יומנים > יומן - מלא 21/05/1948
[Friday,] May 21, 1948
Yesterday the first Messerschmitt [plane] arrived.
During the night our planes bombed Shu'afat [north of Jerusalem] and Gaza and Deir Suneid (in the Negev [south of Yad Mordechai]). Large explosions in Shu'afat. No further news from Gaza. All our pilots returned safely.
A cable from Stone [David Marcus] (from Kibbutz Dorot) in the Negev: The situation is critical. The enemy has two combat units (a brigade of sorts). He's calling for the rail line [from Egypt] to be severed at El-''Arish. He'll ask for Gaza and El-''Arish to be bombed. He's demanding more mortars and PIATs. (There are no mortars, but they're under production. We'll get fifteen 3" mortars each week.)
No news from Yad Mordechai.
There were meetings with IZL [after their attacks on Ramle]. 30 of their men were killed, several injured. Their mood has dropped below zero. They're launching a frontal attack because their men aren't trained in night combat. They have 300 men in Ramle. Yigael suggests that Givati attack Ramle at night using two companies. We'll add 200 men.
Shlomo's (Zvika's) battalion [a battalion from the 7th Brigade, under Zvi Gilat] left for Na'an and Hulda. The operation will be launched on Monday [May 24] at 8 p.m. There will be 2 infantry battalions, an armored unit (as a company), he'll get 6 Davids [Davidka mortars], 6" mortars, two 65 mm cannons, PIATs, and small 2", 3" mortars. Shlomo's administrative officer is [Aharon] Hoter-Yishai.
Harel left the strongholds and began to operate at night. One unit is also operating inside the city [Jerusalem]. The Legion attacked [the neighborhood of] Bet Israel. Four of their armored [vehicles] were left on the field, with one of them on fire.
The Personnel Department was instructed to provide Harel with 250 men.
Tonight we were supposed to attack Iraq-Suweidan by jeep - but there's no news of what happened. Nothing new on the Alexandroni front.
The defense of Tel Aviv requires a perimeter, [from] Ramat Gan and Tel Litvinsky - through Saqiya [a village, near Mesubim Junction today], Bet Dagan, Safiriyya [Kefar Chabad today], Bat Yam - and back to Tel Aviv.
Rishon [LeZion] and southward go to Givati.
There's no operations officer for Kiriati, no one to organize the brigade (Yisrael Shchori, maybe?).
No change in the Jordan Valley. The Deganias were fiercely attacked yesterday, three tanks were taken out of use. One tank is in our hands. The 4 cannons raised the morale. The Legion's armored column [actually - the Syrians] from Tsemah fled. Our men used a flamethrower. Fired many 3" shells. Need more ammunition for the Jordan Valley.
Eliahu [Ben-Hur]'s brigade is in Afula-''Ein Harod. By Saturday there'll already be one battalion at the Children's Village. They'll practice there. The second battalion will come a few days later. A third battalion will remain in the "center" [the Sharon plain] as a reserve. Yigael is transferring another company from the north [from the Yiftah Brigade] to ''Ein Gev, and will carry out a raid from behind [against the rear guard]. Massada and Sha'ar HaGolan [two abandoned settlements] are on fire.
[Prof. Sasha] Goldberg returned, and reports: There are 18,000 bazooka shells in Italy, 18 grush [1/100 of a P£] each. The bazooka [for these shells] can be installed here within two weeks. The range is 400 m.
There are also 6" rockets. He's prepared to re-operationalize them. The rockets are important for arming our ships. We agreed on the purchase and on his travel.
Vil [Vilenchuk] was instructed to expedite the production of CAP ("rings") as a priority.
Ratner is demanding that production be accelerated, specifically by exploiting the possibilities in Haifa.
Gad [Meknes], Yaakovson, Chechick - on looting and anarchy in Jaffa. There are 1,400 [Arab] men [in the city], in addition to women and children. The composition: a minority of dignitaries, there are wealthy people, clerks, doctors, the rest are poor. They also include organized workers. Chechick arranged for Arab guards, policewomen (?). We need to have a Jewish officer.
Commander of the city forces - Moshe Wajman, his deputy is Pogetz [Yehuda Arel]. The IZL has part of the city. There's no protection of property, they're not upholding the agreement, there's no protection of government institutions, there's no orderly system for people's entry.
Yaakovson: In practice the IZL has taken control of Jaffa. They have about 300 men there. Yaakovson set up an office in the Jaffa port: [representatives of] the Chamber of Commerce, Yaakovson's representatives, a representative of the Logistics Department (I insisted that Kaplan [Ministry of Finance] also have a representative. Meknes suggests appointing the Tel Aviv [port manager] to oversee the Jaffa port).
