Israeli World War 2 Tanks That Need Adding to War Thunder

Toreno

In this 10th episode of my series looking at World War 2 Tanks That Need Adding to War Thunder, we take a look at Israeli tanks of the World War 2 period!  So join me as we take a look at a large variety of World War 2 tanks and the interesting stories of how they were obtained, as well as some of the unique modifications Israel made to these tanks, as well as some cool tank destroyers and armoured cars!   Support me at ⬇️ ☕Buy me a Coffee➡️ buymeacoffee.com/Toreno  Social Media ⬇️ 🦋Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/toreno.bsky.social 🌍Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Toreno4 📸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toreno170 🐘Mastodon: Toreno17@mastodon.social 🧵Threads: https://www.threads.net/@toreno170  🎮 Game: War Thunder  ⬅️  #warthunder #warthundertanks #israel #israeli #tank

Transcript

00:00Continuing my series on World War 2 tanks that need adding to War Thunder, we now come to Israeli

00:06World War 2 tanks. Now obviously Israel itself didn't exist during World War 2, but it did use

00:12a lot of World War 2 tanks from a variety of different nations, so these are the tanks that

00:17we will be looking at today. The Israeli tech tree also operates differently to other tech trees,

00:22like say the Chinese tech tree that we looked at before, in that it starts off at rank 4,

00:27which puts Israeli players at a disadvantage compared to other players who will have had

00:32three previous ranks to level up their crews and gain experience in the game, giving them an edge

00:38over Israeli players. So adding World War 2 tanks will also allow for the Israeli tech tree to start

00:44at an earlier rank, which should offset these issues. And you'll also see that like the previous

00:49episode looking at Chinese tanks, most if not all of the vehicles in this episode are from foreign

00:54nations, but often with major modifications carried out by the Israelis. So we're going to start off

01:00by looking at Israeli light tanks, starting with the Hotchkiss H39, which was a French tank from the

01:07early World War 2 period. Now you might wonder why Israel would bother obtaining tanks that would

01:12have been considered long obsolete for the modern battlefield, but you have to remember that their

01:17enemies in the first Arab-Israeli war were not exactly the best equipped with regards to tanks

01:22themselves. So even tanks that were outdated by major power standards were more than adequate

01:27for Israeli needs. You also have to remember that there was an arms embargo placed on Israel

01:32by the United Kingdom and United States. So Israel couldn't rely on these nations, and indeed

01:38Czechoslovakia was a notable supplier of arms and aircraft to Israel in this time period.

01:43But with regards to tanks, Israel couldn't afford to be picky about what tanks it had acquired,

01:48as these often had to be smuggled into the country in secrecy. This was also the case with the H39,

01:54with 10 of these tanks being acquired from France on the 26th of March 1948, a month before Israel's

02:01independence, and these cost $41,000 each, or about $551,000 in 2025, with these being smuggled into

02:11Israel in 1948. These tanks will mostly be identical to the H39s already in-game, but some of these H39s

02:19appear to have been fitted with a German cupola, indicating that those tanks were used by France

02:24in 1940, captured and modified by the Germans for their use in World War II, before being recaptured

02:30by France and sold to Israel. Giving them a rather interesting history, and the potential for us to

02:36get two variants of the H39 in the Israeli tech tree, with perhaps the cupola version being a rank 1 premium

02:42and the regular H39 in the regular tech tree, or vice versa. The only other possible difference is in the

02:49performance of its 37mm SA-38 gun, as the initial 2000 to 37mm shells that were delivered were all HE shells,

02:58which are also missing in-game, thus forcing the Israelis to modify some of these shells by fitting the heads

03:03from American 37mm shells, which might make a small difference with regards to in-game penetration,

03:10which is currently 36mm at 500m with the SA-38's current APC shell. As for the rest of the stats,

03:18they will be the same as the regular H39, being armed with the 37mm SA-38 gun, a caraxial 7.5mm

03:25Mach 31 machine gun, a maximum armour of 40mm for the hull and 45mm for the turret,

03:31a top speed of 22.7 miles per hour or 36km an hour, and a two-man crew. In-game, this would make for a

03:38good starting 1.0 tank for the Israeli tech tree on the second from left line, having decent armour

