יומנים > יומן - מלא 07/05/1948

May 7, 1948 Yisrael [Amir] and Hai [Yissacharov]-about their division of duties [in the Air Service]. According to Hai, the Air Service allows no possibility of redundancy: There's (1) [affairs related to activity]: planning, intelligence, operations, training. And (2): activity-supporting service: navigation, meteorology, armament, signal, photography, air-traffic control. (3) technical research, experimentation, and development, concentrated research, etc. (4)radar, balloons, observation. (5)administration (personnel management): (a) record-keeping, secretarial services, printing, posting [placing personnel], advancement. (b) housing, personnel, payroll and bookkeeping. (c) transport, posts, movement. (d) medicine, legal aid. (e) education, welfare. (f) casualties, graves, military police. (6)supply: equipment, aircraft, aircraft parts, armament, signal, electricity, instruments, tools, explosives, oil, wear-and-tear, storage arrangements, storage accounts, inventory, clothing, equipment-checkpoints, procurements committee. (7)engineering: airfield maintenance, modifications, maintenance units, salvage, signal, radar, balloons, technical training, library. (8)workshops. The main staff: Alex Ziloni-Chief of Staff, Yehoshua Gilutz-Administration, Aharon Remez-Planning and Operations. I suggested to Hai that he take the whole area of maintenance upon himself-airfields, aircraft, fuel, maintenance, etc.-and that Yisrael would be the commander. If [Hai] doesn't want to leave the Electric [Company] for this purpose-he can be loaned for three months. Yisrael [Amir] agreed that Hai will act on his own authority where maintenance is concerned. Hai wants to consult with Rutenberg. - A [General] Staff meeting-Yigael [Yadin], Zvi [Ayalon], Lehrer [Zadok], Yosef [Avidar], Eliahu [Ben-Hur], Shkolnik [Eshkol]. The operation to free up the road will be called "Maccabi" (after the commander, who was killed). Seventeen hundred men will take part. Tonight they will begin with an attack on Bet Mahsir, Deir Ayoub, and Bet Jiz. Tomorrow the engineers will come through to repair the road. According to the reconnaissance, they will be able to finish it tomorrow. The next day (the ninth of this month), the convoy from Jerusalem will be able to come down. On Monday (the tenth of this month), a new convoy will go up. According to my talk with Harry Yaffe, only a 100-vehicle convoy will go. A larger one is risky. Two convoys per day should go, if possible. Shkolnik [Eshkol] was instructed to show [Nahum] Verlinski [manager of Tnuva] how to get the food ready and to meet with [the] Darom-Yehuda and Egged [bus companies]-about drivers. Haifa was also instructed to send 70-80 drivers (I wrote to Abba [Khoushy]), and an order was sent to "Carmeli"). Yigael [Yadin] proposes inviting Bernard J [Dov Joseph] to come from Jerusalem, and Efraim, commander of the Harel battalion, should be sent back to Jerusalem. Last night, three companies [of ours] attacked Safed, captured the citadel apart from the summit-where a pillbox with Arabs inside stood. Today they'll continue fighting. We sent PIATs to Galilee. There was a false alarm at Mishmar Ha''Emek. There was a minor attack, not what it sounded like: Khirbet Bet Dharras [sic-Bet Ras] is in our hands. [Arab] Sejera is also in our hands. But we were trounced in the war against the [Gharb] a-Zabih [tribe]. Our men were ambushed, 18 killed, 17 wounded. Qatra [near Gedera] surrendered, 46 rifles (together with Aqir [near Kefar Bilu]: 100 rifles). Yesterday, Na'an came under artillery attack for ¾ hour-either by the British or by the Legion. LEHI is about to run wild in Haifa-"Carmeli" was ordered to thwart their operation, even by seizing their warehouses if necessary. Also, [Rabbi] Kurz should be approached in order to keep LEHI from operating. It's been reported that the Legion is sending fuel [from Eretz-Israel] to Transjordan. I gave