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Avigdor Kahalani (1944 - present) is a former career officer in the Israel Defense Forces, veteran of 2 of the most important wars Israel faced and a former politician in Israel’s Knesset. He is most famous for his heroics in the Yom Kippur War.
Early Life
Kahalani (born June 16, 1944) was born in pre-State Israel (Mandate era - Palestine) in Ness Ziona. He studied mechanics at the ORT School in Jaffa. He gained a B.A. in History from Tel Aviv University and an M.A. in Political Science from Haifa University. He also attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and graduated from Israel’s National Defense College.
Later he was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1962, and joined the 7th Brigade of the IDF Armored Corps. Starting as a regular soldier, but later completed a tank commander’s course with honors. He then completed an officer’s course with honors at Bahad 1, and became a career officer in the IDF. In 1964, he was part of an IDF delegation to West Germany to receive the IDF’s first M48 Patton tanks.
Heroic actions during the Yom Kippur War
In 1973 during Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, Israel suffered a surprise attack from Syria, taking advantage of the weak defenses in the frontier. At that time, Kahalani was 29 years old and was the commander of the 77th Armored Battalion of the 7th Brigade, he was tasked to hold the line in the Golan Heights with only 170 tanks mainly british made Centurion tanks against the overwhelming 1,400 syrian tanks, composed of T-55 and T-62 (both superior tanks than the centurions or even the magach). With his men vastly outnumbered and under fire, Kahalani and his brigade used tactics of firing and retreating until reloaded, using the height and cover at his favor, while the syrian tanks were at the valley without cover.
During the battle he showed great leadership and inspired the exhausted crews to fight on, determined by his refusal to retreat, which could mean the end of Israel. With his great courage, he managed to stop and push the Syrian forces out of the valley, if like a tale of David and Goliath (at the end of the battle he only had 7 tanks left). The hundred of syrian tank losses in that battle renamed that valley as The Valley of Tears. And for his heroic actions, Kahalani was awarded the highest Israeli military decoration, the Medal of Valor.
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Sources:
https://www.ifcj.org/news/stand-for-israel-blog/idf-commander-who-saved-golan-heights
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/on-courage-avigdor-kahalani-and-zvika-greengold/