The Formation Bnei Chail or the 454th Brigade was a unit that served as a school for soldeirs in the Armored Corps at BHA"D 5.
After being transferred to the Negev, it was merged into 460th Brigade.
History
In early 1948, the Armored Corps School was first established in Netanya with the name Training Base 11 (NB: BHA"D - בסיס ההדרכה - בה״ד ) In April of 1948, the school moved to Tel Litvinsky but its operation was halted during the War of Independence with most of the tanks used to create the 8th Brigade, the first armored brigade in the IDF. In September 1949, a training and reinforcement center for the Armored Corps was set up in the Sarafand Camp, which later became BHA"D 5 and the Armored Corps School. In 1954, the school moved to the Julis Camp (Camp Emmanuel) where it remained until 1985 when because of a lack of gunnery ranges, the search for a new location began. After the Sinai War, the school was expanded and received the status of a brigade, which was called the Bnei Cha'il formation (Brigade 454).
Commanders
| Name | Period | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Maj Joe Weiner | 1948 | |
| Maj Ephraim Porat | 1949-1959 | |
| Lt Col Ferdinand Rohatin | 1950-1951 | |
| Lt Col Amos Benin | 1952-1953 | |
| Lt Col Baruch Bar-Lev | 1953 | |
| Lt Col Israel Carmi | 1953-1954 | later Chief of Military Police |
| Lt Col Zivi Tsafriri | 1954 | |
| Lt Col Aharon Nachson | 1954-1956 | commander during Sinai War |
| Col Amos Benin | 1956-1958 | |
| Col Arie Shachar (Schwarzman) | 1958-1960 | |
| Col Herzl Shafir | 1960-1963 | later GOC Southern Command and Commissioner of Israel Police |
| Col Avraham Adan (Bran) | 1963-1964 | later GOC Southern Command |
| Col Uri Rom | 1964-1968 | emergency commander 37th Brigade during the Six-Day War |
| Col Mordechai Sippori | 1968-1971 | |
| Col Ya'akov Even | 1971-1972 | later commander National Security College |
| Col Gabriel Amir | 1972-1973 | commander at start of Yom Kippur War, when school was divided into two brigades |
| Brig Gen Yehuda Gavish | 1973 | emergency appointment during Yom Kippur War |
| Lt Col Shlomo Arbeli | 1973-1974 | |
| Col Ya'akov Hadar (Pepper) | 1974-1975 | |
| Col Gideon Avidor | 1976-1977 | |
| Col Uzi Levtzur (Lenzner) | 1977-1978 | |
| Col Emanuel Sackel | 1978 | |
| Col Avraham Almog | 1979-1981 | |
| Col Hagai Regev | 1982 | Military Secretary to Minister of Defense |
| Col David Shoval | 1982-1983 | |
| Col Menashe Inbar | 1983-1985 | |
| Col Benny Taran | 1985-1986 | |
| Col Meir Zamir | 1986-1987 | later commander of National Center for Land Training |
| Col Shmuel Ben Shahar | 1987-1988 | |
| Col Aryeh Ben Kish | 1988- | |
| Col Gidi Levanon | ||
| Col Hanan Bernstein | ||
| Col Zion Sapir | ||
| Col Didi Ben-Yoash | 1997-1999 | later Chief Amor Officer in emergency |
| Col Ofer Ofir | ||
| Col Avi Ashkenazi | 2001-2002 | |
| Col Ron Benny | later Chief Military Police Officer |
External Links
Bnei Chayil Formation at Yad LaShiryon site