an order not to attack the Legion-unless they provoke us. The attack on the Etsiyyon Bloc has stopped. There was an order there to attack every Arab convoy even if it's escorted by the Legion, but when it's escorted by the British, not to fire on the British. The mood in the Etsiyyon Bloc is foul. Yigael proposes sending someone to propagandize. The commander of the Bloc-Moshe [Moush] Silberschmidt of the Jerusalem Field Corps. The Upper Galilee is in great danger-from Lebanon and Syria. There is information about 4,000 soldiers with tanks and cannon. Reconnaissance showed that around Malkiyya and Bint Jbeil [in Lebanon] there are hundreds of soldiers with armored vehicles and cannon. Intelligence reports massing of large-scale forces and military traffic. Near Mishmar Hayarden they saw Syrians with folding bridges. We have to dig trenches. Solel-Boneh doesn't want to work because payment hasn't been arranged (I called Kozlowski [Sapir] and ordered him to do the work. I promised a budget but explicitly not payment). There are three combat battalions in Galilee, 2,100 fighting men, 1,600 of whom are armed. Commander: Yigal [Allon]. Apart from them, there are 2,500 fighting men with weapons (for local defense) in the settlements. By next Sunday, they will have six PIAT cannon, 8-12 flamethrowers. Minefields need to be planted. Rudy [Kleiner, aka Amnon Zair] approached [Ze'ev] Sherf [then in charge of setting up governing mechanisms] to help make an arrangement for the children who are coming up from the Dead Sea. Sherf didn't want to hear-Sherf has to be given an order. - I scheduled a second meeting with Yigael [Yadin] about May 15. Yigael reports that a change at the Staff is about to take place, with Ya'akov [Dori]'s consent: Yohanan [Ratner] will head [the] Planning [Department]. Yigael will deal with operations only. Yigael wants three officers, each specializing in a different region: Mondek [Moshe Bar-Tikva] for the south (from Tel Aviv-Jerusalem to Eilat), Shlomo R. [Shamir] for the center (from Jerusalem to Tirat Zvi, from Tel Aviv to Wadi ''Ara). [Yisrael] Ber-for the north. The secessionists are demanding [permission] to pilfer weapons [from British bases]. They interpret the agreement as not forbidding it to them-they just have to get along [coordinate their operations] (they want to loot in Tira, Atlit, and Haifa). They also demand operations against the British. I arranged work on the Sabbath with Zvi [Ayalon]. The religious [will be] exempt unless it's a combat necessity. They demand that Kiriati [Michael Ben-Gal] be authorized to appoint a military governor in Jaffa. I said it's a matter for the government and one has to differentiate between a military governor and a commander. A constitution that relates to governing occupied territories should be worked out. Zvi remarks about various things that have to be worked out: who the governor will be, what powers he will have, what force will be available to him, how we should treat prisoners, combatants, non-combatants, property, etc. What force can the governor call on? The appointment of [Avraham] Ikar-Zvi says-is from headquarters [General Staff?] only, and not from Command. Zvi complains about the lack of postal services for the soldiers. This is the Logistics Department's job. There are six sacks of undistributed letters. Yosef [Avidar] says that it'll be taken care of in another four days. Lehrer [Zadok] wants someone to be sent to Cyprus in order to bring inducted men [to Eretz-Israel]. I said it's a matter for the Mossad [le-''Aliya] and the [Jewish Agency] Immigration Department. Eliahu [Ben-Hur]: a monthly training program has been worked up but he has no instructors, weapons, transport, cars. It was agreed that a special meeting with the departments will be held to put these matters in order. Moshe [Zadok]: There are no camps for het-''ayin-nun [Women's Auxiliary Corps]. I objected to that name. What's