יומנים > יומן - מלא 16/06/1948
Wednesday, June 16, 1948
Finally some news (June 8, 1948) arrived from Zeev Hayam. He hopes that on June 12 [the following] will be sent: landing craft number 1 with six diesel engines, 120 hp each, 420 ton capacity. A Marie motorboat, two diesel engines 500 hp each, speed 22 knots. About a week and a half later [the following] will be sent: A Galia motorboat, two diesel engines, 14 knots. To be sent at the first opportunity: A) a special motorboat, 30 knots. A tanker ship for transport of gasoline, 6 small landing crafts, two gasoline engines, 45 tons each.
The delay in delivery is due to a delay in receiving funds, much difficulty in arranging the paperwork, [and] foreign shipowners' refusing to send their ships to our shores.
Zeev Hayam wants to return and have someone replace him.
Among the Italians who will bring seacraft he recommends: 1) Captain of the second landing craft, a former high-ranking officer of the Italian navy, expert in seaplane artillery (doesn't give his name!). 2) A Marie [motorboat] mechanic - with much experience (unnamed). 3) Captain of the first landing craft, an expert on compass deviation (unnamed!).
After much searching he found 10 boats known as the "one-man torpedo" (?), 5½ m in length. [Speed] 30 knots. 300 kg of explosives in the front part. The weight of the boat - a ton. This makes for quick unloading from any ship. Its submersion depth (40 cm) allows it to reach [the target] even in shallow water. Along with delivery P£ 1,000 each. Sent 102 m of special rubber piping with Captain Muir [?]. Telegraphed 3 times with no response (!).
- Lova [Eliav], sent by Gershon [Zack], reports (June 8, 1948): 15 naval cannons of 20 mm were bought - in Denmark. Ashe Lincoln is making the rounds in Geneva. Zeev Hayam is working with a relative of his, E. [Efraim] Ilin (a quick and cunning man according to Shaul).
On matters of the Mossad [le-''Aliya Bet], procurement, Zeev Hayam, etc. there's turmoil and chaos in Italy. They're all putting obstacles in each other's way. For this reason the Mossad's landing craft departed without personnel arrangements (?). The Albatross's departure was delayed, and the departure of Ada [Sireni]'s disassembled tugboat (?) is being delayed.
- [Yosef] Almogi came and angrily announced that he'd carried out my order and delayed recruiting personnel from [the gas companies] Shell and Socony. 60 Socony personnel are draft dodgers from the former war [the world war]. They were recruited even before the [labor] brigade was formed, under the general conscription order. They received soldiers' ID cards but wear civilian clothing, and their conscription was postponed.
Lova [Eliav] reports (June 14, 1948) that tomorrow Efraim Ilin will depart from Rome for Israel by [military?] plane. He'll reach Haifa in two days. He's buying explosive boats [torpedo boats] for us. He should be regarded "with reservation and in all seriousness."
[Ze'ev] Melyon informs me that all the burial arrangements for [David] Marcus will be finalized tomorrow. Today he's being embalmed. Two crates are needed, an internal hermetic crate, and a zinc crate in which the internal crate will be placed. His escorts, in Melyon's view, need to be of the same rank (colonel) or only one rank lower. But it's necessary to clarify with the American consul whether they'll allow entry into New York for people in military uniform. One of the escorts should be Chaim Herzog.
- Friedland [Uriel Shalon]: Demolition is necessary in Haifa for the sake of repair and construction, in accordance with municipal planning. Spoke with [Yohanan] Ratner. I agreed and urged that this work proceed as soon as the English withdraw [from the Haifa enclave].
- Yisrael [Galili] and Shkolnik [Eshkol] sat down with [IZL commander Menachem] Beigin [Begin] yesterday. Their ship is due to arrive tomorrow or the next day, 4,500 tons, a landing craft, bringing 800-900 people, 5,000 rifles, 250 Brens, 5 million bullets, 50 bazookas, 10 Bren carriers.
