יומנים > יומן - מלא 15/05/1948

I was awakened twice during the night - at one A.M. with the news that Truman has officially recognized the Jewish State, and again at four thirty (I couldn’t fall sleep during the interval). Our people in America want me to speak on the radio right away. I went with Yan to the “Haganah” station at Camp Yona. My broadcast wasn’t scheduled till a quar¬ter past five, and as I was speaking, Tel-Aviv came under air attack—in the vicinity of the airport it seems. I ended the broadcast— not without difficulty—with the announcement that Tel-Aviv is at this very moment being bombed, and I headed for the airport. One barrack was in flames, several of the wounded were taken to Hadassah, a number of aircraft had been put out of action and the Reading Station was hit as well. The planes flew in low, and when our anti-aircraft guns, for some reason, broke down, they dropped their bombs. About four or five planes darted in and out. People in pajamas and nightgowns glanced out of every house—but they didn’t seem unduly frightened. News of a different kind: the Legion is pillaging Naharayim. The people there have not been harmed, but the Legion is threatening to bomb Kibbutz Gesher. The Syrian army is concentrated around Bateicha and is preparing to cross the Jordan River. There is a ship with Egyptian troops on board near Majdal. The English have perfunctorily asked the Egyp¬tians not to proceed north. Army picked up a transmis¬sion this morning that the Egyptian army was going to invade at midnight tonight. Lehrer: What reinforcements did Shlomo get? Nothing, he wasn’t ready. The “Golani” Brigade re¬ceived 400 people in one week, the Palmach got 300 for the “Negev” Brigade. There are 500 or more getting ready for Shlomo. The distribution of forces: Palmach approximately 6000 troops, 1300 of them in the “Harel” Brigade [in Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Corri¬dor], 1300 in the “Negev” Brigade, 1200 in the north, 1000 girls; for “Golani” 3573, plus 522 paid recruits; “Carmeli” 2238; “Alexandroni” 3588; “Kiryati” 2504; “Givati” 3229; “Etzioni” 3166. Total, approxi¬mately 24,400 in the brigades. Aside from this: the instruction depart¬ment—398, artillery—659, air force—675, engineers corps—150, mili¬tary police—168, transportation—1097, total for departments and services—4161; in the training depot—1719. Sum total — 30,573. Our boys at the air field shot down an Egyptian plane. The pilot is in our hands. I called Stone in and asked him how many troops he would need to take Jerusalem and the surrounding villages. He said he’d check with Yitzhak Rabin and give me an answer at ten tomorrow.