Israeli General. An Armoured Cavalry commander, he was a noted military strategist and was the creator of his country's Merkava tank. Raised in Palestine, Tal served with the Royal Army's Jewish Brigade during World War II and was a junior officer in the 1948 War of Independence. He commanded a brigade during the 1956 Suez Crisis and a tank division in the 1967 Six-Day-War before heading the southern front in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. In 1970, with other countries reluctant to sell arms to Israel, he began design on the Merkava (Hebrew for chariot); first deployed in 1979, it remains his nation's principal armoured weapon, with field tactics essentially as General Tal developed them. At the end of the Yom Kippur War, he was directed by Generals Moshe Dayan and David Elazar to attack Egyptian troops, and though his refusal to obey what he considered an unlawful order was backed by the Prime Minister, the incident ended his chance of leading the General Staff. He remained a trusted advisor, was twice recipient of the Eliyhau Golomb Israel Security Award, and was presented the Israel Prize in 1997. The Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, honors him as one of history's five greatest tank commanders, along with Israeli Peled, Americans Patton and Abrams, and German Rommel. He died following a long illness.
Israeli General. An Armoured Cavalry commander, he was a noted military strategist and was the creator of his country's Merkava tank. Raised in Palestine, Tal served with the Royal Army's Jewish Brigade during World War II and was a junior officer in the 1948 War of Independence. He commanded a brigade during the 1956 Suez Crisis and a tank division in the 1967 Six-Day-War before heading the southern front in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. In 1970, with other countries reluctant to sell arms to Israel, he began design on the Merkava (Hebrew for chariot); first deployed in 1979, it remains his nation's principal armoured weapon, with field tactics essentially as General Tal developed them. At the end of the Yom Kippur War, he was directed by Generals Moshe Dayan and David Elazar to attack Egyptian troops, and though his refusal to obey what he considered an unlawful order was backed by the Prime Minister, the incident ended his chance of leading the General Staff. He remained a trusted advisor, was twice recipient of the Eliyhau Golomb Israel Security Award, and was presented the Israel Prize in 1997. The Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, honors him as one of history's five greatest tank commanders, along with Israeli Peled, Americans Patton and Abrams, and German Rommel. He died following a long illness.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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