03:44and speed, and an okay armament, but being let down by its two-man crew and use of solid shot shells,

03:51but regardless, I think this would perform decently well at tier 1. In real life, these tanks weren't the

03:56best performing, with these being worn out from many years of use in World War 2 by the French

04:01and sometimes German forces, resulting in many breakdowns, with only six actually being brought

04:07to operational service during the First Arab-Israeli War. Then to make things worse, during an attack

04:13against Egyptian forces, four were knocked out by mines or anti-tank ditches, forcing their

04:18abandonment. Following this, the remaining H-39s had their guns removed and placed on various armoured

04:24cars, ending their use as combat tanks, but allowing them to fight on in a sense. However, one H-39 survives

04:31to this day, at the Armoured Corps Memorial Site and Museum at Le Troon, now restored to its original

04:38configuration with the 37mm SA-38 gun. It should also be mentioned that some French Renault R-35s were

04:46given to Syrian forces in 1946 by the French when Syria gained its independence, with these being

04:52used by Syrian forces in the war against Israel, resulting in at least two of these being captured

04:57by Israeli forces. It doesn't seem like Israel made great use of these tanks, but in theory they

05:02could be added, though unfortunately they seem to use the shorter barrel SA-18 37mm gun, which can only

05:09penetrate 24mm at 500m or 33mm at 100m, with a model 1937 APCR shell. A performance so bad that most of the

05:20tanks armed with this gun were removed from being researched until you at least reached rank 2 of the

05:25French tech tree. Besides this, it would also have a top speed of just 12.4mph or 20kmh, a two-man crew and

05:32maximum armour thickness of 45mm for the turret and 43mm for the hull. If added, this could be another

05:39starter vehicle for the Israeli tech tree on the far left line, having decent armour but a bad gun,

05:44a slow top speed and would be vulnerable due to its two-man crew, but it would be useful for boosting

05:50rank 1 lineups. Lastly for light tanks there was the M22 Locust, these being American tanks that were

05:57being kept in a British controlled depot, with 26 of these being demilitarised and

06:02sold a scrap in 1948 to the Delta Trading Company, which as it turns out was an Egyptian front,

06:08allowing the British to sell these tanks while not technically breaking the arms embargo.

06:13However, it seems that they either weren't demilitarised very well or the Egyptians managed

06:17to repair and rearm them, as they used them in December 1948 against the Israelis, who knocked

06:23out a number of these tanks and managed to capture 9 of them. The M22 would make for a good improvement

06:29over the H39 and R35, being armed with a far better 37mm gun, capable of penetrating 73mm at 500m with

06:39its M51B1 APC BC shell, while having a top speed of 35mph or 56kmh and a three-man crew. In fact,

06:48the only major downside of this tank is its thin armour, maxing out at just 25mm, though its fast speed

06:55and low silhouette should help in avoiding enemy fire. This would make for an excellent light tank

07:00after the H39 at 2.0, having a good gun, top speed and being more survivable from the extra crew member,

07:07and I think this would perform very well in the Israeli tech tree. In real life the Israelis managed

07:12to repair a number of these tanks and put at least 4 of them into service, with these serving until the

07:18early 1950s, and at least one still survives to this day at Negba in Israel. So we can see that Israel had

07:25a large number of light tank types in service at various points, though only the 10 H39s were available

07:32for the Arab-Israeli war, and only 6 of them were in a serviceable condition. There were talks with

07:38Czechoslovakia to buy 22 LTVZ-38s, more commonly known as the Panzer 38E, but the Czechs wanted $90,000 per

07:46tank, and even after dropping the price to $75,000, this was still far too expensive for the Israelis,

07:52being almost twice the price of the already not particularly great H39, so this deal never went

07:58through. There would also be attempts to buy the M5A1 Stuart light tanks, with 38 of these being brought,

08:05but due to the American arms embargo on Israel, these would have to be smuggled out of the United

08:09States, and unfortunately for Israel, before this could happen, the FBI found and confiscated these

08:15tanks, so they never actually entered Israeli service. Moving on from light tanks, we can now

08:21look at medium tanks, starting with the M4 Shermans, and we have a lot of Israeli modified Shermans to

