Book Review of
Czechoslovak Arms Exports to the Middle East
Vol. 2: Syria 1949-1989
Author: Martin Smisek
Helion & Co. Ltd. Middle East @ War series no. 44
ICBN: 978-1-915070-78-4
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
HISTORY:
During the Cold War, communist Czechoslovakia was one of the largest arms exporters to the Middle East, arming the Soviet Bloc countries. The second volume of this mini-series describes the history of arms export from Czechoslovakia to Syria, including related military assistance.
Syria ordered infantry weapons in Czechoslovakia before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Although the first batch of rifles together with related ammunition was shipped to the customer, the delivery of remaining arms from this contract was cancelled upon the urging of Jewish officials, since the newly established state of Israel was also trying to obtain weapons from Prague.
Afterward, the Czechoslovak communist government decided, with consent from Moscow, to prefer Israel in deliveries of armament. When it became clear that the Jewish state would not become a communist country, Czechoslovakia broke good relations between the two countries. The leadership in Prague subsequently focused strictly on the deliveries of weapons to Arab states
Thus in 1955, thanks to Czechoslovakia, Syria became the first Arab state which obtained weapon from any communist country. The first deliveries of former Wehrmacht tanks and assault guns were quickly followed by huge transfers of the latest Czechoslovak weapons, which made it possible to quickly rearm a large part of the Syrian Arab Army. The shipments of armament were accompanied by the activities of Czechoslovak instructors , with trained Syrian soldiers in Czechoslovakia, Egypt and Syria.
The period of plenty was temporarily interrupted by Syria’s incorporation into the United Arab Republic. Once, Damascus regained its independence in 1961, Syrian military officials immediately turned to Prague for military assistance again. The first important deal materialized in 1963 with an order for L-29 Delfin jet trainers.
From the early 1970s, Prague began to supply Syria with licensed T-55 tanks and delivered armored support vehicles, which were used during the fighting of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Shipments of Czechoslovak military hardware to Syria peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Damascus received impressive quantities of T-55 tanks, BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles and L-39 Albatross training aircraft.
Throughout the whole time, however, Syria struggled many times with the ability to smoothly pay for all the supplies of Czechoslovak armaments. Damascus’s payment problems culminated in the late 1980s and meant huge financial losses for the successor countries of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Using declassified original documents, this is the most comprehensive account of Cold War Czechoslovakia military involvement in the Middle East ever published.
The book gives concise and insightful text, original photography and unique color artworks, examining conflict throughout the Middle East in the 20th century and beyond.
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co., Ltd. is based in the UK.
The book is in soft-cover of 64 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a black and white photo of a flight of 3 L-29 aircrafts of the Syrian Air Force, over a color side profile illustration of a Syrian L-39ZA-2.
The book begins with ABBREVIATIONS & an INTRODUCTION.
The book contains 52 black and white photos, 4 maps, 22 data lists and 21 (counting the cover) color side-view illustrations. Twelve are of AFVs and 9 are of aircraft.
Black and white photos include:
Stug IIIs, three photos of Pz.Kpfw. IVs, Czech BTR-152s, three photos of Mig-15s, two photos of buildings, a Czech advisor, two photos of a crashed Mig-15, Prague 3 trucks, Egyptian Army officers, a Syrian T-34, a VZ-54 rocket launcher, a test pilot, three Syrian L-29 aircrafts and 2 of them wrecked, a Syrian parachutist, Syrian rubber boats, two photos of Syrian T-54ARs, a BTR-152, two photos of Czech T-55As, a Czech instructor, Czech team working on Mig-21F-15s, a BVP-1, a Syrian T-54A, a Syrian soldier doing physical exercise, a T-72M-1, a Syrian 55L-39 Albatross aircraft, two photos of a Syrian L-39ZD. an antenna mast of a Czech KKTP-81 Ramo Passive Surveillance System, a GAZ-69 truck, two photos of Tatra 148 trucks, a Czech AMB-5 amphibian, two photos of a Syrian Laticia 815 truck.
The last 7 pages of the book is a BIBLIOGRAPHY and ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Martin Smisek was born in 1985 and received a master’s degree in aerospace engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague in 2010. In addition to his regular job of a mechanical design engineer, he has written over 70 articles about contemporary armored vehicles, modern air-launched weapons as well as Czechoslovak military history and local conflicts since 1945.
He is the author of the ground-breaking book Super Sabry und Ceskoslovenska (Super Sabers over Czechoslovakia) about U.S. spy-flights over Czechoslovakia in 1955. Martin Smisek is also a regular contributor of the Czech and Slovak website www.valka.cz.
