יומנים > יומן - מלא 26/05/1948
[Wednesday,] May 26, 1948
Last night two Messerschmitts arrived. The aerial bombardment of Gaza wasn't successful. The first three Messerschmitts will be ready for tomorrow.
By tomorrow evening we'll have sixteen 65 mm cannons ready, 120 mm mortars (will only be ready in two days), and the remaining cannons on the 30th of the month. The cannons don't have sights. We can use the Besa [medium machine gun] sights. There's no hope for the 6" mortars, because the shells aren't good. I asked whether a cease-fire is desirable from a military perspective - in the event that Jerusalem doesn't fall? Everyone (Yigael [Yadin], [Yitzhak] Sadeh, [Yohanan] Ratner, Zvi [Ayalon], Lehrer [Moshe Zadok]) thinks a cease-fire is desirable.
Givati's attack on Majdal [Migdal Ashkelon] was successful. They penetrated, bombarded, and exited without losses.
I proposed that we complete and establish additional brigades:
Carmeli
- 3 incomplete battalions, need 500 troops.
Yiftah
- 4 battalions, 2,800 (Yigael says 1,800). [Apparently - excluding the women of the original core group of settlers].
Golani
- 3 battalions, 2,400 troops (excluding the garrison force).
Alexandroni
- 4 battalions, 2,100, add 700 (if 4 battalions).
Kiriati
- two battalions, 1,500 troops, add 700 for another battalion.
Givati
- 3½ battalions, 2,700.
Negev
- 1,200 troops, two battalions, need to add 800 for another battalion.
Etsiyyoni
- 2½ battalions, close to 2,000, add 400.
Harel
- 1,380 (Yigael - 1,100), two battalions. 350 on the way. Add 500.
Shlomo
[7th Brigade]
- 3 battalions, 2,100 troops (in my opinion 1,600, without German) [after the Latrun battle]. Add 700.
Eliahu
[8th Brigade]
- 1,000 troops, add 1,000 (he already received 300).
In total we need another 5,300 troops (if Alexandroni is to have 4 battalions). There are 1,000 in processing. 3,000 (mainly immigrants) will be conscripted over the course of a week.
Commanders? All the brigades, except for Kiriati, have commanders. Yigael [Yadin] suggests that instead of having a brigade, Yitzhak [Sadeh] organize a commando of 200-300 men, out of volunteers. He [Yitzhak] would personally visit the battalions and select men, with the commanders' agreement.
Courses for commanders should resume. Lehrer [Moshe Zadok] suggests taking back 80 squad commanders that were sent to Golani. Tomorrow Eliahu [head of the Training Department] will bring a proposal for resuming courses.
I asked how we can help Jerusalem - if tonight, once again, Shlomo doesn't manage to break through to the city? The 400 men designated for Harel are new recruits. They're suggesting that we add men from Jerusalem to Harel. They have weapons. It was decided that I would instruct Etsiyyoni to transfer 400 trained men to Harel's command, and in exchange it will receive men who are on their way.
Shkolnik [Eshkol]: There's a tank crewman, Herman, from Poland, who says he has an important acquaintance in Poland, and he can get equipped tanks and bring them here quickly. I approved his travel for this purpose, although I doubt Poland has what we need, and if it does - whether we'll get it.
I asked Yigael if there's a military reason to refrain from repairing the ditch in [the neighborhood of] Abu Kabir that prevents the use of this street [when exiting Tel Aviv] - because the road through [the neighborhood of Shkhunat] HaTikva [the security road through the fields of Mikve Yisrael] is almost impassable. He said they need barricades, and [then] they'll be able to seal the ditch. I gave instructions for Solel Boneh to send an engineer and workers to seal the ditch and set up barricades.
Yigael announces that according to [Shmuel] Rappaport [Admon], rather than 45, only 25 cannons arrived. There may be another two, because they haven't yet opened all the crates. What does this mean? [The remainder arrived on another ship.]
Sini [Arnan Azaryahu] announces that Ehud [Avriel]'s (fast) ship will arrive before the 28th of the month (tonight or tomorrow). Alon [Arazi]'s ship - by the 31st of the month.
Amazingly no siren went off in Tel Aviv today. The encouraging thing I heard tonight in Hulda is that the Egyptian aerial bombardment of the army was not effective and didn't spark any concern or panic.
[Zeev] Shind: They decided to abolish the "Mossad" [for clandestine immigration]. There are (perhaps) 36 ships in the Haifa port, a large portion will be operable. 12 of them can be fitted over a week or two to be operational. Five ships (not part of the above count) were delivered to the naval force: two corvettes ([the clandestine immigrant ships] Wedgewood and Haganah), Eilat, HaTikva, and Geula. The last 3 served in the American Coast Guard. The 36 ships noted above won't be usable as passenger vessels, but rather for cargo or the naval force. [Currently] abroad, there's the Mayflower (en route from America to Europe), was in the Coast Guard, American, armored, 1,500 tons. Fabian - en route to Israel with 700 immigrants, comes from France, 650 tons; an 18-knot yacht, Albatross.
- [Ya'akov] Hazan came to talk to me about Yisrael [Galili]. According to him it's essential that I continue overseeing security affairs, and I'll have full authority. But I won't be able to do everything by myself, and he proposes that after the meeting of "The Four" [the above-mentioned defense bureau team], Yisrael will coordinate matters and act under my instruction. Appointments would be up to me. He believes that Mapai was deprived of its due in terms of command [positions].
I said I wasn't worried about being deprived, and it doesn't matter to me.
I'm not interested in having commanders from my party, but in having a non-partisan army. As to issuing orders - I don't agree that Yisrael be able to issue orders to the army. We weren't able to finish the conversation - because of the pressure of other matters, so we postponed it to tomorrow.
- After 4, a government meeting. We adopted the Army Ordinance.
- The 3 Messerschmitts will be ready on Friday morning [May 28]. They'll bombard the Egyptian airbase and Beirut - and then a few bases in the country (Zar'in).
That evening - [we'll carry out] a series of attacks in the country - including Ramle and Lod.
But what will happen to Jerusalem until then? Large forces [of the Legion] are concentrating around Kiryat ''Anavim and Ma'ale Hahamisha. Apparently they want to conquer Jerusalem quickly and no matter what.
- I summoned [Simcha] Blass. He's producing 7 PIATs per day with 500-700 shells; 6" mortars - there's concern about their effectiveness, the shell sometimes explodes. In a few days they'll determine the cause and fix it. As to flamethrowers, there's a dispute between him - he's sticking with the English system - and the Tel Aviv team [presumably: the Israeli version] (Mitya [Krichman, from Afikim] is handling them), and the matter should be decided by experience [experiment].