Between June 1947 and October 31, 1949 the Jewish agency (later to become the
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i government) seeking weapons for
Operation BalakDuring the chaotic period of the founding of Israel in 1948, Operation Balak was the smuggling of arms purchased in Europe, avoiding various embargoes and boycotts, to the Zionists...
, made several purchases of weapons in
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, some of them of former German army weapons, captured by the Czechoslovak army on its national territory, or newly produced German weapons from Czechoslovakia's post-war production.
The Czechoslovak partner in this deal was the department of Ministry of National Defense called "Secretariat D", under command of general J.
Between June 1947 and October 31, 1949 the Jewish agency (later to become the
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i government) seeking weapons for
Operation BalakDuring the chaotic period of the founding of Israel in 1948, Operation Balak was the smuggling of arms purchased in Europe, avoiding various embargoes and boycotts, to the Zionists...
, made several purchases of weapons in
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, some of them of former German army weapons, captured by the Czechoslovak army on its national territory, or newly produced German weapons from Czechoslovakia's post-war production.
The Czechoslovak partner in this deal was the department of Ministry of National Defense called "Secretariat D", under command of general J. Heřman.
One of the first large contracts was signed on January 14, 1948, and included 200
MG 34The Maschinengewehr 34, or MG 34, was a German machine gun that was first produced and accepted into service in 1934, and first issued to units in 1935. It was an air-cooled machine gun firing the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge....
machine guns, 4,500
P 18 rifleThe Karabiner 98 Kurz was a bolt-action rifle adopted as the standard infantry rifle in 1935 by the German Wehrmacht, and was one of the final developments in the long line of Mauser military rifles.-General information:The Karabiner 98k was a controlled-feed bolt-action rifle based on the Mauser...
s and 50,400,000 rounds of ammunition. The deliveries from Czechoslovakia proved important for the establishment of Israel.
Infantry weapons
- 34,500 P 18 rifles
The Karabiner 98 Kurz was a bolt-action rifle adopted as the standard infantry rifle in 1935 by the German Wehrmacht, and was one of the final developments in the long line of Mauser military rifles.-General information:The Karabiner 98k was a controlled-feed bolt-action rifle based on the Mauser...
- 5,515 MG 34
The Maschinengewehr 34, or MG 34, was a German machine gun that was first produced and accepted into service in 1934, and first issued to units in 1935. It was an air-cooled machine gun firing the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge....
machine guns with 10,000 ammo beltsA belt or ammunition belt is a device used to retain and feed cartridges into a firearm. Belts and the associated feed systems are typically employed to feed machine guns or other automatic weapons...
- 10,000 bayonet
A bayonet is a knife-, dagger-, sword-, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle barrel or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear. It is a close quarter battle combat or last-resort weapon.-History: The origins of the bayonet are...
s vz.24
- 900 vz. 37 heavy machine guns
- 500 vz. 27 pistols
Other infantry weapons
- 12 ZK-383
The ZK-338 is a submachine gun and was developed by Koucký brothers who worked at the Zbrojovka Brno arms factory in Czechoslovakia. It was produced at a slow rate from 1938 and was exported as far as Latin American to Bolivia and Venezuela.-History:...
submachine guns
- 10 ZK 420 semi-automatic rifle
A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single bullet each time the trigger is pulled, automatically ejects the spent cartridge, chambers a fresh cartridge from its magazine, and is immediately ready to fire another shot...
s
- 500 vz. 26 light machine guns (shipped, yet delivery not confirmed in Czech sources)
Ammunition
- 91,500,000 7,92 x 57 mm cartridges
- 15,000,000 9mm Parabellum
The 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge was designed by Georg Luger and introduced in 1902 by the German weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken for their Luger semi-automatic pistol...