08:28look at. The story with the Sherman in Israeli service starts at the beginning of the war,

08:33as British troops were being withdrawn from the region, with equipment that couldn't or wasn't worth

08:38taking to be destroyed or made inoperable, including a British M4A2 that was supposed to be destroyed

08:45to prevent its use in the war by the various combatants. However, by bribing a British soldier,

08:50the Haganah, one of the main militias fighting in the war that would later become part of the Israeli

08:55defence forces, managed to acquire the tank, which would eventually be named Mir and brought to Tel Aviv

09:02for tests and repairs. However, the tank was in a bad state, with most of the components not working,

09:08and the gun unable to be fired, which required major repairs, but despite this the gun still

09:14couldn't be fixed, leading to its replacement by a 20mm Hispano Suiza 404 autocannon, the same as used

09:21on the TCM-20 anti-air vehicle in the Israeli tech tree. Unfortunately for us, in-game its armour-piercing

09:27tracer shells can only penetrate 35mm at 100m, which would make this mostly unsuitable for adding

09:34in-game, unless placed at the very early tiers and used as an early Jumbo Sherman type tank,

09:40being hard to take down from the front but very limited in its offensive capabilities,

09:45though I don't think Gaijin would add it in this guise. Fortunately for us, the Israelis managed to

09:50buy three 75mm M3 cannons, with one of these being fitted to Mir, giving us a Sherman tank for use at

09:574.0 at rank 2, the same as the regular M4A2 in the American tech tree, and making for a good starting

10:03medium tank in the far left line of the Israeli tech tree. However, with only a handful of tanks

10:09available and just one Sherman, Israel would still need more of these tanks, which led to a mission in

10:15August 1948 to scour various scrapyards in Europe for tanks that could be acquired. After much looking,

10:21Israel managed to acquire 30 M4 Sherman 105 tanks from a scrapyard in Forli in Italy, for a low price

10:30of just $2,200 per tank, or about $29,500 in 2025, with these being delivered to Israel from November 1948

10:40to January 1949 in free shipments. Unfortunately for the Israelis, these tanks had been successfully

10:46demilitarised, with a hole being drilled through the barrel of the guns to prevent their use.

10:51Attempts were made to fix these guns, but only one could be fixed at the time, with another two

10:56being refitted with the previously mentioned 75mm guns, these being named Tamar and Ruth II,

11:03but leaving 27 tanks that would need to be rearmed if they were to become useful combat tanks.

11:08There were debates on what weapons to fit, but eventually it was settled that the M1903-22 Krupp field

11:14gun would be fitted, as a batch of these guns had just arrived from Switzerland. These had

11:20originally been sold to Romania by Krupp before WW1, before in turn being sold to Switzerland.

11:26Which is good for us because as you can see from the various digitisation requests I've made with them,

11:31I really like the Swiss Federal Archives, and in my opinion they are some of the easiest and best to

11:36look through when looking for information. So here is the document with all of the shells that could be

11:41fired from the M1903-22 while in Swiss service, including the usual shrapnel, smoke and the

11:48Stahlgranate shells, which are HE shells and not solid shell AP shells as one might expect based on

11:54the steel projectile translation, but right at the bottom we can see a Panzergrenate 1941 shell,

12:01which appears to have an explosive filler of 118g. Unfortunately we aren't given any armour

12:07penetration figures, but we are given the weight and velocity of the round, which we can plug into

12:12Gaijin's armour penetration calculator, which gives us a maximum point blank range penetration at 0

12:18degrees of 72mm. So 12mm worse than the AP shell from the 75mm M2 on the M3 Li, 7mm worse than the

12:28APC-BC shell used by the Italian P40, and actually 9mm better than the APHE shell from the Swedish

12:36Stritzwagen M42. So it's not the best shell in the world, but it's certainly no slouch either.

12:42However, to complicate things for us, the fuse appears to have been fitted to the base of the

12:46shell, which on Italian shells sometimes cause them to act like HEZ shells, which might complicate

12:52its effectiveness. Though for simplicity I think it would be added as a regular APHE shell.

