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Zvi "Zvika" Greengold (born 1952) was an Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East 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 relatively small area....
i IDF
Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew Acronym and initialism Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the GOC Army Headquarters, Israeli Air Force and Israeli navy....
 tank commander who fought during the 1973 Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War

The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to October 26, 1973 by a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel....
. As a result of his actions during the war, he became a national hero in Israel, and one of only six people who fought in the war to be awarded the Medal of Valor
Medal of Valor

The Medal of Valor is the highest Israeli Military decorations.The medal was established in 1970 by the Knesset in an act of law and was also awarded for actions prior to 1970....
, the nation's highest medal for heroism. Born and raised on Kibbutz Lohamey HaGeta'ot (founded by Holocaust survivors of underground and partisan
Soviet partisans

The Soviet Partisan were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis forces occupation of the Soviet Union during the Second World War....
 combat against the Nazis), until 2008 he lived in a Galilee
Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the ridges of Mount Carmel and Mount Gilboa t...
 hilltop village.






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Zvi "Zvika" Greengold (born 1952) was an Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East 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 relatively small area....
i IDF
Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew Acronym and initialism Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the GOC Army Headquarters, Israeli Air Force and Israeli navy....
 tank commander who fought during the 1973 Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War

The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to October 26, 1973 by a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel....
. As a result of his actions during the war, he became a national hero in Israel, and one of only six people who fought in the war to be awarded the Medal of Valor
Medal of Valor

The Medal of Valor is the highest Israeli Military decorations.The medal was established in 1970 by the Knesset in an act of law and was also awarded for actions prior to 1970....
, the nation's highest medal for heroism. Born and raised on Kibbutz Lohamey HaGeta'ot (founded by Holocaust survivors of underground and partisan
Soviet partisans

The Soviet Partisan were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis forces occupation of the Soviet Union during the Second World War....
 combat against the Nazis), until 2008 he lived in a Galilee
Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the ridges of Mount Carmel and Mount Gilboa t...
 hilltop village. He was one of the founders of the vegetarian food company Tiv'ol and the managing director of Frutarom
Frutarom

Frutarom is a multinational flavor and fragrance house established in 1933 with sales of $243.8 million in 2005.Operating under two main divisions ? Flavors and Fine Ingredients, creates, produces and markets at fourteen locations worldwide a large variety of flavor and fragrance Chemical compound and ingredients, as well as other specialty...
 chemical company. In 2008 he was elected Mayor of the Israeli city of Ofakim. Though he never lived there the residents of Ofakim saw no greater person to lead them to the harsh economic ad security times (Palestinian terrorists were firing and still are firing rockets into Ofakim) than the great hero Zvika Greengold.

Yom Kippur War

At the start of the war Greengold, then a lieutenant
Lieutenant

Lieutenant is a military, naval, paramilitary, fire service, emergency medical services or police commissioned officer military rank.Lieutenant may also appear as part of a title used in various other organisations with a codified command structure....
, was unattached to any unit as he was enrolled in a course for company commanders, and was actually at home in his kibbutz. He volunteered for service at Nafekh and initially helped with the wounded as no tanks were available. Once Centurion tank
Centurion tank

The Centurion was the primary United Kingdom main battle tank of the postwar period, and has proven itself be a successful tank design for most of the postwar decades; the Centurion's success has been mainly due to its thick armour, adaptability of its chassis to other roles, and numerous upgrades....
s became available, he managed to commandeer one with the help of reserve crews.

His tank fought sometimes alone and sometimes in conjunction with other tanks, with Greengold having to change tanks "half a dozen times" as tanks were knocked out. Greengold managed to commandeer stray tanks at times to form a makeshift "task force". During the following battle he identified his tank(s) to command as "Koah Zvika" (English: Zvika Force) to fool the Syrians into thinking they were fighting a tank unit instead of at times his solitary tank. Part of his tactics included holding up a Syrian tank unit by firing and rapidly changing position to allow the Syrians to think they themselves were facing an Israeli tank unit instead of a single tank. Greengold managed to continue fighting the Syrians even though he was wounded and burned during the 20 hours of the action he took part in. Today as Mayor of Ofakim Zvika regularly speaks to people in and out of Israel, mainly high school children, about his courageous acts in the Yom Kippur War.