This book will be of interest to both modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Helion & Co. Ltd. books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
During the Cold War, communist Czechoslovakia was one of the largest arms exporters to the Middle East, arming the Soviet Bloc countries. The second volume of this mini-series describes the history of arms export from Czechoslovakia to Syria, including related military assistance.
Syria ordered infantry weapons in Czechoslovakia before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Although the first batch of rifles together with related ammunition was shipped to the customer, the delivery of remaining arms from this contract was cancelled upon the urging of Jewish officials, since the newly established state of Israel was also trying to obtain weapons from Prague.
Afterward, the Czechoslovak communist government decided, with consent from Moscow, to prefer Israel in deliveries of armament. When it became clear that the Jewish state would not become a communist country, Czechoslovakia broke good relations between the two countries. The leadership in Prague subsequently focused strictly on the deliveries of weapons to Arab states
Thus in 1955, thanks to Czechoslovakia, Syria became the first Arab state which obtained weapon from any communist country. The first deliveries of former Wehrmacht tanks and assault guns were quickly followed by huge transfers of the latest Czechoslovak weapons, which made it possible to quickly rearm a large part of the Syrian Arab Army. The shipments of armament were accompanied by the activities of Czechoslovak instructors , with trained Syrian soldiers in Czechoslovakia, Egypt and Syria.
The period of plenty was temporarily interrupted by Syria’s incorporation into the United Arab Republic. Once, Damascus regained its independence in 1961, Syrian military officials immediately turned to Prague for military assistance again. The first important deal materialized in 1963 with an order for L-29 Delfin jet trainers.
From the early 1970s, Prague began to supply Syria with licensed T-55 tanks and delivered armored support vehicles, which were used during the fighting of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Shipments of Czechoslovak military hardware to Syria peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Damascus received impressive quantities of T-55 tanks, BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles and L-39 Albatross training aircraft.
Throughout the whole time, however, Syria struggled many times with the ability to smoothly pay for all the supplies of Czechoslovak armaments. Damascus’s payment problems culminated in the late 1980s and meant huge financial losses for the successor countries of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Using declassified original documents, this is the most comprehensive account of Cold War Czechoslovakia military involvement in the Middle East ever published.
The book gives concise and insightful text, original photography and unique color artworks, examining conflict throughout the Middle East in the 20th century and beyond.
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co., Ltd. is based in the UK.
The book is in soft-cover of 64 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a black and white photo of a flight of 3 L-29 aircrafts of the Syrian Air Force, over a color side profile illustration of a Syrian L-39ZA-2.
The book begins with ABBREVIATIONS & an INTRODUCTION.
The book contains 52 black and white photos, 4 maps, 22 data lists and 21 (counting the cover) color side-view illustrations. Twelve are of AFVs and 9 are of aircraft.
Black and white photos include:
Stug IIIs, three photos of Pz.Kpfw. IVs, Czech BTR-152s, three photos of Mig-15s, two photos of buildings, a Czech advisor, two photos of a crashed Mig-15, Prague 3 trucks, Egyptian Army officers, a Syrian T-34, a VZ-54 rocket launcher, a test pilot, three Syrian L-29 aircrafts and 2 of them wrecked, a Syrian parachutist, Syrian rubber boats, two photos of Syrian T-54ARs, a BTR-152, two photos of Czech T-55As, a Czech instructor, Czech team working on Mig-21F-15s, a BVP-1, a Syrian T-54A, a Syrian soldier doing physical exercise, a T-72M-1, a Syrian 55L-39 Albatross aircraft, two photos of a Syrian L-39ZD. an antenna mast of a Czech KKTP-81 Ramo Passive Surveillance System, a GAZ-69 truck, two photos of Tatra 148 trucks, a Czech AMB-5 amphibian, two photos of a Syrian Laticia 815 truck.
The last 7 pages of the book is a BIBLIOGRAPHY and ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Martin Smisek was born in 1985 and received a master’s degree in aerospace engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague in 2010. In addition to his regular job of a mechanical design engineer, he has written over 70 articles about contemporary armored vehicles, modern air-launched weapons as well as Czechoslovak military history and local conflicts since 1945.
He is the author of the ground-breaking book Super Sabry und Ceskoslovenska (Super Sabers over Czechoslovakia) about U.S. spy-flights over Czechoslovakia in 1955. Martin Smisek is also a regular contributor of the Czech and Slovak website www.valka.cz.
This book will be of interest to both modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Helion & Co. Ltd. books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly Recommended.