Haim Bar-Lev

Chaim "Kidoni" Bar-Lev ( November 16 , 1924 - May 7 , 1994 ) was a Jewish army officer during Israel 's pre-state and early statehood eras. He was born Haim Brotzlewsky in Vienna , Austria in 1924. Between 1942 through 1948 , Bar-Lev served in various Jewish self-defense units (such as the Palmach ) in the British Mandate of Palestine . 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 Israel's War of Independence in 1948 , Bar-Lev was a colonel and commander of the Eighth Battalion (Mechanized) in the Negev Brigade , which fought in the northern Sinai . During the 1956 Suez War , Col. Bar-Lev commanded the 27th Armoured Brigade, which captured the Gaza Strip , before turning southwest and reaching the Suez Canal . By 1962 he was the commanding officer of the Northern Command. Later, 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. 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. This became known as the Bar-Lev Line . Between 1968 - 1971 , Bar-Lev served as IDF's Chief of General Staff, which made him the highest-ranking military officer. During the October 1973 Yom Kippur War , although serving as the Israeli Minister of Trade and Industry, he was recalled into military service to take command of the Sountern Command, which defended the Sinai. Adan to initiate Adan's plan for an invasion into Egyptian territory just north of the Great Bitter Lake . It was General Ariel Sharon who then undertook the successful "invasion of Egypt" when leading the Israeli army onto African soil for the first time in history. Between 1992 - 1994 , Bar-Lev served in Moscow as Israel's Ambassador to the Russia . He died in Tel Aviv on May 7 , 1994 .¹