RUTHFULLY YOURS

JERUSALEM — Israel Tal, who as one of Israel’s most influential military strategists designed and developed its main tank, the Merkava, refashioned battleground doctrine and served as an adviser to prime ministers, died Wednesday. He was 85.

His death came after a prolonged illness, the Israeli Army announced.

General Tal, who reached the rank of major general and, in 1973, was deputy chief of military staff, was assigned to lead a committee in 1970 to design a tank when Israel was finding it difficult to get others to sell it major military hardware.

The layout of the Merkava, Hebrew for chariot, which was first fielded in 1979, was unusual in placing the turret and crew compartment in the rear and the engine in front. This was done largely to improve the chances of crew survival if the tank took a hit from the front. It also allowed escape out the back and room for more soldiers. The Merkava is widely considered one of the world’s most reliable and safest battle tanks.

General Tal also forced a rethinking of several elements of Israeli military doctrine, greatly increasing its reliance on armor as well as the range and aggressiveness of its gunners, and helping reorganize its ground troop management.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement on Wednesday that General Tal was “one of the bravest and most influential commanders in the history of the Israel Defense Forces.”

Born in the small Zionist settlement of Beer Tuvia in Palestine in 1924, General Tal, also known as Talik, fought in the British Army’s Jewish Brigade in World War II, was a brigade commander for Israel during the 1956 campaign in the Sinai, was an armored division commander in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and was commander of the southern front in the final stages of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

The Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor in Fort Knox, Ky., has General Tal’s photograph as one of five on its wall of greatest armor commanders, putting him with two World War II legends — Gen. George S. Patton himself and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel of Germany.

Eitan Haber, a former close aide to Yitzhak Rabin, the assassinated Israeli prime minister, said on Israel Radio that General Tal “was an intellectual and educator, and it was no coincidence that writers, poets and artists gathered in his shadow.”

General Tal advised Mr. Rabin, as he had done with Golda Meir and David Ben-Gurion.

General Tal, who would have turned 86 next week, is survived by his wife, Hagit; a daughter, Pnina; a son, Yair; and several grandchildren.