12:58Lastly for the armament, as this is fitted to the M4105, it will retain its slower turret traverse of

13:04just 4.2 degrees a second, which will make responding to enemy flanking attacks more difficult,

13:10while the in-game M4A3105 also has a better elevation of 35 degrees vs 25 degrees for the

13:1775mm armed variants, though I doubt this will have much effect in-game. Other than the armament,

13:23the rest of the stats should remain the same with a 5-man crew, top speed of 24mph or 39kmh,

13:30and a maximum armour thickness of 76mm for the turret and 50mm for the hull. I think this

13:36could work in-game at 2.7, the same battle rating as the M3 Lee and the Stritzwagen M42,

13:43as its gun will be able to deal with most enemies effectively at this battle rating while not being

13:48overpowered. And while its armour might be a problem for some enemies, it should be easy

13:53enough to flank this tank, while giving us a good tier 2 tank for the Israelis. In real life,

13:59the conversions of these Shermans weren't even decided on until December 1948, with the first of

14:05these entering surface in April 1949, which was too late for them to see action in the war as various

14:11armistice agreements had been signed with Egypt on the 24th of February 1949, Lebanon on the 23rd of March,

14:18and Jordan the 3rd of April. And while Syria wouldn't sign one until the 20th of July,

14:23most of the fighting would have been over by this point. These Krupp Shermans didn't stay in service

14:28for very long, with them being withdrawn at the end of 1951 in order to be fitted with 105mm howitzers,

14:36bringing them back to their original states. So by mid 1949, Israel had quite a few Sherman tanks in

14:42service, with 75mm armed Shermans being designated M3, regardless of whether it was placed on an M4,

14:49M4105, M4A1, M4A2, M4A3 or M4A4 Sherman, while the Krupp Shermans would have the 105mm howitzers refitted,

14:58making them M-4 Shermans, and with the end of the war, Israel would start to acquire more tanks,

15:04including Shermans with the long 76mm gun. These were usually based on the M4A1 or sometimes the M4A3,

15:11and these were designated the M1 Sherman, unless fitted with the HVSS suspension,

15:18in which case it was the M1 Super Sherman, which was a bit odd to read as that designation in the

15:23public eye is usually associated with the later M50 and M51 Shermans, though in real life I suspect

15:29the latter tanks were still given that Super Sherman name by regular soldiers and civilians, regardless

15:36of the official designation. Talking of the M50, I will cover it briefly here, then in more depth

15:46when looking at cold war tanks, but basically this came about from a collaboration in the mid 1950s

15:51between France and Israel to upgrade their Sherman tanks, primarily by fitting the 75mm SA50 gun from

15:59the AMX-13 light tank, greatly boosting the firepower and giving an in-game penetration of 180mm at 500m

16:08with its APC-BC shell, compared to 93mm for the M3 75mm gun, or 133mm for the M1 76mm gun.

16:17Initially these used a Continental engine, being designated the DeGem Alepth, with about 50 Shermans

16:24converted to this standard, but the later DeGem Bet variants used a Cummins 460hp diesel engine,

16:32with 250 tanks converted to this standard, and this was able to reach a top speed of 26mph or 42kmh,

16:40so marginally faster than the previous variant. Now the M50 should be relatively easy to add to the

16:46Israeli tech tree, as we sort of already have it in-game in the French tech tree as the M4A4 SA50,

16:52at tier 3 battle rating 5.0, and if added to the Israeli tech tree, it would make for a good

16:58tier 3 medium tank before reaching the M51, and it would be a good way to expand the Israeli tech

17:04tree beyond tier 4. In real life, the M50 would first see combat in the Suez Crisis in 1956, while

17:12also seeing combat in the Six Day War in 1967 and Yom Kippur War in 1973, with reducing effectiveness as

17:20time went on, before being withdrawn fully in 1976, with some supplied to various Lebanese militias,

17:27or sold to Chile, which I covered in my episode on Chilean tanks. There would also be another variant

17:33of the M50, the DeGem Yud, which had its hull height reduced by 30cm, mitigating a large weakness of the

17:41Sherman in how tall it is, as well as potentially improving mobility from excess weight being removed,

17:47but the rest of the stats are the same as the regular M50, and this could be a cool premium

17:52tank to have at 5.0, though I will likely look at it in more detail when covering Israeli cold war tanks.

