יומנים > יומן - מלא 13/07/1948
Tuesday, July 13, 1948
Yosef Avidar returned from Haifa along with his associates (Yohanan [Ratner] and [Moshe] Zadok).
This morning he spoke by radio [wireless] with Teddy [Kollek] - Teddy believes that clothing, food, and vehicles can be obtained in America. For now [Ephraim] Ben-Artzi will take a quick trip; later James [Ben-Gal] will come. [We] don't necessarily need a woman [for this]. The delegation [to procure equipment] will leave Amsterdam on the 21st. They will set out from here on Saturday or Sunday.
Haifa was found to be empty [of combatants]. Moshe [Carmel] has also taken a garrison battalion and turned it into Hayish [field corps]. MLB also took 200 [men] for fortifications, 120 for combat. The city commander has only 400 men at his disposal. It was decided that another garrison battalion would be conscripted under the new draft order [for ages] (36-40). In [the] Zebulun [subdistrict] another battalion will also be conscripted on this basis (700-800 men). MLB will maintain a reserve of 200 trained fighters, and assign another 200 for training. By the middle of next week it will have trained another 600 men. Today Logistics Department personnel will also begin training (300 men - workers at weapon and vehicle repair shops). The navy also has a combat unit of 100 men. Yesterday 350 rifles, 25 [light] machine guns, a number of [heavy] machine guns, two PIATs, two 3" mortars, two 6" mortars were sent to Haifa - today more weapons will be sent. There were [i.e., Haifa already had]: 10 Besa [machine guns], 5 other [heavy] machine guns, 1 3" mortar, 1 PIAT, 1 75 mm cannon (used against Iraqis who came from Tira). Over the course of 4 days Haifa's force will increase fourfold.
Yosef saw Ya'akov [Dori]. He's recovering [and] believes he'll return to work in 7-10 days.
I telephoned [Eliezer] Kaplan to have him, along with the Logistics Department, send a representative to sort out and protect abandoned property in Haifa.
- Staff meeting: The Lod police suspended its resistance in the middle of the night. This morning they [IDF forces] are entering Lod [police station]. As of 9:30 this morning the enemy had not attacked Jimzu. Last night we conquered Tsor'a and Suba but so long as Harel is capturing the strongholds it doesn't have operational freedom. They need to be replaced with Kiriati men (Kiriati is already in Beit Susin, Qubab, ''Innaba, Jimzu, Ben-Shemen). All the garrison [men] in Tel Aviv need to be conscripted - another 1,500.
There's the question of Arab POWs. So far about 3,000 POWs have been captured. Where should they be kept?
This morning another 300 men have been sent south [to Givati] - not ETZEL men. Over the entire war, Givati has had a total of 500 casualties, including 50 killed, and the rest lightly wounded (from bomb and shell shrapnel). The men's spirit is good. The 52nd Battalion alone has 180 casualties.
Yesterday the Egyptians attacked [Negba] for 12 hours straight - they attacked [with] 3 battalions, cannons, airplanes. The infantry came in waves up to a distance of 600 meters. They had losses - don't know how many. We have an artillery force for defense - but we lack infantry for attack. [We] also don't have anti-aircraft cannons. All the fortifications in Negba were destroyed.
Yigal Allon is worried: The Legion is in Salbit [Sha'alvim]. Beit Nabala is still in Arab hands, Deir Tarif is in our hands. The Arabs cleared out Rosh Ha'Ayin and are saying that they destroyed the Water Institute. In Kafr Qassem the Arabs have heavy cannons and are firing at Petah Tikva.
Fritz [Shalom Eshet] proposes concentrating all of our explosive power against the Egyptians. Only the Rapides and Bonanzas are in operation.
No news yet from the Galilee.
The main question - manpower. About 2,000 reservists are needed [to fill] the battalions. We have 1,500 17-year-olds [in training]. Of the new immigrants, 500 are in training, 500 are being sorted [for placement], 400 are still at the camps and undergoing medical examinations. 300 immigrants were sent south (to Givati), in addition to [another] 200 ETZEL men. 200 immigrants are designated for the Negev. All 35-year-olds and younger in the garrison force are being transferred to Hayish. 36-year-olds and older will be assigned to garrison forces. E. I. [Eretz-Israelis] who are in America need to be brought [back]. They number at least 1,000, including a few commanders.