[Tel Aviv port manager Alexander] Zipstein assumes that everything can be unloaded at night. In my view the Tel Aviv port should not be put at risk. They should not be returned. They should be brought to an unknown shore.
- Consultation on payment regulations [for soldiers]. The committee was composed of Dolik [David Horowitz], [Mordechai] Zagagi, [Mordechai] Kikayon, Baruch Rabinov, Yehuda Rosenberg [Rosen] [sp.] (Personnel Department). They propose as basic wage: for soldiers at the various ranks: P£ 2; P£ 2.4; P£ 3; 3.6; 4.2; 5.1; for officers: 5.1; 5.4; 6; 8.10; 12; 16.5; 21. Seniority supplement for experienced soldiers, guards, police officers, Haganah members who were in full-time service. In addition a professional supplement for doctors, engineers, lawyers. There will also be a position (brigade commander and the like) supplement: for a Staff department head 12; lieutenant colonel 10.5; Staff officers 9.
They propose terminating family inquiries [by welfare workers regarding eligibility] for a family salary payment [in favor of a statement]. Every woman will receive P£12, first child 8, every additional child 4. Special supplement and aid for parents - needs inquiry. They (rightly!) propose a regulation whereby the institution [employer] will continue to pay the conscript [through] the institution's payments [benefits] fund. They also propose adding a payment [to cover] the salary difference - but this would create discrimination. They propose a permanent government committee for the payment regulation alongside the Defense Ministry. They'll propose names.
- Meeting with the recruitment office [center]: [Binyamin] Avniel, Lehrer [Moshe Zadok], Baruch Rosenthal [Tal], Yosef Yizraeli. There are glitches that undermine public trust regarding conscription and they need to be fixed. There's a draft notice based on age - but some are getting snatched up: groups of twelfth-graders at schools - Hahshara Meguyeset [group enlistment for training to promote settlement]; boys who are an only-child are being sent to the front from processing, even now; in Rishon LeZion, Rehovot, and Netanya there are complaints that the GSCs [garrison subdistrict commanders] are grabbing every man on the street. On the other hand there are young people roaming around and not enlisting, claiming that they have a position in the ranks [the Haganah]. A representative of the Labor Ministry wants to intervene on conscription matters: too many young recruits are being used for office work.
I asked Avniel for a written review of these glitches - because they should be repaired as quickly and robustly as possible. Baruch Rosenthal reports that on the matter of releasing government officials - they're demanding a committee of representatives from the Defense Ministry, Labor Ministry, and the relevant minister. This is appropriate.
- Today two airplanes will arrive. One of them will bring 20 [heavy] machine guns.
- Ezra [Omer] and Yohanan [Ratner]: [Moshe] Shluvsky [Shilo] [sp.], head of a Science Corps company, came. He has to work alongside the head of the Operations Department as a special operations officer. Ezra is prepared to be an advisor alongside him. Teddy suggested an expert from America (I don't remember that Ephraim [Katzir] spoke with me about such a person).
- Maghar, near Gedera, Fajja [near Petah Tikva], [and] Biyar ''Adas [near Magdiel] were destroyed. [They're] "working" [on destroying the villages] in Miska [near Ramat HaKovesh] and Bet Dagan, "working" in Huleh [Emek HaHuleh], continuing [the destruction of] Hawassa, near Haifa, Sumayriyya, near Acre, and Ga'aton (near Nahariya), Shukri al-Quwatli's Manshiyya near Acre. Daliyat al-Rawha [near Dalia] was destroyed. [They're] about to start working in Butaymat and Sabbarin [east of Zikhron Ya'akov].
- Moshe Montag [Mann] gave me details about his personal tragedy. On the settlement - 3 were killed [in the bombing of Merhavia on May 30]. The rifles have not been returned to the settlement. He gave in order to shoot at airplanes using rifles, which was effective because it prevented low flights. Moshe is demanding an investigation of his conduct in Emek HaYarden - whether the dismissal was justified.
- Government meeting in the afternoon.