17:58Lastly, Israel would convert Shermans into the M51, which was fitted with an even more powerful 105mm gun,

18:06but this is already represented in game with the more powerful engine, and is the starting medium

18:11tank for the Israeli tech tree, and again is probably better to consider as a cold war tank.

18:16However, while the Sherman is the most well known of Israeli World War 2 medium tanks,

18:21it also managed to acquire two Cromwell tanks during the First Arab-Israeli War. These were intended

18:27to be taken by British troops as they evacuated from Israel, but luckily for Israel, two British soldiers,

18:33Harry McDonald and Mike Flanagan, were sympathetic to the Israelis, and planned to steal four Cromwell

18:40tanks alongside drivers sent by the Israelis. Unfortunately, one of the tanks wouldn't start,

18:45and the other was driven into a ditch and got stuck, but Flanagan and McDonald managed to escape with

18:50the other two Cromwell tanks, and made it to Tel Aviv where they joined the IDF. Now the Cromwell tanks

18:56that were taken were of two different variants, one being a Mark III with a 57mm 6lb gun, and one being a

19:03Mark IV with a quick firing 75mm gun. Now unfortunately, those Cromwell variants aren't

19:09the ones in the British tech tree, but essentially the Mark III is the Centaur Mark I hull converted to

19:15take the Meteor engine, while the Mark IV is the Centaur III hull fitted with the Meteor engine.

19:21If you're a bit confused, see my episode on British WW2 tanks for the story behind the Centaur.

19:26This should allow them to act similarly to the Mark I and Mark V already in game,

19:31with the 57mm gun having excellent penetration stats, maxing out at 100mm at 500m with its APCBC shell,

19:40while the 75mm gun has 89mm penetration at 500m with its M61 APCBC shell, which in game in the British

19:49Czech tree is a solid shot shell, but potentially Israel might have had access to the American rounds

19:54because of their access to the 75mm guns, so potentially they might have shells with explosive

20:00filler within them, which will help with post penetration damage, and both tanks also have

20:05a 7.92mm bow and coaxial machine gun. As for the rest of the stats, these should be broadly the

20:11same as the Cromwell, with a maximum of 76mm of armour, a top speed of around 40mph or 64.3kmh,

20:19and a crew of 5. In game, these could probably be added at the same battle rating as their Cromwell

20:26counterparts, with the Mark IV at 3.3 and the Mark III at 3.7, probably on the second from left line

20:33of the Israeli tech tree, and these would make for a good counterpart to the Israeli Sherman tanks,

20:38being faster and lower profile than the Shermans, while also having good guns, but with flat sided armour

20:44that does make them vulnerable in a fight, but I still think they would be a good addition to the

20:49game. In real life, the Cromwell tanks, and McDonald and Flanagan, fought during the first

20:54Arab-Israeli war, with the Mark IV named Miriam and the Mark III Ruth, and despite sustaining damage,

21:02including the 75mm gun from the Mark IV being disabled by a makeshift HE shell, both tanks survive

21:08at Latrun to this day. Israel would also capture a large number of T-34-85s from the Egyptians,

21:15and it seems there was some consideration on adopting them, as they were used for testing

21:20and training purposes, but ultimately these weren't adopted by the IDF, and don't seem to have been

21:25used as combat tanks, that said if they were added they could go at 5.7, either in the main tech tree

21:31or as a premium tank. A few Panzer IVs would also be captured, this time from the Syrians,

21:37these generally being G, H and J variants, though some had an amalgamation of features from a variety

21:44of different variants, and these were often modified to take the DSHK machine gun on the roof.

