The conquest of the city police station and the Har-Knaan police station
The most difficult and extended battle took place at the city police station that was defended by 100 soldiers from Kaukaji's 'Salvation Army'. The police station was fortified and next to it stood a "pillbox" position that commanded the approaches to the building.
In the absence of weapons capable of penetrating the walls of the police station and the 'pillbox', it was decided to try and bring sappers close to the walls under-cover, in order to blow openings in the wall. The first attempt failed because of the heavy rain. It seems that the 'Sadit' type explosive material, did not explode because it was wet. The sapper and cover units were badly hit.
The city inhabitants were requested to search for TNT (a more reliable and higher quality explosive). The plan was to send sappers to prime the container of TNT and throw it on the bags of 'Sadit' that were placed next to the police station wall, in the hope that the entire charge would then explode.
In the absence of trained detonation experts, two volunteers went on the mission and, despite being badly wounded, they executed the task successfully and a large hole was blasted in the wall. A platoon, commanded by the company commander Itzik Hochman, broke in and took control of the first floor of the building. Afterwards Hochman went out and succeeded in 'silencing' the threatening pillbox but on his return to the police station a tragic accident occurred. While he was running in the direction of the building, his men did not identify him and asked him for the password. When he did not answer, they shot and killed him.
The 'Samgad' (assistant regiment commander), Meir Drezdner, hastened to the place and took command of the force in the police station in order to continue the mopping up operations in the upper floors and on the roof of the building where the Arab forces had entrenched themselves. Due to the fact that they could not get the better of the enemy on the roof, they decided to impose a siege. During the day the Arabs sniped at targets in the city and during the following night, under cover of darkness, many of them escaped by lowering a rope they had made of telephone wire, from the roof.
The remaining assignment was to conquer the Har Kenaan police station and liberate the city.
On the 10th of May in the morning, after the city had been conquered during the night, a reinforcement company from the 1st Battalion arrived commanded by Pinchas 'Sikoy' Zusman. They prepared themselves for the attack on the Har Kenaan police station from the south-western direction. When they approached the fence, they discovered that the Arab defenders had fled and the building was empty.
On the 10th of May, the city of Safed was liberated after the Arab inhabitants had fled during the previous night. Thus, the 'Galilee Capital' was conquered and the control over a large continuous area was complete, three days before the beginning of the Syrian and Lebanese invasion.
These are the names of the fallen:
Gideon Elon Moshe Avivi
Yefet Aharoni Amos Ben-Porat
Shlomo Gutman Yosef Grossman
Yitzchak Hochman Dan Har-Sheleg
Hadui Weisgross Michael Yaakobi
Meir Cohen Avraham Katabi
Avraham Licht Yehuda Metzky
Meir Machati
The following people fell during earlier stages of the fighting:
Miriam Arnheim 12.3.1948
Yardena Greenstein 13.1.1948
Zvi Cohen 24.3.1948
The city inhabitants were requested to search for TNT (a more reliable and higher quality explosive). The plan was to send sappers to prime the container of TNT and throw it on the bags of 'Sadit' that were placed next to the police station wall, in the hope that the entire charge would then explode.
In the absence of trained detonation experts, two volunteers went on the mission and, despite being badly wounded, they executed the task successfully and a large hole was blasted in the wall. A platoon, commanded by the company commander Itzik Hochman, broke in and took control of the first floor of the building. Afterwards Hochman went out and succeeded in 'silencing' the threatening pillbox but on his return to the police station a tragic accident occurred. While he was running in the direction of the building, his men did not identify him and asked him for the password. When he did not answer, they shot and killed him.
The 'Samgad' (assistant regiment commander), Meir Drezdner, hastened to the place and took command of the force in the police station in order to continue the mopping up operations in the upper floors and on the roof of the building where the Arab forces had entrenched themselves. Due to the fact that they could not get the better of the enemy on the roof, they decided to impose a siege. During the day the Arabs sniped at targets in the city and during the following night, under cover of darkness, many of them escaped by lowering a rope they had made of telephone wire, from the roof.
The remaining assignment was to conquer the Har Kenaan police station and liberate the city.
On the 10th of May in the morning, after the city had been conquered during the night, a reinforcement company from the 1st Battalion arrived commanded by Pinchas 'Sikoy' Zusman. They prepared themselves for the attack on the Har Kenaan police station from the south-western direction. When they approached the fence, they discovered that the Arab defenders had fled and the building was empty.
On the 10th of May, the city of Safed was liberated after the Arab inhabitants had fled during the previous night. Thus, the 'Galilee Capital' was conquered and the control over a large continuous area was complete, three days before the beginning of the Syrian and Lebanese invasion.
These are the names of the fallen:
Gideon Elon Moshe Avivi
Yefet Aharoni Amos Ben-Porat
Shlomo Gutman Yosef Grossman
Yitzchak Hochman Dan Har-Sheleg
Hadui Weisgross Michael Yaakobi
Meir Cohen Avraham Katabi
Avraham Licht Yehuda Metzky
Meir Machati
The following people fell during earlier stages of the fighting:
Miriam Arnheim 12.3.1948
Yardena Greenstein 13.1.1948
Zvi Cohen 24.3.1948