- At the end of the meeting Yisrael [Galili] informed me that the IZL had, against our orders, decided to deliver weapons to Jerusalem and towards this end it was sending 2 companies [to Jerusalem]. Yisrael's, Shkolnik [Eshkol]'s, and my opinion - to prevent by force.
- I urgently summoned [Nahum] Warlinski [sp.] [of Tnuva], Yosef R. [Avidar], and Hillel Cohen [of Solel Boneh] on the matter of rushing food to Jerusalem. Turns out that two days ago no food was delivered at all, because the road was packed with Harel men heading down to Sarafand [Tzrifin]. Yesterday they brought up 100 tons, 85% of which was flour. The rest was cheese, milk powder, cigarettes, etc.
For this evening they're preparing another 100 tons. 22 vehicles have been summoned from Jerusalem to carry 100 tons. Engineers [David] Tuviyahu and [Moshe] Yulish of S.B. [Solel Boneh] are working on repairing the road. In two days the repairs will be done, and they think that on Friday or Shabbat eve [Friday night] it will be possible to drive to Jerusalem by way of the new road freely, without a tractor. There are 3 UN personnel stationed at Sha'ar HaGai - they're not obstructing traffic, not inspecting, and not delaying. Yesterday 6" mortars were transferred to Jerusalem. This morning the provision of supplies for Jerusalem was contracted out to S.B. Warlinski provides the food and S.B. will be responsible for its transport. At present Shmurak [Dov Ber Shemer] of the Logistics Department is still responsible for this. Yosef Rochel [Avidar] promises that once the Beit Susin road [Burma Road] is repaired, it will be possible to send 100 vehicles daily, 3 tons of food in each. But if they travel by way of Latrun, a vehicle can carry 4½ tons. Jerusalem needs 4,000 tons of food per month, or 135 tons per day.
I demanded that vegetables be sent to Jerusalem immediately, and Yosef asked Warlinski to arrange 10 vehicles for this purpose. Warlinski promised to send beets, carrots, potatoes, and (Valencia) oranges tomorrow - 15-18 tons, in addition to [the] 100 tons. Hillel [Cohen] believes that the road will be done on Friday [June 18] or Saturday.
Fuel is being conveyed by two tankers on each side of the slope [and by pipe] and they contain 800 gallons.
Yigal P. [Allon] came: He's complaining about my order regarding direct negotiations by the [General] Staff with the Harel and Yiftah brigades, rather than through the [Palmach] national headquarters. The command and Logistics Department are overburdened - and decentralization is needed; it would be good to have larger units; the esprit de corps should be valued, shocks should be avoided; at his headquarters there's efficiency.
I explained to him that if decentralization is needed - then it's a general need, and what's good for the Palmach is good for the entire army. It would be absurd to supply the Palmach not through the channel that supplies the rest of the army in the Galilee, but instead through a channel that supplies [only] the Palmach in the Galilee and the Palmach in the Negev; [I explained] that a unit on the front is territorial, and not based on origin [affiliation]; that we're about to establish larger units - "a front." But the front will have different brigades, and will come under one command not based on origin. If there are good quartermasters at his headquarters, we'll take them for the entire army; and that segregation produces such spectacles as Harel's theft of weapons from Levitze [Yitzhak Levi]. Yigal admitted that if they'd tried to steal weapons from him he would've opened fire, and promised to send letters of apology. He also agreed that it's absurd to have the Palmach headquarters arrange supplies for Palmach units in Jerusalem and the Negev, and finally his only complaint was that the order called for separating Harel and Yiftah. I explained that this is a misunderstanding: If Harel and Yiftah are in the same area - they would, as they wish, constitute one brigade [in terms of military formation], and communication will be directly with the united brigade.
- When I arrived home at 22:30 I discovered a sizable gathering of [Mapai] associates: (Ziama [Aran], Pinhas [Lavon], Shkolnik [Levi Eshkol], [Mordechai] Namir, [Yehiel] Duvdevani, [Aryeh] Bahir, [Zeev] Isserzon [On], Yosef [Yizraeli], and others) to discuss questions regarding the army and security of the settlements. We met until 2 a.m.