4th Infantry Brigade (Lebanon)

The 4th Infantry Brigade (Lebanon) was a Lebanese Army unit that fought in the Lebanese Civil War, being active from its creation in September 1982 to its destruction in September 1983, in wake of the Mountain War.

Origins

In the aftermath of the June–September 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, President Amin Gemayel, convinced that a strong and unified national defense force was a prerequisite to rebuilding the nation, announced plans to raise a 60,000-man army organized into twelve brigades (created from existing infantry regiments), trained and equipped by France and the United States. In late 1982, the 4th Infantry Regiment was therefore re-organized and expanded to a brigade group numbering 2,000 men, most of whom were Maronite Christians from the Mount Lebanon region and Druzes from the Chouf.

Structure and organization

The new unit grew from an understrength battalion comprising three rifle companies to a fully equipped mechanized infantry brigade, capable of aligning an armoured battalion equipped with Panhard AML-90 armoured cars, AMX-13 light tanks and twenty-one M48A5 main battle tanks (MBTs), three mechanized infantry battalions issued with M113 and AMX-VCI armored personnel carriers (APC) and an artillery battalion fielding US M114 155 mm howitzers and FH-70 155mm Howitzers.

Combat history

The Mountain War

After linking up at Khalde with their Shiite Amal allies, the Druze PSP militia forces drove the mixed Fourth Brigade 3½ miles south to the vicinity of Damour, in the Iqlim al-Kharrub coastal enclave, as they attempted to create a salient from Aley to the coast at Khalde, south of Beirut. Surrounded and badly mauled, the Brigade disintegrated when approximately 900 Druze enlisted men, plus 60 Officers and NCOs, deserted the Brigade to join their coreligionists of Jumblatt’s PSP or SSNP militias. The remainder 1,000 or so Christian Maronite Officers’and men fled south across the Awali River, seeking protection behind Israeli lines while leaving behind some US-made Tanks and APCs, Jeeps, trucks, Howitzers and ammunition.[1] After reaching Sidon, the soldiers were evacuated by sea to East Beirut, where they enrolled in the 10th Airmobile Brigade[2] and other Christian-dominated army units.

Most of the 4th Brigade equipment was shared by several Lebanese militias, namely the Lebanese Forces (LF), the Druze PSP and the South Lebanon Army (SLA). The LF salvaged seven M48A5 MBTs,[3] five AMX-13 light tanks, twelve Panhard AML-90 armoured cars, some M113 APCs[4] and a number of FH-70 155mm Howitzers, while the Druze militias seized several M-113s and seven M48A5 tanks and the SLA captured a few AMX-VCIs and also seven M48A5 tanks. The LF and the PSP also seized all the Brigade's liaison and transport vehicles such as US M151 ‘Mutt’ jeeps, Chevrolet C20 and Dodge Ram (1st generation) technicals and US M35 2½-ton (6x6) military trucks.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Laurence I. Barrett, Failure of a Flawed Policy, TIME Magazine, February 27, 1984. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921522,00.html
  2. ↑ Micheletti and Debay, La 10e Brigade Heliportée, RAIDS magazine (1989), p. 21 (box).
  3. ↑ Zaloga, Tank battles of the Mid-East Wars (2) (1998), pp. 63-64.
  4. ↑ Katz and Volstad, Arab Armies of the Middle East wars 2 (1988), p. 47, Plate H4.

References

External links