21:49Some of these Panzer IVs still survive in Israel today, though these were not used as combat tanks

21:54by Israel, but then again neither was the ZSU-57-2, and that was added to the Israeli tech tree,

22:00so maybe we could see these tanks at 3.3 to 3.7, probably as premium tanks, though I personally would

22:06rather they not be added. Of course, as well as tanks, the Israelis also operated tank destroyer

22:12and SPG vehicles, including the American M10 GMC. So the story here seems to be that the Israelis,

22:19wanting to boost their armoured forces after the 1948 war, acquired roughly 101 M10 tank destroyers

22:26from France, with these originally fitted with the American 76mm M7 gun, though these were often in

22:32bad shape. However, this purchase was carried out at the same time work was being done on fitting the

22:3775mm SA50 onto the M50 tanks, so it was decided to carry out a similar conversion to the M10,

22:45with a large number of these vehicles converted, with these also bizarrely being called the M50,

22:50which does cause some confusion. However, it was realised that it was better to use the more powerful

22:5575mm gun on the Sherman tank, so these M10s were used for training purposes. However, this isn't

23:02quite the end of the story, as during the 1956 Suez Crisis, Israel would capture many Egyptian Archer

23:08tank destroyers, along with their 17 pounder guns, and vast quantities of ammunition. Not wanting to

23:15keep the vehicles, but seeing a use for the guns, the 17 pounders were fitted to the remaining M10s,

23:20and were again used for training purposes. So this gives us three potential variants,

23:26with two being relatively easy to add, with the initial 76mm armed variant and 17 pounder variant

23:32being added in a folder at 3.3, the same as their M10 GMC and Achilles counterparts.

23:39Meanwhile, the 75mm SA50 variant could also be added at 3.3, or maybe 3.7 at a push,

23:46as its best APCBC shell penetrates 180mm at 500m, only 8mm more than the 17 pounder's best APCBC shell,

23:57while the American APCBC shell penetrates 133mm but has an explosive filler, making the SA50 variant

24:04not that much of an improvement, though it does have a better muzzle velocity of 1000m a second,

24:10117m a second more than the next fastest shell. Other than that, it would share all of

24:16the other stats, having a slow turning open top turret, thin armour, a top speed of around

24:2230mph or 48km an hour depending on what chassis was used, and a 5 man crew. I think these would

24:28make for good Israeli tank destroyers, with the first two variants giving a choice between

24:33sheer penetration and post penetration damage, while the SA50 variant would in theory have the

24:38best penetrating weapon, and it would be nice to see these variants in the Israeli tech tree in War Thunder.

24:44In real life these vehicles were mainly used for training until 1966 before being retired,

24:50and one of these tank destroyers that had the 17 pounder still exists to this day,

24:55and is now operated by the WW2 armour organisation. Israel would also use half tracks fitted with

25:02anti-tank weapons, including at least one half track fitted with a British 57mm 6 pounder gun,

25:08which the Israelis named Roof. This would likely operate much the same as the SU-57 in the Soviet

25:14tech tree, though there might be some differences depending on if it's using the M3 or M5 half track,

25:20but overall it would have a very hard hitting weapon, but it would be lightly armoured, and it would have

25:25a top speed of around 42 to 45 miles per hour, again depending on if it's an M3 or M5, while a crew of

25:32five seems to have been carried. Overall this would make for a good tank destroyer 2.3, having a hard

25:38hitting weapon while limited by the lack of armour and turret, but it will make for a good ambush

25:42vehicle for the Israeli tech tree. There would also be other weapons fitted to half tracks, including at

25:48least one Krupp gun apparently tested out on a half track, though this appears to have been a one-off

25:53example, but other half tracks were also fitted with other weapons such as howitzers. The archer

26:00tank destroyers captured from the Egyptians probably shouldn't be added, as they don't seem to have

26:05been used by the Israelis, but as mentioned the same is true for the said SU-57 too, and as mentioned

26:11that's in the Israeli tech tree, so the archer could in theory also be added at 2.7, though again I would

26:17personally be against that. Stug 3s with the long 75mm gun and SU-100s operated by the

26:23Syrians and Egyptians respectively, would also be captured by the Israelis. These were not integrated

26:29into IDF service, but if Gaijin did decide to add them for whatever reason, the Stug 3 could be added

26:35at 4.0 and the SU-100 at 6.0, though again I personally don't think these vehicles should be added to the

26:42Israeli tech tree. The Israelis would also acquire a number of M7 priests in the 1960s, these being armed

26:49with a 105mm howitzer that in-game can penetrate 27mm with its HE shell, or 130mm with a HE shell,

26:58while smoke shells could also be carried. A 12.7mm machine gun is also carried for closing defence

27:04in a sort of pulpit position, which is where its nickname comes from. While its top speed is about

27:0926mph or 42kmh, 7-8 crew could be carried, and armour technically maxes out at 108mm, but is generally

27:1950mm or less for most areas, and the fighting compartment is open-topped, making it extremely

27:25vulnerable to aircraft and HE shells. In-game, the M7 priests could probably be added at around 2.7,

27:32giving Israel a good artillery vehicle with useful HE and HE shells, but suffering from the open-topped

27:38nature of the fighting compartment, which does make it vulnerable to almost all enemies.

