The book is volume 46 of Helion & Company’s Middle East @ War series and, as noted in the title, is the third volume of its coverage of Czechoslovak Arms Exports to the Middle East focusing on arms exports to Egypt between 1948 and 1989.

Starting in the mid-1950’s and continuing on and off up to the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989, the Czech arms industry exported a wide variety of weapons to Egypt, including ammunition, small arms, artillery, tanks and aircraft. It was also heavily involved in training many pilots, ground personnel and technicians, conducting courses both in Egypt and Czechoslovakia.

Initially many of the contracts between Egypt and Czechoslovakia were actually contracts between the USSR and Egypt with Czechoslovakia functioning as the middleman, Czechoslovakia provided some of the weapons being sold, but the bulk of the weapons in reality were provided by the USSR. Payment terms were dictated by the USSR, which often meant delayed initial payments, low interest rates and long payment periods. In the aftermath of the 1956 Suez war, Czechoslovakia’s participation in the actual arms sales decreased as the Egyptians wanted more modern equipment, much of which had not yet been authorized or licensed for production in Czechoslovakia, resulting in more orders being placed with the USSR.

Czechoslovakia was also instrumental in assisting Egypt in establishing Egypt’s Military Technical College which was envisioned as a means of providing the Egyptian armed forces with highly skilled personnel capable of developing weapons for the country and providing technical support for Egyptian military units equipped with modern weapons. In addition, personnel from several other countries were trained at the MTC. Initially the instructors at the MTC were almost exclusively from Czechoslovakia, but over time Egypt was able to provide more and more of the instructors.

Unfortunately, from the beginning of the relationship between the two countries, the weak state of the Egyptian economy, the overly generous financing terms required by the USSR, and periodic open combat between Egypt and Israel, payments were often stretched out over many years. In addition, as Egyptian politics stressed nationalism not communism, relations between Egypt, Czechoslovakia and other Soviet bloc countries waned over time, resulting in a reluctance by both the USSR and Czechoslovakia in providing the most modern equipment to Egypt.

The book includes a multitude of charts depicting the weapons deliveries over the years as well as listings of the Czech advisors stationed in Egypt over the years. It also includes color profiles depicting some of the various tanks, assault guns, specialized vehicles and aircraft manufactured in Czechoslovakia and exported to Syria over the years, including T-34/85’s, T-55’s, SU/SD-100 self-propelled guns, OT-62 armored personnel carriers, Yak- 11, L-29 & L-39 jet trainers, MiG-15’s, MiG-15UTI’s and MiG-21’s.

I enjoyed the book and found the story behind Czech arms deliveries to Egypt very interesting and informative. The charts explaining the various arms sales over the years are very detailed, but well presented.

Recommended.