יומנים > יומן - מלא 15/09/1948

Wednesday, September 15, 1948

Staff meeting in the morning. According to [Moshe] Zadok the standard is 110,000 [soldiers], aside from 10,000 indisposed (sick, wounded, deserters, imprisoned, etc.). There are 82,000 in service.

       Infantry - 34,000 standard, there are 29,000; garrison 14,000, there are 11,000; artillery corps 7,000, there are 3,400; heavy mortars 2,200, there are 470; engineering corps 5,000, there are 2,500; Personnel Department services 15,600, there are 9,300; Operations Department services (signal, intelligence) 3,300, there are 1,700; Logistics Department services 15,250, there are 7,400; Training Department 1,070, there are 916; Air Force 7,500, there are 4,400; Navy 2,500, there are 2,440; various 4,000, there are 8,600 (there are 4,000 in intake).

       Yigael [Yadin] - the Staff and the forces are not mentally ready for combat, even though it's clear that the enemy is preparing vigorously. The forces were required to be ready on September 15 (that is, today) for standby if called upon - they're not ready. The commanders don't believe there will be hostilities in the upcoming months, and the Staff is not on alert.

       The [operational] plans for each of the fronts are ready (from my snippets of conversations I don't have the impression that the plans are ready), although the front commanders are not convinced that the plans are adequate. Execution is not ready. The vehicles problem is catastrophic. There's no vehicle to deploy the mortars and cannons in our possession.

       The Southern Front [under the command of Yigal Allon] is composed of 3 brigades + a garrison brigade. But to date the men who were promised for this front have not been provided. This front is short 1,500 men.

       The Central Front [under the command of Zvi Ayalon] requires, in addition to 8 garrison battalions, 8 Hayish [Haganah Field Corps] battalions. Dayan's brigade [Etsiyyoni Brigade, in Jerusalem] and Kiriati [Brigade] are short 1,500 men. Kiriati has a total of 2½ Hayish battalions. Moshe [Dayan] has 2½ Hayish [battalions].

       On the Alexandroni front [Eastern Front, under the command of Dan Even] the situation is tolerable: 3 garrison battalions, 4 Hayish battalions - they're there, just short 15% approximately.

       In the North [under the command of Moshe Carmel] there are supposed to be 4 brigades operating. Oded (Jenin front [Yitzhak Pundak]) is short 800 men. The 7th Brigade is short 500 men.

       During the truce of our forces grew by about 50%, but the enemy forces also grew by the same percentage.

       [Moshe] Zadok: Need 64 Hayish and garrison battalions (40 Hayish, 24 garrison) - aside from services, also armed and able to fight when necessary. There are overblown staffs in some of the battalions. The surpluses are shifting to services now. They're not trained for combat (ill, exhausted, etc.). Need men for armament (unloading weapons crates, storing them); at present a committee is examining the services and anyone who's fit for battle - is being pulled out and transferred to combat battalions.

       I asked Yigael what the arms situation is in terms of transfers [provision to units]. Generally [not?] satisfactory in his opinion. Because of a manpower shortage they're not sending weapons quickly enough to the units. There's a lack of 3" mortars (very bad!), and specifically no shells. The situation is terrible regarding 2" mortars and shells, extremely bad regarding M-2; there are 300 PIATs for distribution (?) (according to Vilenchuk's report 400 are ready to be delivered to the army!).

       In Yosef [Avidar]'s opinion services should not be reduced - indeed, it's necessary to serve 64 battalions. It's necessary to sort out the shells, to clear out the areas around warehouses, there are transport needs, and other armament needs - there isn't the manpower to do this. Some of the vehicles require repair. They're not being repaired, for lack of manpower. There are 700 vehicles in Europe; they're not been sent because we haven't paid for them. Some were brought 4 weeks ago.

       We missed out on 50,000 winter clothing items in Belgium - they were sold to Greece, because we didn't pay. There are enough rifles and [heavy] machine guns, ammunition too. The situation regarding mortar shells is bad - there are only 30 shells per mortar, and our production will provide 3 shells per mortar per day. 30,000 3" mortar shells are due to arrive from abroad. The production of M-2 is still not guaranteed. Over the course of two weeks there will be 20 M-2s. Each week they'll make 20-30 M-2s.

       On the matter of PIATs we might come out ahead. Gasoline reserves are 7,800 tons, diesel will be gone this week (more diesel is due to arrive) - this does not include Air Force [fuel].

       Yigael says it's possible to take men from the artillery corps to sort out shells, other soldiers to clear out thistles, etc.

       Shkolnik [Eshkol] insisted that the services work longer hours, same as the dockworkers do, and that tasks be assigned to soldiers.

       The ship from Yugoslavia arrived and unloaded 38 75 mm C. with 50,000 75 mm shells, and also 150,000 for the 20 mm Hispano-Suiza. In Tel Aviv they're unloading the ship Jack Star, which is carrying 18 single-engine observation aircraft.