27:44Lastly, there would also be the Sherman Ma 240, which was a Sherman chassis fitted with a rocket

27:50launcher that could launch 36 240mm rockets, which could make for a cool premium tank, though again

27:56I will properly cover this in the Israeli cold war tanks episode, as this was a conversion from after

28:02the 6 day war in 1967, so barely counts as a world war 2 tank. There would also be attempts to buy

28:0812 Jagdpanzer 38Ts from Czechoslovakia, but like with the LTVZ 38 tanks, the price was too high for

28:15these vehicles, being $75,000 per vehicle, compared to $41,000 for the H39s, so Israel didn't go

28:24through with this purchase. So moving on from tank destroyers, we now come to armoured cars,

28:29with us having quite a few options here, starting with the M3A1 white scout car, which has been

28:36modified and given a turret, with this armed with the 37mm SA38 gun, taken from the French H39s that

28:43we looked at earlier. As mentioned then, the 37mm gun penetrates 36mm at 500m with its APC shell,

28:51an ok performance, while a machine gun is mounted at the front of the hull, giving some good defence

28:57against soft skinned vehicles. It also looks like more armour has been fitted to the vehicle,

29:02providing protection against small arms fire threats at the very least, though likely not much

29:06else. While its top speed before the modifications was 50mph or 80kmh, though I suspect this may have

29:12been slowed down by the modifications, and it could originally carry up to 8 people, though I suspect

29:183-4 crew would be a more likely number in-game. This could make for a good starting armoured car at 1.0,

29:24having an ok 37mm gun and good to top speed, but being vulnerable to enemy fire, though this is the

29:31same for many other armoured cars, and I think it will do well in a scouting and hit and run role.

29:36Following from the M3A1, there would be a similar conversion on captured Marmon Herrington Mark IVFs,

29:42as the examples the Israelis acquired often had damaged or non-functional 40mm 2lb guns,

29:49resulting in at least two examples being fitted with the 37mm SA38 gun,

29:54which is significantly less powerful than the 2-pounder, again penetrating 36mm at 500m

30:00versus 49mm for the 2-pounder's APHE shell, which is also the worst performing in regards

30:06to armour penetration, with its best shell capable of penetrating 77mm at the same range,

30:12double that of the SA38. The Mark IVF is also different in that it is built on a Canadian Ford

30:183-ton truck chassis, but it should broadly have the same stats as the Mark IV,

30:23with a top speed of 52mph or 83kmh, a maximum of 12mm of armour, a crew of 3 and 2 machine guns,

30:30the usual 30k in the car axle position and one on the roof, while I haven't seen any smoke

30:36discharges like that on the in-game Mark IV. In-game this would probably be a 1.0 armoured car,

30:42preferably folded with the M3A1, being slightly better protected but having very similar stats

30:47compared to that vehicle, but it would still be a very good addition for War Thunder.

30:52The Israelis do also seem to have acquired Marmon Harrington armoured cars with their 40mm 2-pounder

30:57gun still operational, and these could be added at 1.3 like the in-game Mark IV,

31:02giving a good upgrade from the previous 37mm armoured vehicles. And then sticking with British armoured

31:08cars, at least one Daimler armoured car was used by the Israelis, with its standard 2-pounder gun

31:13appearing to be intact. So again this could be added at 1.3 like the Daimler Mark II in the British tech

31:19tree, maybe as a premium vehicle or alternative successor to the Marmon Harrington armoured cars.

