45th Brigade (Armored) - Carmeli Brigade
The Barak brigade began as the "Carmeli" Division in the War of Independence. The group sustained heavy losses in battles stretching from Manara in the north to the Western Galilee. When the IDF was created the Carmeli brigade became the "18th Brigade". During the Sinai Campaign, the brigade was deployed on the Jordanian border, and therefore did not have an active role in the combat.
In the Six Day War, the division took part in a blood soaked military campaign which became known as the Battle of Dotan, a move that ended with the bombing of the Jordan River bridges. Yet, the Brigade's most decorated - and devastating - days were yet to come. One of the main conclusions after the war was that the army needed armored units, and the 18th Brigade started the changeover by becoming "the 45th Armored Brigade".
The brigade commander, Moshe Bar-Kochba (Brill) commanded the brigade in the Six Day War. The brigade received the Eastern sector. The IDF took the initiative to attack, in order to remove the threat of the Long Tom guns on the valley settlements and on the Ramat David airfield. The brigade fought a number of bloody battles in the Dotan Valley, which ended with the blowing up of the Jordan river bridges. On Yom Kippur 1973, Carmieli was the only armored presence positioned on the Golan Heights. Its soldiers were forced to face a Syrian force ten times its size. Within 24 hours, only 15 tanks remained.
At the start of the 1970s, the brigade participated in armored attacks on terrorist bases in South Lebanon and Syria.
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