cartridges
- 375,000 13mm cartridges for MG 131
- 150,000 20mm cartridges for MG 151
- 375,000 cartridges 7,65mm
The .32 ACP pistol cartridge is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled cartridge developed by firearms designer John Browning, for use in the FN M1900 semi-automatic pistol. It is also known as the 7.65x17mm Browning SR or 7.65 mm Browning...
for vz. 27 pistol
Aircraft
- 25 Avia S-199
The Avia S-199 was a fighter aircraft built after World War II by the Avia Company , a branch of the enormous Škoda Works in Czechoslovakia. It was constructed with parts and plans left over from Luftwaffe aircraft production that had taken place under the country's German occupation during the war...
fighters
- 61 Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries through the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used into the 1950s both as a front line fighter and in secondary roles...
Mk. IX fighters
Some of the
aircraftAn aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly by being supported by the air, or in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly by being supported...
were lost en route to Israel. The delivery of aircraft began on May 20 1948, and was conducted from the Czechoslovak airfield near the town of
ŽatecŽatec is an old town in the Czech Republic, in Louny District, Ústí nad Labem Region. It has a population of 19,813 .The earliest historical reference to Sacz is in the Latin chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg of 1004. During the 11th century it belonged to the Vršovci - a powerful Czech...
, and in the Czechoslovak army delivery operations were summary known under codename Akce Žatec (Operation Žatec).
Some of the deliveries were not finished until after
cessation of hostilitiesA ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces.-World War I:On December 24, 1914,...
. Only eighteen Spitfires reached Israel prior to end of
warThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict.The war...
by direct flight from Czechoslovakia (operations
Velveta 1 in September (6 planes) and
Velveta 2 in December 1948 (12 planes), both operations with a refueling stop in
YugoslaviaYugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.The first country to be known by this...
.
During operation
Velveta 2 Spitfires were repainted in
Yugoslav Air ForceThe Ratno vazduhoplovstvo i protiv vazdušna odbrana - RV i PVO SFRJ - SFR Yugoslav Air Force, sometimes simply called Jugoslovensko ratno vazduhoplovstvo or JRV but also known as the Former Yugoslav Air Force, was the air force of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
markings for the flight from Kunovice to
NikšićNikšić is a city in Montenegro . In 2003 the city had a total population of 58,212.Nikšić is located in Nikšić plain, at the foot of Mount Trebjesa. It is the center of Nikšić municipality , which is the largest municipality in Montenegro by area...
.
The rest were shipped in crates, officially declared as scrap iron, along with 12
Merlin 66The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British, liquid-cooled, 27-litre capacity, V-12 piston aero engine, designed and built by Rolls-Royce Limited...
engines, and deliveries lasted until the end of April 1950.
Other defense cooperation
Czechoslovakia also trained 81 pilots and 69 ground crew specialists, some of them later forming the
first fighter unitThe 101 Squadron of the Israeli Air Force, also known as the First Fighter Squadron, is Israel's first fighter squadron, created May 20, 1948 at former RAF Aqir Airbase. Four Avia S-199s flew the squadron's first mission on May 29. It currently operates F-16C/D fighters out of Hatzor...
of the
Israeli Air ForceThe Israeli Air Force is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces...
, and on the soil of
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
a group of Jewish volunteers the size of approximately a
brigadeA brigade is a military unit that is typically composed of two to five regiments or battalions, depending on the era and nationality of a given army. Usually, a brigade is a sub-component of a division, a larger unit consisting of two or more brigades; however, some brigades are classified as a...
(about 1,300 men and women) were also trained, from August 20 1948 until November 4 1948 . The Czechoslovak codename of the training was
DI (an abbreviation from "Důvěrné Israel", literally meaning "Classified, Israel"). The Czechoslovakian trained ground forces didn't take part in the 1948 war.
The end of cooperation
With the
rising power of communistsThe Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 was an event late that February in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, ushering in over four decades of dictatorship...
in Czechoslovakia, as well as the changing views of the Communist Party and the decline of Stalin's support for state of Israel, the Czechoslovak government was forced to end its weapons sales to Israel.