31:25And this would perform much the same as in the British tech tree, though again in the pictures I

31:29found I haven't been able to see the smoke discharges so that might be missing unlike on the British

31:33example. Then going back to American armoured cars, we have this rather unusual example of an M5

31:40half-track with two turrets. There wasn't a lot of information on this vehicle until the last decade

31:45or so, and I believe these photos originate from an old War Thunder forum post by Cade, but as you can

31:51see this half-track has been heavily modified by fitting a turret from a Daimler armoured car and the

31:57manslet from a Humber armoured car. While the main armament is now the American 37mm gun instead of the

32:03original British two-pounder from the original Daimler turret, while a secondary turret is fitted at

32:08the front with a light machine gun, and there is a light machine gun in some of these pictures on top

32:13of the main turret. Additional armour also appears to have been fitted, and the fighting compartment is

32:20now enclosed, providing much better protection from small arms fire, though it will still be vulnerable

32:26to enemy anti-tank guns. While its original top speed is 42 miles per hour or 68 kilometres an hour,

32:32though the mobility and acceleration will likely be slowed due to the additional weight of the

32:36turret and armour, while a crew of four seems likely, with a driver, machine gunner in the frontal

32:42turret and two in the Daimler turret. Overall this would make for a good 1.3 armoured car,

32:48being an extremely unique design, while having a decent main armament and a turret unlike most

32:54half-track designs, and this would be a vehicle I would definitely want to see in the Israeli tech tree.

33:00Lastly for armoured cars, we have the T17 E1 Staghound, which was an American armoured car,

33:07but was never actually used by American forces, instead being built for other nations like the UK.

33:14Now Israel originally tried to acquire 50 of these in January 1948, so before Israel's independence,

33:20but either due to ultimately not being ordered or the arms embargo, these armoured cars were not

33:25available during the first Arab-Israeli war. However, Israel would acquire 112 of these vehicles

33:31between December 1951 and early 1953, but these were demilitarised and as such were not fitted with

33:3837mm guns or radios, and only 9 of the vehicles were fitted with 37mm guns by 1955, but in this year a

33:46further 100 guns were acquired, enough for nearly all of the Staghounds. Now the 37mm gun performs pretty

33:53well at the low tiers in game, having a penetration of 65mm at 500m with its stock AP shell, or 73mm with

34:01its APCBC shell, though these are all solid shells and as such post-penetration damage is limited,

34:07while two 30k machine guns are also carried, one in the coaxial position and one in the bow.

34:13Armour is naturally light, ranging from 12-32mm, so you will need to avoid stand-up fights. Though a

34:20smokewater was originally fitted to provide some concealment, but I'm unsure if this was available

34:25in Israeli service. It is also pretty fast, having a top speed of 56mph or 90kmh from two 97hp engines,

34:34while having four forward gears and one reverse and four-wheel drive, while a crew of four or five

34:40manned the vehicle. In-game this could be added at 1.3, giving us a fast armoured car with a hard-hitting,

34:46quick-firing weapon, making this well suited to scouting and flanking attacks in the lower tiers.

34:52In real life, despite now having a good number of these vehicles available, they were quickly

34:56superseded by the far more capable French AMX-13 light tanks. So while these armoured cars were in

35:02service during the Suez Crisis of 1956, they don't appear to have seen any combat, and 68 were sold to

35:09Nicaragua in 1957, which caught the United States by surprise and sparked fears of a minor arms race

35:16in Central America, which kind of surprised me. Though it seems that Nicaragua quickly sold some

35:21of these to Cuba, and one still survives in Israel as a museum exhibit. So that's about it for this

35:28episode looking at Israeli WW2 tanks, and I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on these tanks

35:33and any others you would like me to cover in the comments below. This was a bit of a hard episode to

35:37structure and decide what to cover, as there are many more vehicles based on WW2 tank chassis that

35:43the Israeli used, but fitted with armaments or features that are more at home in the Cold War,

35:48so we will probably see some familiar vehicles when we look at Israeli Cold War tanks.

35:53With all of the main nations covered, it is time to go back and look at the SPGs and armoured cars from

35:58previously covered nations, which I might do for the next episode or I might quickly cover Hungarian

36:03tanks first, but we shall see. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this episode,

36:08hopefully you'll join me for the next one, I've been Torano and I'll see you next time.

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