יומנים > יומן - מלא 14/05/1948

May 14, 1948 Meeting of the [General] Staff. At 2:00 a.m. they brought me a cable from Fritz [Eshet]: hoisting a white flag at Kefar Etsiyyon caused a slaughter of the defenders by the Arabs. At Massuot Yitzhak, they report this by [from] a refugee [who had reached the location]. Fritz vehemently opposes surrender. "Handing over weapons will bring on a disaster." At Latrun, our men were softened up by artillery. One cannon of ours was captured. Our men pulled back. Alexandroni captured the Arab Kafr Saba and got as far as Kalkilya and returned to Kafr Saba. An attempt to reach Kafr Tira [north of Ramat HaKovesh] was unsuccessful. We sustained losses. Kafr Bureir [near Bror Hayil] was captured by Nahum [Sarig, i.e., the Negev Brigade]. Sixty Arabs fell and weapons were captured. No reports from Upper Galilee. Yesterday there were talks with the IZL. It was proposed that they [occupy] Ramle, [the] Lajjun [police station], and participate in Tulkarm or Rosh Ha''Ayin. They crowed because they didn't disclose the forces [available to them]. They wanted no part of Lajjun and Tulkarm. They turned down Rosh Ha''Ayin and Wilhelma, too. At Ramle they'll operate. They asked us for food and ammunition. David Hacohen came [from Haifa] this morning and reported that the men [Haganah forces] are in Lajjun (where there's a report that the Arabs are fleeing). Accordingly, [the IZL people] will move against Ramle-they evidently have 600 men. Givati has 6- 7 companies on the Jerusalem road. In the Nitzanim-Gal On bloc, it has more. Around Hulda, 250 men from Kiriati should have arrived. The Arabs there have two 75 mm cannon, a 2-pounder, and several armored vehicles. Their main base is in Ramallah. They come to [the] Ayalon [Valley] in the morning. In the evening, they return. Etsiyyoni gave two companies to Harel. The difficult problem-Bet Ha''Arava. A Dakota [aircraft] received an order to go to Bet Ha''Arava-but the motor broke down and it turned around half-way. A Rapid was sent. At Atarot there are 200 armed fighting men. They are going to evacuate this evening and reach Neve Ya'akov, where there are 120 armed [soldiers]. We have a Dakota, a Rapid, and a C-46 for bombing runs. Yitzhak [Sadeh reports that] they heard at 8:15 a.m. on the radio in Arabic that the men of ''Ein Tsur [''Ein Tzurim] and Massuot [Yitzhak] have retreated. I remarked that we have to decide on two fundamental things: giving the area commanders more authority-provided signal conditions improve and we'll know quickly and accurately what's happening around the country, so we can issue appropriate orders. The second and main thing is to pound the enemy forces and not to protect outposts, and to explain this to all the commanders on the grounds of the need to concentrate our forces. Yigael [Yadin] wants to be ordered to evacuate Atarot and Hartuv at once. Everyone agreed. Eliahu [Ben-Hur] demands that the public be informed about the danger of an invasion and the need to dig in and put up obstacles. I wrote up a statement to the public in the name of the Staff. Yosef [Avidar]: the heavy machines that have arrived will do well as anti-aircraft weapons. The commanders have been told that a Level D state [of alert] will begin at 4:00 p.m. New orders concerning checkpoints and a warning against aircraft and tanks were issued. Eliahu: an armored battalion and a 6" mortar (there's only one). There are-350 [men in] the armored [battalion]. There's nothing to train them with. The Personnel, Operations, Logistics, and Training departments need to take care of that. Lehrer [Zadok]: 3,000 recruits who had been soldiers [in the British Army] are joining [our forces] at the present time. 1,000 will be assigned to Shlomo [Shamir-to the new Sheva Brigade. 1,000 to Eliahu for courses, 1,000 to intake (as a reserve). In all, around 5,000 who had been soldiers and hadn't been mobilized yet. The brigade commanders have act within limits when they mobilize kibbutz members. It was agreed that the Personnel Department will mobilize people who are needed for the High Command. Lehrer demands that soldiers in Haifa should be mobilized and not sent out for work. I added a correction: apart from key people at work. Yisrael [Galili] suggests inviting someone from Haifa. I invited Krelenboim [Yosef Almogi] by telephone. Yitzhak [Sadeh remarks] about a reserve [a national armored force] and the Negev. We can produce 24 armored [vehicles] every two weeks. That's enough for a battalion (450 men). (Yosef [Avidar] disagrees: they won't make so many). There's already one battalion with 11 armored vehicles (and the other 10 police cars-where are they?) (Yigael [Yadin] suggests that [Yohanan] Ratner be told to settle the matter of the armored vehicles). We'll discuss the Negev tomorrow morning. There are approximately 70 jeeps. Around 25 jeeps should be sent to the Negev-the machine guns that we will receive are earmarked for the Negev. At eleven, Katriel [Katz] reported that the Etsiyyon Bloc has surrendered. The women were sent to Jerusalem (with the army's assistance?); the men are prisoners. Yisrael reports that a patrol from the destroyer came upon a ship that was carrying pieces [weapons]-afterwards, the ship was taken north. At dusk, I heard that they would lead it to Haifa port at midnight. - At one, the People's Council. We approved the wording of the Declaration of Independence. At four, independence is declared. The nation was jubilant-and again I mourn in the midst of the rejoicing as I did on the 29th of November.