Testimonies of warriors over the failures in the battle of the Old City, and its fall by the Arabs in the War of ...

Testimonies of warriors over the failures in the battle of the Old City, and its fall by the Arabs in the War of Independence

Leaves in stencil printing including unpublished evidence from fighters who participated in battles in the Old City area of Jerusalem during the War of Independence. The evidence reveals the serious deficiencies, and the commander's failure of in the various combat zones in the Jewish quarter. Some of the testimonies were received a few months after the war in 1948, and others in the early 1950s.

Apears: Testimony from Yaakov Ben Ruby - Deputy Commander of the Irgun in the Old City, "The Campaign in the Old City" Testimony received from private Yosef Mizrachi in June 1948 at Ticho Hospital, to C. Maimon's ears, testimony from Menachem Nair given between May and July 1949, As well as testimonies by Nissim Armuzer and Moshe Wolfenhoyt, given in August 1948. The testimonies were given verbal or handwritten and printed in stencil. Before us is the stencil printed documentation. From the testimony of the five, the sad situation emerges during the battles in the territory of the Old City during the War of Independence. In addition, a detailed event report [in stencil printing] of all stages of fighting in the Quarter's territory during the War of Independence.

Among other things, the fighters talk about the decision of the national institutions [which was actually given as a direct order by Ben-Gurion] to leave the residents of the Old City in their seats on the assumption that their security will be secured by the defense forces, a decision that made it difficult to fight, and even caused many casualties, and a great deal of panic among residents As a result of the Arab enemy entering their homes. There is severe criticism of the command branch: "The commander of the area was never intended for this responsible role, nor was he capable of it, not in terms of his knowledge and military experience nor in terms of his personality and character" [from the testimony of Menachem Nair]. Lieutenant Colonel Ya'akov Ben Ruby testifies to the lack of ammunition: "Our weapons were low. A single stone, a number of pistols, a rifle and a few grenades ... We received two pistols from the lechi people", as he describes the tense relationship that prevailed among the members of the Irgun and the lech'i to defend themselves while fighting themselves to the extent of weapons from one another's organizations towards one another. And continues to describe the inexperienced experience of the Jewish soldiers.

Private Joseph Mizrahi describes: "It should be noted that after the three days of battle in the Old City, there were almost no commanders over the soldiers. The commanders lost control of the situation in the Old City", he told about the conquest of the Zion Gate by the Arabs:"As soon as the gate was seized by the Arabs, our situation became increasingly desperate ... The attacks intensified ... From that time the Arabs began to make a step forward in the Old City, They used a method that was strange to us and surprised us all. They blew up a house and got closer, they put an explosive guard on and moved on ... Every day our situation became more desperate ... The positions remained uncontrolled. The commander of the Old City himself ... announced ... that he did not feel himself capable of the role he was assigned ... " He tells of the initiative of private individuals to take part in the battles:"in the place of the battles came out people who are responsible, thanks them the Old City stood for two weeks: Avraham Orenstein ... acted endlessly with dedication and controlled his segment to the end ... "

Towards the end, Mizrahi denies what is known so to speak about the surrender of the residents of the Jewish Quarter:"I must deny the news I read in the newspapers and supposedly heard of "ghetto elders" surrendered in the city I must say that the whole thing was in our initiative, without the consent of our headquarters and our people, no resident could come to the Zion Gate and offer Prevention ... '.

The Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem during the War of Independence was for six months (from the end of November 1947 to the end of May 1948) under siege and eventually occupied by combined Arab and Jordanian Arab forces, its fighters captured and civilians deported to the west of the city left by Israel . When the British left on May 13, 1948, there were approximately 1,700 people in the Jewish Quarter, of whom about 150 were fighters, of whom 42 were Etzel and Lehi members. In the borough's battles, 39 fighters and 30 of the borough's civilians were killed. Only 20 of the borough's fighters remained healthy, Abdullah a-Tel was ashamed to take so few fighters into captivity and therefore took about 200 civilians from the borough's residents and a total of 314 prisoners.

[34] leaves. 33 cm. Each testimonial appears separately on a number of pages fastened with a pin. Overall condition very good.