Yaakovson suggests removing the army from Jaffa, putting the military police in charge of the city, having only one entrance, and not allowing anyone to enter without a permit. Inside [the city] we'd have police under the military governor's command. The military police would guard the city's borders.
All the dignitaries should be concentrated in one neighborhood - and they would have entry and exit permits.
Gad agrees with Yaakovson's proposal, but doesn't believe that the arrangement would be upheld. The fault lies not only with the IZL, but also with our army. Kiriati has about 2,000 men. He proposes taking 200 military police [personnel] from Tel Aviv and making them available to Chechick.
We decided: The military governor gets a (police or military) force at his exclusive command, and within the city boundaries only he is in charge. If the IZL wants - it can participate in this brigade, on the condition that it come under the governor's command. The governor is in charge of movement in the city. Zvi [Ayalon] will invite Kiriati to review this arrangement. After hearing from Kiriati, Yisrael [Galili] will bring the text of the arrangement for my approval.
Yaakovson: Haifa has grown, Acre has been added. With Kaplan's agreement, [Naftali] Lifschitz has been appointed to oversee Arab property.
- Yisrael [Amir]: Two pilots arrived along with the Messerschmitts. According to them, it [the plane] cannot be operated alone. It has two heavy machine [gun]s and two 20 mm cannons. They didn't bring shells. Those will arrive by separate plane. According to them, another one will arrive tomorrow (there was a notice about two more). The Messerschmitt, according to the pilots, falls below the Spitfire [a British fighter plane, which the Egyptians had] in terms of quality. The Spitfires that we seized cannot be salvaged- except for their motors. Maybe we can build one Spitfire out of both of them.
We received news that the English are preparing to leave Ramat David [airfield] today or tomorrow. Yisrael Amir wants to buy what we can from the English. Yisrael believes that Ramat David should be the main air force base. Yisrael wants an order stipulating that the field is designated for the air force.
11 men left for flight training in Italy, but ended up in Czechoslovakia. Turns out it's better to train in Czechoslovakia. They were given Czech air force uniforms and English-speaking instructors. This requires funding, because in Italy ORT took on [the training costs], [but] not in Czechoslovakia.
Two days ago a navigator [aircraft navigator] arrived from South Africa. He reports that Cecil Margo is prepared to come, and that if [Nahman] Kirschner telegraphs him - he'll come.
- Shkolnik [Eshkol] is back from Degania. The sense of gloom and despair has passed. The cannons that arrived [and] the shelling in Tsemah have changed [the situation]. No Arabs are to be seen in Tsemah.
Having the position of Kawkab al-Hawa [Kochav HaYarden, southwest of Kibbutz Gesher] in our hands helps a lot. [It gives us] control over the surroundings. [The forces] operating in the Jordan Valley were Iraqis (not the Legion).
- Ashe Lincoln is calling for the purchase of heavy equipment in Belgium and ships in France. I agreed to this, and we'll ensure the funds.
[Rabbi] I. M. Levin [of Agudas Israel] came. American Jews are uniting around the country [Israel]. He believes that the fundraising [in the US] will succeed. They're fearful about our situation. I told him about the difficult days over the past week, about our chances. Regarding the assignment of positions, I relayed the existing proposal and asked him to meet with [M.] Shapira or [E.] Kaplan or both.
- (What's due to arrive by ship:
This week Ehud [Avriel]'s second contract was sent: 10,000 rifles, 1,421 [light] machine guns, 16 million bullets, 5 [million] 9 mm bullets - about 800 tons, the cost is $2,528,000).
On Monday (May 17), Alon [Arazi]'s ship left Naples, with 45 C. [cannons], and more.
In the evening a second Messerschmitt and an airplane with equipment arrived.
- At ten they brought me an urgent cable from Leo [Cohen, in Jerusalem] saying that the Legion had surrounded the university and Hadassah [Hospital]. There were negotiations between the consuls and the Legion, who called for the Haganah [the Haganah troops controlling Mount Scopus] to surrender, turn over their weapons, and be sent as prisoners to Amman. [They] refused.
Leo asks whether to place Hadassah [Hospital] and the [National] Library under UN [supervision]. Doesn't this mean turning them over to the Arabs? I went to Ramat Gan and consulted with Yadin and Ratner. We telegraphed Yadin [should be David Shaltiel] to assemble a larger force and fight.