יומנים > יומן - מלא 15/10/1948

Friday, October 15, 1948

Dr. [Ernst David] Bergmann, Aharon [Katzir], and Shlomo Grozovski [Gur] [top Science Corps personnel]. So far they've prepared 700 kg C.A.P. [?]. The daily amount needed is 100 kg.

There's progress in the manufacture of rockets. They made 7-kilogram rockets (of which 700 grams is cordite). The range is 4½ kilometers. These will be instead of cannons. The range and the weight can be increased; it's only a question of cordite. The cordite burns (doesn't explode, unlike TNT) and this creates a blast of gas. The rockets are being made [in the military manufacturing facilities] in Rehovot. Production won't be ready before January. In Haifa a bazooka factory imported from America is being set up. This requires another $ 100,000 (pledged by [Prof. Haim] Pekeris). They can produce blast material (a composite propellant) to replace cordite, and then all the rocket parts will be produced in the country. They'll still need cordite for closed instruments [weapons with barrels that are locked by a bolt]: rifle, cannon, mortar.

       Prof. Dani Wohl [sp.] (of the French intelligence service) is prepared to buy the quantities of cordite necessary for us - in Switzerland. He requires specifications, [but] with them he would know what we're producing, therefore Bergmann questions whether we should give him the specification[s]. I decided in the affirmative - they can find out in any event, and it doesn't pose a risk.

       They're going to receive a detailed plan for a cordite and ballistite factory from France. Need to decide whether to establish this factory in conjunction with the nitric acid factory. It's possible to get an expert in cordite manufacturing in France. A ton of cordite costs at least P£ 500, maybe more. There are different types.

       Bergmann and Aharon are complaining about lack of coordination between science [the Science Corps] and Ta'as [the weapons manufacturing industry]. In their view Ta'as also lacks oversight. They suggest appointing a special person in charge of research, science, and Ta'as.

       They suggest Sasha Goldberg as a technical-scientific advisor. Previously there was a committee headed by Ya'akov [Dori] - it included representatives of Ta'as, Logistics, and Science. The committee stopped operating. Need to clarify this with Ya'akov.

       - A delegation came from Jerusalem - Schraibman [Reuven Shari] and others. Because of conscription the factories in Jerusalem are operating at only 20% relative to the start of 1948. There are also factories that shut down completely. This week 1,200 were transferred from garrison to Hayish, and new men were recruited for garrison.

       Now the army is requesting another 500-600 men for fortifications in the city and for the strongholds. They [the delegation] are requesting immigrants straight from the ship - 1,000 men can be housed in Jerusalem in the German Colony. Katamon is entirely settled; so is Romema. They also brought a letter from [Dov] Yosef on this matter.

       - Defense Committee meeting.

       - Rabbi [I. M.] Levin [minister of welfare, from Agudas Israel] came to see me. He received a letter from Jerusalem. They're taking people for work assignments on Shabbat. [Chief Rabbi Yitzhak] Herzog permitted this. People are rebelling. There will be blows. I asked him to immediately telephone his people in Jerusalem and tell them that these work assignments are imperative and cannot be postponed, and that it's permissible to work on Shabbat and to contact Rabbi Herzog. He promised to do so.

       - [Moshe] Swirsky arrived with the demand that I pledge on behalf of the state to return the airfield [Sde Dov] to the municipality, as the Haganah pledged at the time. I'll contact [Tel Aviv Mayor Israel] Rokach on this matter.

       - At 8:30 p.m. Staff meeting: The 9th Battalion ([Yisrael] Carmi) successfully went down to the Negev with all the vehicles. Only the trucks remain, because the road wasn't good. This morning they were already in Gvar'am. In the afternoon 6 Egyptian "Spits" [Spitfires] attacked them, but they arrived safely anyway. A "convoy" set out from Karatiyya. 350 meters before the Egyptian strongholds - the Egyptians fired on them. Two cars were burnt; the men returned safely.

       All our forces in the country were ready.

       The air force operated this evening according to plan - beginning at 5 p.m. There was strong anti-air fire in Majdal, but no plane of ours was hit. 4 C-46 [Commandos] and two Dakotas bombed Gaza. They dropped 5½ tons on Gaza, in Majdal 4½, in El-''Arish 2, in total 12 tons. The "Fortresses" were a little late. The "Fortresses" will set out again tonight - one at a time - to Majdal, Gaza, El-''Arish.

       At the Southern Front we have 140 PIATs.

       12 Mexican cannons were put into action, instead of shells - shrapnel [because of malfunctions in the barrels of the cannons].

       They're already distributing warm blankets - received from abroad - at the fronts.

       There are 120 cannons at our fronts - aside from 20 mm cannons.

       An Egyptian (Personnel Department) telegram, regarding manpower, was caught, they have 22,000 men, 5,500 of them artillerymen.