Sri Lankan 4th ARMOURED REGIMENT - Foreign Military Studies ...

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http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/250219.pageIn the weeks that followed therewere streams of visitors to Clappenburg,mostly VIPs, politicians accompanied byit was pleasure, photos and leisure, butfor the tankers it was sweat and smoke,dust and dirt.family, ranking military officers, andcivilians. They were awed at the sight ofimpressively lined-up T-55 MBTs andARVs. One senior officer quipped thatthe war could be finished in threemonths with the acquisition of tanks, Irespectfully kept mum. For our visitors22
The Commander of the Army LieutenantGeneral LDCE Waidyaratne along with MajorGeneral GH De Silva inspects a newly arrivedMBT. Brigadier PA Karunatilleke CommanderArmoured Brigade is in black overall. Other twoOfficers on the tank are Officer Commanding 'A'Squadron Major MP Peiris and OfficerCommanding 'B' Squadron Major BA Perera.Commanding Officer of 4 Armoured RegimentLieutenant Colonel CSNB Mudannayake is atright extreme. 10A fortnight later a five – memberCzech team arrived with an Englishmanto formally hand over the equipment tothe <strong>Sri</strong> Lanka Army and provideintroductory training. They weremandated to do the job in four weeksand depart. The team comprised of Mr.Pokorny of Omnipol Company, ColonelGustav Safr, Head of Czech TankDepartment, Colonel Tan Vitko gunneryexpert, Colonel Jiri David tank drivingspecialist, Colonels Oldfich Tesik andMajor Milan Chalupa, driving andmaintenance specialists; and Mr. GlynKay, a Britisher of Almavel Company.10http://www.armouredcorps.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122%3Aourold-memories&catid=25&Itemid=9The team completed the equipmenthandover and commenced basictraining 11 .Merging Men and MachinesTanks are sophisticatedequipment, and it was not easy to trainsoldiers to master them in a few weeks.Ironically, authorities in Colomboexpected this to be done and oftenquestioned, why the tanks were notready for operational deployment. I didnot respond. The Czechs stronglydiscouraged the idea of deploying tankswithout adequate individual, crew, andcollective training. The drivers quicklyacquired basic skills and could drive thetanks in less than two weeks. TheCzechs mentioned that it took over sixweeks to train Egyptian tank drivers tostart up and move a tank. Tactical driver11 Omnipol a.s. has been authorized since theearly 1990s to export military equipment for theCzech Republic (former Czechoslovakia). Thereis a long history of Czech transfer of armouredvehicles to interested nations. The AlmarvelCompany was an Indian owned concern based inUganda.23
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Page 3 and 4: tracked vehicles. A reluctance toin
Page 5 and 6: influence and became an independent
Page 7 and 8: Classic Sri Lankan hospitalityand b
Page 9 and 10: making the final decision. He arriv
Page 11 and 12: II. Field Marshall BernardMontgomme
Page 13 and 14: with buildings, jetties and sheds.
Page 15 and 16: “WE NEVER WAVERED BECAUSE, IN THE
Page 17 and 18: It was a challenge thrown at me and
Page 19 and 20: trailers to camp. They contained ta
Page 21: eportedly used in twenty-threecount
Page 25 and 26: conditioning was an area that drewr
Page 27 and 28: een done at the time. I was directe
Page 29 and 30: In late December 1991 after sixweek
Page 31 and 32: egiment they were adorned with aspe
Page 33: Brigadier C S N B Mudannayake RWP U

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