8th Armored Brigade (Israel)

Alexandroni Brigade
Brigade insignia
Active	1948–present
Country	Israel
Allegiance	Israel Defense Forces
Type	Reserves
Size	Brigade
Engagements	1948 Arab–Israeli War Operation Danny Operation Yoav Operation Assaf Operation Horev Six-Day War Yom Kippur War 1982 Lebanon War

The 8th Armored Brigade (

The brigade was called 'armoured' for morale reasons, although in reality it only had a single tank company (later in the war, two companies), and a single APC company (these companies became the brigade's armoured battalion), and an assault battalion composed of jeeps.

The Brigade's first commander was Yitzhak Sadeh.

History

Founding and organization

The brigade was founded and subordinated to Yitzhak Sadeh on May 24, 1948. Two battalions were created—the 82nd Tank Battalion under Felix Biatus, and the 89th Commando Battalion under Moshe Dayan.^[1] Another battalion, the 88th, was founded later.

According to Dayan, the 89th consisted of four companies each made up of different groups: from

On 11 July 1948, the 89th Battalion was involved in the attack on Lydda. Later that month, Dayan became the commander of the Jerusalem front and was replaced by Dov Chesis. On 28 October the 89th Battalion, now under Chesis, captured the town of al-Dawayima.

Among others, the brigade participated in Operation Danny, Operation Yoav, Operation Assaf and Operation Horev.

After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Following the 1948 war, the brigade served as the backbone of the IDF's

• List of battles and operations in the 1948 Palestine war
• Al-Dawayima massacre

References