his word "auxiliary"? Who are the het-''ayin-nun? Women clerks, drivers, cooks, and warehouse people, general warfare, guard duty. In Moshe's opinion, it isn't a corps [like other corps]-because the[se women] have different duties. By the 14th of this month, 500 women will have been inducted. Yosef hopes there will be a camp in Tel Litvinsky. There's a question of housing. Will they be allowed to live at home? Or only in the camp? Moshe wants a transit camp for soldiers who are moving from place to place. They want such camps in Tel Aviv, Haifa, in the center. Yosef says such a camp may [exist] in Tel Aviv. There's no camp in Haifa. In the center, one will be established in Kefar Yona. As for the convoys to Jerusalem, Lehrer is tasked with organizing the drivers, Yosef the vehicles, Yigael-the fighting men. - A talk with [Yosef] Weitz and Shkolnik [Eshkol]. Who's dealing with the Negev? Kozlowski [Sapir], [Yehuda] Chorin, [Yosef] Weitz. [The engineer Alex] Bessin, subordinate to Chorin, is dealing with housing. With water for the settlements-Amihai Kroll, [who's also subordinate to Chorin. Maintenance of soldiers-Yossi Schein, a commander in the Palmach [a supply officer on the brigade's staff], with transport: Boganov [Yisrael Barnea]. I told Weitz that the army in the Negev is part of the general army and that the General Staff and apparatus is responsible for its upkeep. JNF funds are earmarked solely for the Negev but there's no separate military administration. - Eliezer Shoshani [of the Palmach staff] asks about soldiers disguised as Arabs. There are 37, of whom 19 are ripe [trained]. All are Mizrahi Jews. Three are abroad (one has been in Beirut for quite a while; two set out for Operation Yiftah two days ago). Others are ready to be sent to Jerusalem, to Jaffa (why?), three to Egypt, [to observe] traffic on the roads (?). Special funding is needed. I said there's no chance of funding this time. - They've purchased 100,000 rounds of ammunition, 20 rifles, 14 machine guns, 2 light armored vehicles. They're buying 10 heavy police vehicles, two machine guns on each-P£ 1,500 each. 100 rifles, 20 Brens, and ammunition. P£ 30,000 is needed for all this. Baruch [Rabinov] has P£ 15,000. I undertook to obtain another P£ 15,000, and I obtained it from South Africans. - Afternoon with Yigael [Yadin] and Shkolnik [Eshkol]: our situation as May 15 approaches. It's clear this time that the Mandate will expire. Will the neighboring countries fight? Obviously Transjordan is hesitant, and [Colonel] Norman told our people that Abdallah wants to meet with us. I advised them to expedite the meeting but to do it covertly and unofficially, not as [Eliahu] Sasson suggested for some reason. Even though we were told that four member states of the League-Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia-are against war, preparations for an invasion from the north, the east, and the south must be made. - The situation ahead of May 15 [in May]: In the north [Yiftah and Golani], we have 2,000 army men, 2,500 settler-fighters, Total 4,500 In the Valley [Golani], we have 1,500 " " 3,000 " " " 5,200 In Carmeli, we have 2,000 " " - " 2,000 In Alexandroni, we have 2,200 " " 3,000 " " " 5,200 In Tel Aviv ["Kiriati"], we have 600 " " 800 " " " 1,400 In "Givati," we have 2,000 " " 3,000 " " " 5,000 In the Negev [Brigade], we have 1,200 " " 1,200 " " " 2,400 In Jerusalem [Etsiyyoni], we have 3,500 " " " 3,500 In Harel, we have 1,400 " " ----- " 1,400 16,400 13,500 29,900 Sixty percent of the fighting men are armed (in Alexandroni: only 1,200 are armed and in Givati only 1,200; in the north and the Valley, only 60 percent are armed). There's a shortage of weapons: 3" [81 mm mortar] shells, TNT, 4,000 additional rifles are needed. Another brigade can be put together from an armored battalion, an artillery battalion, [and] two infantry battalions. Yigael Yadin nominates Eliahu Cohen [Ben-Hur] as commander. Yitzhak