Middle East @War №44 - Czechoslovak Arms Exports to the Middle East, Vol. 2. Syria 1948-1989 OPT.pdf

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M I D D L E E A S T

WA R N o . 4 4

CZECHOSLOVAK

ARMS EXPORTS TO THE

MIDDLE EAST

VOLUME 2

SYRIA 1948 1989

Martin Smisek

CONTENTS

Abbreviations

Introduction

Syria (Operation 104, Country 627, Operation 659)

Deliveries with Soviet Participation

Military Assistance in the Times of the United Arab Republic

Syrian Secession from the United Arab Republic

Licking Wounds

Arming for the Next War

Licking Wounds, Round Two

Assad’s Deals

Bibliography

Notes

About the Author

In order to simplify the use of this book, all names, locations and geographic designations are as provided in

The Times World Atlas,

other traditionally accepted major sources of reference, as of the time of described events. Similarly, Arabic names are romanised and

transcripted rather than transliterated. For example: the definite article al- before words starting with ‘sun letters’ is given as pronounced

instead of simply as al- (which is the usual practice for non-Arabic speakers in most English-language literature and media). Instead of

using the diacritical marks to represent the letter ‘ayn, double a is used, while names like ‘Faisal/Feisal’ are spelled as ‘Faysal’.

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Cover designed by Paul Hewitt, Battlefield Design (www.battlefield-design.co.uk)

Text © Martin Smisek 2022

Photographs © as individually credited

Colour artwork © David Bocquelet and Tom Cooper 2022

Maps and diagrams © Tom Cooper 2022

Cover photo: A flight of three L-29s of the SyAAF, seen in the 1970s. The type played a crucial role not only in training

dozens of new Syrian pilots when the re-established air force needed them most urgently, in the mid-1960s, but

also in training of two dozen subsequent generations of Syrian pilots. (Martin Smisek Collection)

Cover artwork: After purchasing 55 L-39ZOs, Syria acquired a total of 44 L-39ZAs: a variant armed with a 23mm gun installed under the cockpit - in

addition to four underwing pylons rated for a load of 250kg (outboard hardpoints) and 500kg (inboard pylons), respectively. (Artwork by Tom Cooper)

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MIDDLE EAST@WAR VOLUME 44

ABBREVIATIONS

APC

ATD

c/n

HTS

IFR

KSČ

ÚV KSČ

MTC

NCO

s/n

SyAAF

USSR

VFR

VAAZ

ZF VAAZ

air base

armoured personnel carrier

Air Training Department of the Syrian

Arab Air Force

construction number

Hlavní technická správa (Main Technical

Administration)

instrument flight rules

Komunistická strana Československa (Communist

Party of Czechoslovakia)

Ústřední v�½bor Komunistické strany

Československa (Central Committee of the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia)

Military Technical College

non-commissioned officer

serial number

Syrian Arab Air Force

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

visual flight rules

Vojenská akademie Antonína Zápotockého

(Antonín Zápotock�½ Military Academy)

Zahraniční fakulta Vojenské akademie Antonína

Zápotockého (Foreign Faculty of the Antonín

Zápotock�½ Military Academy)

INTRODUCTION

With the delivery of decommissioned ex-Wehrmacht StuG III assault

guns from Czechoslovakia in 1955, Syria became the first Arab state

to acquire military hardware from any communist country.

After the end of the Second World War, the Czechoslovak arms

industry tried to return to the significant position it had before the

Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. However, due

to the onset of the Cold War, this was not entirely possible. The

influence of the United States prevented Czechoslovak companies

from exporting arms to Latin American countries. At the same time,

Soviet dominance made it impossible to supply military hardware

to the traditional Czechoslovak pre-war market in the Balkans. This

left the Middle East as one of the few opportunities to build on the

pre-war business. Coincidentally, the Middle East in those times was

an area of rapidly rising tensions, which made it imperative for Arab

and Jewish officials alike to look for opportunities to buy weapons.

Therefore, on 23 November 1947, Syrian representatives signed

a contract with Zbrojovka Brno for the supply of weapons for the

Arab Liberation Army, the military formation of mainly Syrian,

Lebanese and Palestinian volunteers that fought on the Arab side.

The deal stipulated delivery of 10,000 P-18 rifles, 1,000 ZK 383

submachine guns, 500 MG 34 machine guns and 11.5 million rounds

of related ammunition. The first batch composed of 8,000 P-18 rifles

with 6 million rounds of 7.92mm ammunition was dispatched to

Yugoslavia where it was loaded on the Italian liner SS

Lino

(more

details about this delivery can be found in Volume 1 of this series).

However, the transport of the remaining arms from this contract

was later cancelled upon the urging of Jewish officials since the

newly emerged State of Israel also tried to obtain weapons in

Prague. Simultaneously, Czechoslovakia became an integral part of

the Soviet Bloc which was heralded by the communist

coup d’état

in February 1948. In the end, the Czechoslovak communist-led

government decided, with backing from Moscow, to prefer Israel

in deliveries of armament, which subsequently led to violating the

UN arms embargo. These arms – largely infantry weapons and

fighter aircraft – played a crucial role in the subsequent 1948 Arab-

Israeli War. When it became clear that Israel would not become a

communist country, solid relations between the two states were

disrupted by the Czechoslovak government. In addition, in July

1950, the Czechoslovak Ministry of National Defence prohibited the

export of all Czechoslovak weapons to Israel.

