יומנים > יומן - מלא 17/07/1948

Saturday, July 17, 1948

A telegraph from Etsiyyoni at 6:30 a.m.: "Last night an effort was made to conquer the Old City in cooperation with ETZEL and LEHI forces. At 9:30 p.m. our forces started shelling the city using mortars and cannons. The shelling continued for more than an hour, and 500 shells were fired. The mission was not accomplished, because the effort to breach the [Old City] walls did not succeed. The enemy demonstrated fierce resistance and shelled the city intensely. At 5:30 a.m. our forces retreated to their bases. Details on losses are unavailable. In the morning hours of the 17th (that is, today) our forces reconquered the Mandelbaum buildings, on the corner of Shmuel HaNavi - St. George, which the enemy had captured last night. The Steinitz House, near the police station in Meah She'arim, which also fell to the enemy last night - we were not able to conquer."

         Why was our order - to leave the Old City and conquer Sheikh Jarrah - altered [disregarded]?

         Last night we retook Qula - after heavy losses for us. We have 20 wounded, four killed, 18 missing [from the Legion attack at dawn on July 16].

         In Nazareth we took 5 "slightly damaged" armored [vehicles]. The Arabs fled. Tonight we'll try to conquer the Syrian bridgehead; the nighttime bombing of the Syrian camp and Damascus did not take place, according to Yigael, because of Gilutz's interference, and I authorized Yigael to arrest Gilutz.

         [The town of] Tira near Haifa was conquered, and [we] still have to conquer Jaba' [''Ein Ghazal] and Ijzim.

         A Saudi battalion participated in attacks on Be'erot Yitzhak. 25 armored vehicles breached the settlement. 15 of our people were wounded, 10 killed and missing. [Yisrael] Carmi's incursion force and a few of our jeeps and armored [vehicles] came to assist - and the Arabs fled.

         5 half-tracks, of the 25 that arrived two days ago, were sent to Moshe Dayan's battalion.

         Two Legion battalions are in Latrun, well entrenched and equipped with heavy weapons. We'll bomb them from the air, and tonight Yiftah and Harel will try to conquer the place. Last night they were supposed to invade Beit Ghur [al-Tahta], Beit Nuba, and Khurba [should be: Kharbatha]. There's no news yet as to whether they succeeded. Yigael [Yadin] estimates the likelihood of conquering Latrun at 50-50.

         Tonight Givati - which has 5 battalions - is planning to conquer Faluja and Iraq-Manshiyya in the east. Will we be able to hold onto them until Monday morning? Yigael believes we will. [The truce] is at 7 p.m. tomorrow, not on the following morning.

         We'll suggest to Etsiyyoni that it send a battalion to conquer Battir - because we're about to capture ''Artuf, and thus the entire railway will be in our hands (Battir, Hartuv, Wadi Surar, Ramle, Lod, Rosh Ha'Ayin, Tel Aviv).

         Alexandroni is engaged right now in Qula and at the Lod front. It will try to capture Jaljulia. I asked Yigael [Yadin] whether we'll be able to conquer the village of Tira near Ramat HaKovesh. He doesn't think we have the forces to do so.

         Shlomo [Shamir] suggested sending an armored battalion from Brigade Zayin to the south. Yigael doesn't think they'll be enough to do anything and also [we] shouldn't expose the Jenin front.

         Here [in the north] we'll try to conquer Lubiyye [northeast of Sejera].

         - I consulted with [Adv. Aharon] Hoter-Yishai regarding a military law. There was a legal committee composed of Yosef Yizraeli, [Yosef] Yaakovson, [Nahum] Het, Shlomo Rabinovitz [Shamir], and Lehrer [Moshe Zadok]. They prepared judicial legislation that wouldn't work, especially now, in the new reality of a state. Today Hoter-Yishai will present a proposal for a committee of three that will formulate principles over the course of a few days, and he's prepared to take the work on himself.

         - I spoke with [Aharon] Becker, who is setting out to Europe and America with [Ephraim] Ben-Artzi and [Yosef] Yaakovson for military procurements. Becker is asking that instructions be issued regarding moderation and refraining from public statements to the press.

         - Yosef Avidar proposes handling the property in Nazareth differently from the way it was handled elsewhere. To take only military booty - weapons, vehicles, and the like. Regarding property in general only to register it, and not to take it without a special decision.

         - Over the course of four weeks of the truce we manufactured [will manufacture]: by [manufacturer] A [?] 3,061 Stens, 31,280 Sten magazines, 1,248 Sten loaders, 277,500 9 mm bullets, 88,100 German loaders, 20,520 Mills grenades, 18,052 fuses for them, 81 3" mortars, 19,846 3" shells, 15,848 wings for these, repair of 7,838 2" shells, 2,592 [hunting] rounds for [to be inserted in] (in the meantime another (?) 26 3" mortars with 3,000 shells have been deployed).

         By B (the manufacturer?) 86 PIAT launchers (in the meantime another 73 PIATs have been deployed, 200 have been prepared and delayed; why?), 3,175 PIAT shells (another 4,300 were prepared and delayed), 100 [3"] PIAT D shells, 631 blank PIAT shells, 8,191 fuses (?) for these, 17 6" mortars, 452 6" shells, 50 large David shells, 53 small David shells, 1,352 Aleph-8 aerial bombs, 635 Aleph-20 aerial bombs, 286 Aleph-50 aerial bombs, 97 Aleph-100 aerial bombs, 1,045 frontal mechanisms for these, 1,550 rear mechanisms for these, 74 flamethrowers, 26,858 bounding anti-personnel mines, 15,288 mechanism[s] for these, 21,195 landmines, 28,810 mechanism[s] for these, 1,920 pull ]cord[ spark plugs [?], 1,705 [compression] release spark plugs [?], 6,487 anti-vehicle mines, 8,370 mechanism[s] for these, 150 dovecote (?), 500 carrying cases, 9,697 smoke grenades, 12,850 mechanism[s] for these, 12,758 Molotov cocktails.

         By MPHM [?] (?) 24,225 [KK?] cheddite, 7,534 [KK?] TEN, 318,000 9 mm firing pins, 61,600 Mills firing pins, 16,355 accelerators [MKAPK?], 16,920 accelerators [MKNA?], 41,959 accelerators [?] (PIAT), 23,970 3" accelerators [?], 12,864 deto [detonators] (for mines), 36,471 deto (for 3" [?] shells).

         - At 4:30 Yigael [Yadin] reported that the Arabs had retaken Qula - although since yesterday they've lost 12 armored [vehicles], including 3 with 2-Pounder cannons that are in our hands.

         This morning the "Hammers" ["Flying Fortresses"] bombed the Syrians - not clear whether Damascus as well.

         - I said goodbye to the delegation (Yaakovson, Ben-Artzi, and Becker) that's heading to America for military procurements. I prohibited them from making statements and being wasteful.

         - Dr. Heller returned. All his purchases [for the medical service] will arrive here by the end of August. There's a great deal of willingness to help us among all the Jews. The Haganah has tremendous prestige. This word [name] has a magical effect.

         - During the night we finally bombed Damascus. Not the "Fortresses," but rather Dakota, dropped 2 tons of bombs - at 3 a.m. The city was lit up, but as soon as the first bomb [landed] the lights went out.