- [Abraham] Zabrasky came to see me. The Budget Committee is functioning properly (Zabrasky, Kaplan, Shkolnik [Eshkol], Horowitz). Tomorrow they'll discuss the July budget. June closed with expenditures of 3 million in cash, and an indebtment of one million.
The budget required for July - P£ 5,150,000. [We're] maintaining 60,000 men on average. Zabrasky is submitting a proposal for 4,750,000 but [they'll] certainly require no less than 5 million. Income: from the regular budget 5 to 6 hundred thousand, 4 m [million] remaining from the loan, the rest from currency printing. The salary scale has to be finalized. I said that the Personnel Department representative, Baruch Rabinov, and members of the Budget Committee should do this.
Zabrasky is requesting an official order saying that he is the finance director for the Ministry of Defense (replacing the National Headquarters' Finance Department).
- I asked [Minister of ''Aliya] M. Shapira how many conscripts ''Aliya could provide. He told me that 1,000 men had already been taken from Bernadotte Camp. 1,200 from the Cyprus immigrants. On July 6, 100 conscripts arrived on the ship Campidoglio. On July 7, 250 (on the Kedma). On July 9 (the San Antonia) 550. On July 11 (the Kalanit) 960, by airplane over the course of two weeks 250. During the last week of the truce, 1,200 from Cyprus. Yesterday 350 came by ship, two days ago 200. On Wednesday a ship with 300 men will arrive. And on the 18th of the month a ship from Yugoslavia will set out with 1,200 immigrants. The immigrant camps have another 10,000-11,000 men (2,500 family men).
- I had an initial meeting with the Committee of Five (ministers). I briefed them on the situation at the fronts.
- I dined with [Henry] Montor, Goldenberg, two associates of theirs (from the fundraising campaign delegation), and Kaplan. They want us to establish a "Friends of Israel" [in the United States]. [Henry] Morgenthau has the same request.
- Yohanan [Ratner]: The absence of a chief of staff is preventing him from serving as an inspector general [in accordance with Ben-Gurion's proposed appointments] because there's no address for the comments, criticism, and suggested improvements that he would present after his "inspection." Therefore, until Ya'akov [Dori] returns, he will continue to work on fortification matters but not as an inspector, and his office personnel - who were supposed to help with planning or inspections - will remain without work. Zvi Schweitzer (was a major-general in the Russian army, and knows very well what a front is) [and] Nechemia Burstein [Brosh] - will remain without work. Ben-Moshe [of Mahal - Volunteers from Abroad] will continue to supervise production. Yohanan is working in cooperation with Eizik [Yehoshua Eshel] on new settlement [the planning and location of new settlements].
- In response to my question, [Alexandroni Brigade Commander] Dan Even asserts that with two battalions (those of Bentz [Ziv, 33rd Battalion] and Danny Kornfeld [sp.] [Dagan, 32nd Battalion]), along with an auxiliary weapons battalion (4 120 mm mortars, 2 platoons of 4 cannons each (65 mm), a tank unit of 8 Hotchkiss), he's prepared to conquer Tulkarm and then Nablus.
- I summoned [Dr. Binyamin] Avniel and [Moshe] Zadok to discuss expediting conscription. Avniel apologizes that the Exemptions Committee and the Ministry of Labor are delaying conscription. In the coming days he'll give intake 2,000 ETZEL men (the commanders pledged young men aged 18-21). The day after tomorrow he'll "hammer out" the large-scale conscription. The garrison force will be conscripted for two weeks. [We] need a draft order for [those born in] 1930, boys and girls. It's necessary to conscript single women up to age 28 (until now only women aged 18-25 without children or a married woman whose husband is not an army were conscripted. A religious girl is released from conscription). Over the course of 10 days 6,000 girls will be called up. To date 5,000 women have been conscripted (the Women's Corps). Avniel raises the question of the youth movement instructors who were released - they number 250.
- I spoke with Zvi Ayalon about implementing the appointments order. He suggests merging the Training Department (currently under Zvika Hurwitz) with his department - as long as he stays in the department. He proposes a Staff meeting from 9 until 10:30, a special meeting with each department, a meeting with the commanders in which he participates twice weekly[,] a meeting with him, at 8 p.m., on Monday, Tuesday, Friday.