Sadeh nominates himself. No one nominated a brigade commander to whom they've refused to give a brigade to this day-Shlomo Rabinovitz [Shamir]. There's a shortage of motor vehicles (the army needs 1,200 vehicles) and fuel (there are only 70,000 gallons). In the Negev, there are 45 armored vehicles. I looked into the situation at high command with Ya'akov [Dori]. - In a talk with Dan [Even], I inquire about the military needs. He proposes [Mordechai] Makleff and [Chaim] Laskov as brigade commanders. He's willing to be Deputy Chief of General Staff-if they define his authority. He proposes a supreme commander for the armies along with a war staff. In his opinion, only one man in the country is fit for the job-[Yohanan] Ratner. - Yigael demands an arrangement for the northern Dead Sea [area]. When I asked him why they didn't send Yeshurun [Schiff], he told me that the commander [there] is Zvi Smoli; he's also the military ruler and he asked me to place all matters relating to the north in his hands. I said I can't hand the affairs of the workers and the administration [at the Dead Sea] to someone I don't know, although he's a certified platoon commander. With Yadin's consent, Aharon ("Rebit"[?]) Rabinowitz, who was an officer in the Jewish Brigade and used to be Ya'akov [Dori's] adjutant, to [the] Alexandroni [Brigade] as deputy battalion commander, Jacques [Ya'akov Nur-Sela] will be substitute commander of Battalion 1 (instead of Rapoport [Shmuel Admon, who was named commander of the Armored Corps]), and Bob Hendler (Emanuel Avidor] will move over to Operations Department. - [Yosef] Weitz, [Avraham] Herzfeld, and Shkolnik [Eshkol]-about new settlement [activity]. PICA land has been liberated in operations by the army: Deweir (near Ginossar), Abadiya [south of Lake Kinneret, west of the Jordan], Sibrin [near Bat Shlomo], Tantura [Dor]. In the vicinity of Zikhron [Ya'akov], there's Dumayra [Bedouin land northwest of Kibbutz Gan Shmuel], Qanir [east of Giv'at ''Ada, today Aviel]-they can be settled. JNF land has been liberated: Daliat a-Ruha [near ''Ein HaShofet], Butayma (near Even-Yitzhak-Khubayze]. The lands of Maliyya, Kedesh, [and] Belaydeh [Yiftah area], Samra [east of ''Ein-Gev], [and] Bashatweh (near Gesher) are about to be liberated. In the Sharon [region]-''Atil, Zayta, Wadi Qubane. Government lands have been liberated: Ashrafiyye (Bet She'an), Mansoura al-Khit (on the Jordan, Mishmar Hayarden). German lands: Waldheim [Neve Ya'ar], Bethlehem [of Galilee], Bir Salim [today Netser Sereni] (in our hands). Wilhelma [near the Lydda airfield] [and] Taymeh [between Gedera and Kefar Menahem] need to be liberated. Herzfeld has 46 groups ready for settlement. Herzfeld demands money and weapons [for the settlers] (Stens have been given). In the Negev, two police [stations] have gone over to us, three are in others' hands: Kurnub, ''Asluj [near Revivim], [and] Iraq-Suweidan [near Negba]. Weitz wants to assign two security men to this matter [the Negev]. He proposed Levi Shkolnik [Eshkol]. - I invited [Haim] Slavin and asked him whether it is possible to expedite the manufacture of 3" [81 mm] shells. He answered that they shipped him the material for the shells six weeks ago-and it hasn't been unloaded yet. Yisrael and I gave an order to unload. It's returning now. [During the day, the vessel pulled away from the shore.] I asked what's lacking and what can be filled in.-If Valenchuk will provide deto[nators] (they promised to hand them over on May 9) and they'll be filled with chemical substances-he can provide 10,000 shells in four weeks' time. How much can you give by May 16?-nothing! Today he handed over 600 shells; he has 700 more. I continued to press-he promised to drop all other home-manufacture jobs (machine guns, rifles) and to prepare 3,000 shells. He wants money. He spends 22,000 on payroll alone, 10,000 to subcontractors, and a minimum of P£ 10,000 for all the rest.