Haim Bar-Lev

Haim Bar-Lev
Haim "Kidoni" Bar-Lev
Native name	חיים בר-לב
Born	(1924-11-16)16 November 1924 Vienna, Austria
Died	7 May 1994(1994-05-07) (aged 69) Tel Aviv, Israel
Allegiance	United Kingdom  Israel
Service/branch	British Army Israel Defense Forces
Years of service	1942–73
Rank	Rav Aluf (Lieutenant General)
Commands held	Chief of the General Staff Southern Command
Battles/wars	1948 Arab–Israeli War Suez Crisis Six-Day War War of Attrition Yom Kippur War

Haim "Kidoni" Bar-Lev (Hebrew: חיים בר-לב‎‎, 16 November 1924 – 7 May 1994) was a military officer during Israel's pre-state and early statehood eras and later a government minister.

Born Haim Brotzlewsky in Vienna, Austria in 1924, Bar-Lev made aliyah to Mandate Palestine in 1939. From 1942 through 1948, Bar-Lev served in various Jewish military units, such as the Palmach. He became both a pilot and a parachutist, which would later serve him in developing both of these military branches in the young Israel Defense Forces.

In 1946 Bar-Lev blew up the Allenby Bridge near Jericho to prevent Arab militiamen in Trans-Jordan from entering Jewish towns west of the Jordan River. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Bar-Lev was the commander of the Eighth Battalion (Mechanized) in the Negev Brigade, which fought in the southern part of the country and the Sinai.

During the 1956 Suez Crisis he commanded the 27th Armored Brigade, which captured the Gaza Strip before turning southwest and reaching the Suez Canal. By 1964 he became of Director of Operations within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

During the June 1967 Six-Day War he served as the Deputy Chief of Staff in the IDF. In late 1968 he accepted Maj. Gen. Adan's proposal that a high sand-dune wall be built along the east bank of the Suez Canal to prevent the Egyptian military from observing Israeli defenses along the Suez Canal. Behind the sand dune a line of fixed fortifications was constructed. This became known as the Bar-Lev Line.