It was chilly up there on the Golan Heights in late March when I posed beside this Israeli Centurion, a mainstay of the IDF Armored Corps on the Golan in the 1973 war. It was parked at a memorial for the 679 Reserve Armored Brigade which lost 98 men and two score tanks fighting a superior force of Syrians.
The Centurions have been replaced by Merkevas, but the old British tanks are remembered for the accuracy of their 105mm main guns and the way shells from Syria’s Russian T-62s ricocheted off the Centurion plate. Which is why, although the Israeli Armored Corps also purchased U.S. M-48s and M-60s, they bought more of the Centurions and preferred them.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Dick, have you read “The Heights of Courage” by Avarham Kahalani? It is one of the classic first person viewpoints of modern war. Kahalani was a battalion commander in the 7th Armored Brigade on the Golan Heights in Oct. 73. His unit defended the key point of the Israeli defense against the Syrian onslaught. The stand of Kahalani and his battalion was roughly equivalent to the stand of the 20th Maine under the command of Joshua Chamberlain at Little Round Top on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
I’ve read it, yes. It was good. The sad thing was the Syrians actually broke through south of his stand and, but for a few problems they encountered, could have sent one wing to take his battalion from the rear and another down into the Galilee. Fortunately they were driven back.