At the same time and in accordance with Soviet wishes, Prague

embarked on the establishment of massive arms manufacturing

capacities. The maximum weapons production from 1951–53 was

known as the three-year arms plan and was largely dedicated to the

licenced production of Soviet guns, tanks and fighter aircraft, whose

deliveries were then to be made primarily to the Czechoslovak

Army and other armed forces of the Soviet Bloc states. However,

this policy ran into problems just a few years later when, due to

communists mismanagement and enormous arms spending, the

recipient countries had problems buying additional weapons and

paying for them.

Meanwhile, however, interest in the supply of armament from

communist Czechoslovakia began to increase in Third World

countries. Thanks to this, Prague was able to preserve its large

capacity for the production of military hardware and at the same time

earn the necessary foreign currency (pounds sterling or the United

States dollar) by exporting weapons outside the Warsaw Pact states.

Not only did Syria became one of the first customers, but Damascus

also remained the most loyal client of Czechoslovak arms in the

Middle East until the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

SYRIA (OPERATION 104,

COUNTRY 627, OPERATION 659)

Growing discontent with the military autocracy of Syrian President

Adib al-Shishakli eventually led to a

coup d’état

in February 1954.

The elderly Hashim Khalid al-Atassi became the new president, who

tried during his short tenure to limit the influence of military officers

and continuously increasing leftist feelings characterised by socialist

ideology, sympathy towards the Soviet Union and adherence to

the policy of Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Following these

developments, Czechoslovak officials came to the conclusion that

renewed placement of Czechoslovak diplomatic representation

in Syria could have advantageous prospects (Czechoslovakia had

a diplomatic mission on Syrian soil between 1926 and 1951 in

the form of an honorary consulate in Aleppo). The establishment

of a Czechoslovak embassy in Damascus was approved by the

Czechoslovak government in March 1954, the embassy opening in

March the following year.

During the same month (March 1955), Syrian military officials

turned to Czechoslovak representatives with a request for delivery

of armament. Expecting that the Czechoslovak People’s Army still

had armour of German origin from the Second World War, the

Syrians requested delivery of PzKpfw IV medium tanks (in order to

complement the examples bought two years previously in France)

and Hummel self-propelled guns. Although 12 of the latter vehicles

GERMAN ARMOUR FOR THE SYRIAN ARAB ARMY

CZECHOSLOVAK ARMS EXPORTS TO THE MIDDLE EAST VOLUME 2: SYRIA 1948–1989

happy because, according to

their own words, the vehicles

were only worth scrap but they

were sold for a price more than

11 times higher.

Tanks and assault guns for

the Syrian Arab Army were

stored at the 2nd Tank Base

(2.

tanková základna)

in �½ilina

(Czechoslovak tank bases

in the first half of the 1950s

functioned as storage depots

for surplus German, Soviet and

British armoured vehicles of

Second World War-vintage that

would be used as a wartime

reserve). This unit quickly

prepared selected armour into a

combat-ready state – deliveries

of the vehicles were finished

A pair of StuG III Ausf. Gs of the 70th Armoured Brigade, seen during a military parade in Damascus in 1958 (by

during early August 1955,

when Syria had joined Egypt to form the United Arab Republic). Notable on the flat surfaces of the vehicles

are traces of the application of the Zimmerit paste, used to prevent attachment of magnetic mines during the

and shipments of spare parts

Second World War. (Albert Grandolini Collection)

continued until November

of the same year. Each tank

and assault gun underwent

test drives of 10–50km (6–31

miles), on and off road. Six

vehicles (five PzKpfw IVs and

one StuG III) also passed firing

trials of their main guns. After

the successful testing, an HTS

representative carried out a

final inspection and signed

acceptance documents. After

this procedure, vehicles were

cleaned and sealed up. To

maintain secrecy (the 2nd Tank

Base had no fence), tanks and

assault guns were transported

to the 2nd Central Equipment

Depot (2.

ústřední sklad

v�½stroje)

at Vrútky. Here, a

steam crane helped place them

in specially designed transport

frames covered with planking

and then loaded them onto five

A still from a documentary film, showing the rear of a PzKpfw IVs of the 70th Armoured Brigade. Although the

trains that ferried them to the

Syrians acquired additional examples from France and even Spain, most of these were in very poor condition:

the mass of their operational Panzer IVs thus came from Czechoslovakia. (Tom Cooper Collection)

Romanian port of Constanța

between June and August 1955.

were used by the 8th Fortress Brigade (8.

pevnostní brigáda)

for Spare parts were obtained by cannibalising 15 tanks and 12 assault

some time, because of their poor technical condition they were guns. Syria paid for the delivered goods from this contract in cash.

retired around 1954 and thereafter used as a source of spare parts

before being scrapped. Thus, Hummel self-propelled guns were not

available to satisfy Syrian demands. However, the Main Technical

Administration (Hlavní

technická správa,

HTS) of the Ministry

of Foreign Trade was ready to talk, and during negotiations in

Czechoslovakia in April 1955 offered surplus StuG III assault guns

instead.

The Syrians eventually accepted this offer, and a contract

for the delivery of 45 PzKpfw IV tanks and 12 StuG III guns with

spare parts, with a total value of £254,644 (5,134,000 CSK), was

signed on 11 May 1955. Officials from the HTS were more than

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