousand two hundred and fifty pounds each ten stouk three non-operational were also sold as spare parts romania sold to syria one stug 3. had been sent to Czechoslovakia for a possible upgrade and was included in the Czechoslovak sale.

Finally, Spain sold Syria 10 Stoog-3s in mint condition in December 1965. Syria also deployed six rare Jagpanzer Fours, these were tank destroyers armed with the PAC. -39 75 millimeter l-48 cannon came from france in 1950 plus relics from the second world war battlefield so how did the panzers of the

last

world war fare in combat against the israelis? The first firefight had begun in 1964 when Syrian panzers were deployed on the western slope of the Golan Heights firing on farmers in the Galilee region in 1965. The Israeli Shermans exchanged fire with the Syrian Panzer Four. UN peacekeeping missions later kept them separated, but when the Syrian Panzer Four returned to their position, they engaged the Israeli centurions.

Heavily armored British tanks armed. with 105 millimeter cannons two panzers four were quickly destroyed in 1967 israel tried to carry out a preemptive attack against egypt the war began on june 5 the syrian army joined the side of egypt syria tried to invade israel from the north but could not match the task after 24 hours, Syria had only managed to advance two miles. The next day, Israeli defense force units pushed the Syrians back to the border and also completed the conquest of the Sinai in Egypt on June 9, 1967, Israeli defense forces storming the The Syrian Hell The Golan Heights encountered Syrian panzers that had been held in reserve on June 10.

The IDF defeated them in 15 hours. The Israelis destroyed about 25 percent of Syria's military vehicles, including many World War II German vehicles. About two dozen Syrian Stug IIIs had been half-buried in parade positions as makeshift pillboxes, at least three were confirmed to be out of action and one was captured operationally and taken as a trophy by the Israelis; The rest were abandoned on the heights of the six jagpanzer four, one was knocked out and the remaining five retreated. They were last heard from in Syria in 1991, when they were listed for long-term storage north of Damascus, but were probably subsequently scrapped on 6 June 1967.

It has been established that 25 Syrian Panzer 4s were operational with another 10. partially operational of these, at least 10 were knocked out by Israeli tanks during the six-day war. The final kill occurred on June 10, 1967, when one was knocked out by an M50 Super Sherman that fired four high-velocity French 75-millimeter rounds. were captured and taken to Israel as trophies two others were captured by the Israelis and taken for evaluation no Israeli tank was shot down by a German panzer all but one example of the panzer iv in service in Syria was scrapped in the early 1970s a few The fired hulls remain on the Golan Heights along with some shtug three, thus ended the last battle for Nazi Germany's famous panzers.

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