יומנים > יומן - מלא 14/01/1948

[Wednesday,] January 14, 1948

Continuation of the Executive meeting this morning, in the afternoon a meeting of the Political Committee.

         - Aharon [Katzir]: They overcame the question of raw material for "Shimshon" [a tearing agent under R&D that ultimately was not deployed]. This week they'll do the tests. The experiments were conducted on a laboratory scale and were successful. Right now they can produce 6 kilo per day. For development purposes two kilo are required. They're currently constructing an industrial opertura [production system] that will produce 80 kilo per day (two tons per month). The factory will start operating in six weeks. Its use is possible: 1) in shells (a large mortar fires up to a range of 3½ kilometers, a small one - one kilometer), or grenades - 30 meters, 2) in order not to be detected at all, by "candles": in a box that is heated, the heat causes evaporation, [and the agent] is aimed towards the wind. This needs to be done near the site [by] placing a series of boxes and getting out of there. By the 20th of February (the estimated date - according to a few officials - of the [British] withdrawal), the material will be ready. For a "Shimshon" action, five moments [minutes] suffice. When the wind is strong its use is almost ineffective [because] the wind will carry it (25 men will know how it works).

         Aharon [Katzir]: - cheddite [explosive material produced by the Haganah's Science Corps and weapons industry as an alternative to TNT] (which was successfully used to blow up a house in Salameh - I saw pictures of the house before the explosion and after) can be produced anywhere, as long as the [necessary] quantity of chlorites is made available (then it needs to be mixed with propane and petroleum jelly). It's advisable [that we] set up cheddite production at various centers around the country that might be cut off: Galilee, Negev, Jerusalem, etc.