David Rodman - Combined Arms Warfare in Israeli Military History: From the War of Independence to Operation Protective Edge

Combined Arms Warfare in Israeli Military History

Combined Arms Warfare in Israeli Military History

From the War of Independence to Operation Protective Edge

David Rodman

Copyright David Rodman, 2019.

Published in the Sussex Academic e-Library, 2019

SUSSEX ACADEMIC PRESS

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ISBN 9781845199678 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781782846079 (EPub)

ISBN 9781782846086 (Kindle)

ISBN 9781782846093 (Pdf)

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my uncle,

Paul Nathanson.

Our many conversations about the IDF over the years
will always be a source of fond memories for me.

Contents

List of Abbreviations

AAA Antiaircraft Artillery

AEW Airborne Electronic Warfare

ALA Arab Liberation Army

AMAN Military Intelligence Branch (Israel)

APC Armored Personnel Carrier

ARM Antiradiation Missile

ATC Air Transport Command (Israel)

AW Asymmetrical War

AWACS Airborne Warning and Control System

C Command and Control

CI Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence

CAS Close Air Support

CAW Combined Arms Warfare

CBU Cluster Bomb Unit

ECM Electronic Countermeasures

FPB Fast Patrol Boat

GHQ General Headquarters

GP General Purpose (Bomb)

HQ Headquarters

IADS Integrated Air Defense System

IAF Israel Air Force

IDF Israel Defense Forces

IED(S) Improvised Explosive Device(s)

IN Israel Navy

IW Interstate War

LIC Low-intensity Conflict

MOSSAD Foreign Intelligence Service (Israel)

MTB Motor Torpedo Boat

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NSA National Security Agency (United States)

ORBAT Order of Battle

PA Palestinian Authority

PFLP Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

PGM Precision-guided Munition

PLO Palestine Liberation Organization

RDB Runway Destruction Bomb

RMA Revolution in Military Affairs

SAM Surface-to-air Missile

SHIN BET Domestic Intelligence Service (Israel)

SNS Special Night Squads

SOF Special Operations Force(s)

SPEC OP(S) Special Operation(s)

SSM Surface-to-surface Missile

TRADOC Training and Doctrine Command (United States)

UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

UN United Nations

USAF United States Air Force

USN United States Navy

WMD Weapons of Mass Destruction

List of Illustrations

Front Cover: Israeli armored column moving in the vicinity of Gaza.

Courtesy of Moshe Milner/ Israel Government Press Office

Photo section (after page 68)

Preface

Combined arms warfare (CAW)the integration of different arms on the battlefield in an effort to achieve maximal efficiency thereis as old as war itself. Every army across both time and space that has engaged in combat has practiced one version or another of CAW, whether consciously or otherwise. In the preindustrial era, CAW involved the integration of, inter alia, chariotry, cavalry, heavy and light infantry, and artillery. In the industrial era, it has involved the integration of, inter alia, armor, mechanized and nonmechanized infantry, artillery, aircraft, and engineers.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has certainly been no exception to the rule in respect of the practice of CAW. Throughout six interstate wars (IWs), three asymmetrical wars (AWs), numerous low-intensity conflicts (LICs), and untold special operations (SPEC OPS), the IDF has engaged in CAW in one form or another. Nevertheless, though the IDF is by now the subject of an enormous literature, no single work expressly traces its experience with CAW from its establishment in 1948 to the present day. This book, therefore, is intended to be a first attempt to fill a significant lacuna in the literature about the IDF and Israeli military history.

Specifically, this work examines each of the IDFs six IWs, each of its three AWs, each of its LICs, as well as a sample of its SPEC OPS, explicitly from the perspective of CAW. Furthermore, the book not only evaluates the IDFs triumphs and setbacks on the battlefield, but also traces the evolution in the IDFs approach to CAW throughout the past seven decades.

Before dipping into the topic, however, I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude to certain individuals and organizations for their direct and indirect contributions to this work. First, I would like to thank Aharon Klieman and Stuart Cohen, both of whom sharpened my own thinking about the IDF in the context of an entirely different project about Israeli national security. Any problems in respect of either fact or interpretation in this book, of course, are solely my responsibility.

Second, I would like to express my gratitude to the journals division of the Taylor & Francis Group (< constitutes a revised and expanded version of this article.

And, finally, I would like to thank the Israel Government Press Office (IGPO), as well as the individual photographers, for permission to reprint photos from the Israel National Photo Collection in this book.

D AVID R ODMAN
Dix Hills, New York

Introduction
The Essence of
Combined Arms Warfare

In blood and fire, Judah fell, exclaimed a renowned Hebrew poet, In blood and fire, Judah shall rise again. These lines, which appear in Yaakov Cahans poem Biryonim (Hooligans), a poem composed in the early twentieth century in response to the notorious Kishinev pogrom in Russia, decades before the rebirth of the Jewish state, presciently capture not only the circumstances under which the State of Israel entered the world, but also the circumstances under which it has lived ever since its birth in 1948. Not only did the country declare its independence in the midst of a war, but also it has been engaged almost without interruption in one kind or another of armed conflict throughout its existence.

Indeed, Israel has fought nine wars to date, which averages out to a war approximately every eight years. Six have been interstate wars (IWs).

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has employed both offensive and defensive warfare, as well as both maneuver and attrition warfare, to protect Israel from these national security challenges, adjusting its preferred mode of combat as necessary to fit the battlefield conditions at hand. During AWs, offensive attrition warfare has been the favored mode of battle at the tactical and operational levels, albeit with defensive warfare occupying a more prominent niche than it has during IWs. During LICs, a more balanced mix of offensive and defensive warfare, as well as of maneuver and attrition warfare, has been the favored mode of battle. And, lastly, during SPEC OPS, the IDF has clearly emphasized offensive maneuver warfare.