The failed purchases of the Independence War

Israeli Armour During the Independence War

Ever since the first day of Israeli independence, Israel operated armoured fighting vehicles, and during the war, Israel operated a diverse armoured force comprising everything from H39s and M4 Shermans to armed half-tracks, captured armoured cars, and even locally modified M3A1 scout cars. However, even with such a diverse armoured force, Israel’s fleet of armoured vehicles was still quite small. In total, Israel operated seventeen fully operational tanks (operational being defined as being armed with a functional cannon and self proppeled), but never all at once, which led to the constant quest for more armoured vehicles.

Tank type	Amount of tanks operated
M4A2	1
R35	2
Cromwell Mk. III	1
Cromwell Mk. IV	1
H39	10
M4 (105) rearmed with a 75 mm M3 cannon	2

T17E1 Staghound

Strangely enough, the story of Israeli armour purchases starts before Israel was even a nation, in a document from the 5th of January 1948 (four months before Israel’s independence).

It reads, “[…] suggested the purchase of 50 Staghounds for 25,000 lira (each?), armoured cars, two motors, 4-inch barrels, cannon and, machine guns, […]”

After that, I only found one more mention on the 29th of January 1948, and after that, I failed to find any other mention of the staghounds until after the war.

The document from the 29th reads, “Ordered: […] 50 stag-honds, […] 10,000 (most likely lira) for stayig honds”

Note two things, how the price changed from 25,000 lira to 10,000 and from writing the name in English as staghound to writing the name in Hebrew, in two different ways, סטג-הונד (stag hond or stag hound) and then later in the same document סטייג הונד (stayig hond or stayag hond) both inaccurate. While the staghounds are eventually listed as “ordered” they never arrived, and I failed to find mentions of this purchase in other sources, so sadly, I don’t know from where the staghounds were purchased. However, the same amount of staghounds (50) would later be bought in late 1951, and eventually, Israel would amass 112 staghounds, some of which would take part in Operation Kadesh as a part of the Suez crisis.

M5A1 Stuart

This story also begins before Israel was a nation; on the 15th of March 1948, it is first mentioned in a document.

“Bought 22 medium tanks (66 tons each) with 37 mm cannons for 6600 each.”

Note that here they are listed as 66 tons each, which is clearly a mistake.

Here is another document from the 24th of March 1948 that clears things up.

It reads, “Purchased also 26 medium tanks M.5.A with 1000 (rounds most likely) each (6600$ each).”

Here the tank is mentioned by name, M.5.A I have no idea why the dots were added, but it is clearly an M5A1 Stuart; strangely enough, in both documents, it is called a medium tank; additionally, it specifies that the price is in USD and not in Lira (note that historian Amiad Brezner claimed that the price was actually 8,800 USD, but I cannot confirm it); additionally, note the change in the number of tanks from 22 to 26.

Eventually, the Haganah managed to get a hold of 38 M5A1 light tanks in the United States; however, they couldn’t be immediately transferred to Israel because of the American embargo on American arms to the area and the British embargo on the importation of arms to the area. They had to be smuggled, and so a plan was made to disguise them as a shipment of tanks to the Mexican military; however, the MI5 (the British intelligence agency) found out about the ordeal and notified the FBI, and the FBI quickly confiscated the tanks.

Jagdpanzer 38t and LT vz.38

Czechoslovakia was a major arms supplier to Israel during the independence war, from rifles to planes. Czechoslovak arms were crucial for the Israeli victory during the war. In July 1948, Israel was offered by Czechoslovakia 10 LT vz.38 tanks and 12 Jagdpanzer 38t tank destroyers. This document from the 1st of August 1948 mentions both during negotiations on the ludicrous price of 90,000$ a tank! (At the time, the fully functional H39s cost less than half as much, and the disabled M4 105 Shermans cost a mere 2,200$.)

“There are negotiations on 22 tanks (12 of 16 ton, 10 of 9.5 ton) the prices are crazy. 90,000$ a big tank, Ehud is in the negotiations, the price was dropped to 75,000.”

Due to the high prices that Israel couldn’t afford (at 75,000$ a tank for 22 tanks, it would cost a total of 1.65 million US dollars!), the purchase was dropped.

Conclusion

During the war, there were multiple failed attempts at expanding Israel’s armoured force, had Israel been more persistent, secretive, and rich the war would’ve looked much much different, and the Israeli armoured corps as a whole.

Vehicle type	Amount	Price of each vehicle	Price Total
T17E1 Staghound	50	10,000 Lira	500,000 Lira
M5A1 Stuart	38	6,600$ (or 8,800$)	250,800$ (or 334,400$)
LT vz.38	10	75,000$	750,000$
Jagdpanzer 38t	12	75,000$	900,000$
Total	110		1,900,800$ (or 1,984,400$) + 500,000 Lira

Sources

• “Shiryon” magazine, no. 28, “Why were there only a few tanks in battles during the War of Independence?” by Amiad Brezner
• Palyam.org purchases in the United States.
• 5.1.1948, the first mention of T17E1 Staghounds
• 29.1.1948, the last mention of T17E1 Staghounds
• 15.3.1948, mentioning purchase of M5A1 Stuarts
• 24.3.1948, another mention of M5A1 Stuart’s purchase
• 1.8.1948, negotiations on the price of LT vz.38s and Jagdpanzer 38ts