Uzi Submachine Gun

The Uzi was designed after the War of Independence by Uziel Gal, born Gotthard Glas in Weimar in 1923, who grew up at Kibbutz Yagur and joined the Haganah. In 1943 the British caught him carrying guns and sentenced him to seven years in Acre Prison, where he went on studying engineering and working on gun designs; he was pardoned in 1946. His submachine gun was compact, simple and cheap to make from stamped steel. Its telescoping bolt wraps around the barrel, so the magazine fits inside the pistol grip. It beat rival designs in army trials, was adopted in 1951, reached the IDF's special forces in 1954 and was issued to the whole army two years later; it first saw combat in the Sinai War of 1956. Gal asked that it not bear his name, in vain.

Made by Israel Military Industries, the Uzi became the young state's first great weapons export, sold to more than 90 countries; from the 1960s to the 1980s more Uzis were sold to armies and police forces than any other submachine gun. In 1958 Gal was the first to receive the Israel Security Prize, presented by Ben-Gurion.