The battle at Nabi Daniel
From 1700 till dark, the furious exchange of fire continued. The defenders outside the house were totally disorganized: squads found themselves fighting on their own, shooting at random and wasting ammunition.
For a while there was total confusion in the halted convoy. Then Aryeh Tepper took command. He ordered the men to break into a house by the road --- it was a summer shelter for workers in the vineyards --- and to carry the wounded in, park the armored cars around it, and set up a defence. By 1520 all the wounded were inside the little house, which had two rooms and a basement. The men of the Jerusalem field corps, who had no weapons, were also moved into the house. Finally, there was a total of 185 men in the house and in positions round about it.
From 1700 till dark the furious exchange of fire continued. The defenders outside the house were totally disorganized: squads found themselves fighting on their own, shooting at random and wasting ammunition. The abandoned armored vehicles were set on fire by the Arabs.
Inside the house, an NCO, Shalom Samson, organized the defence, assigning positions and distributing weapons and ammunition. Tepper radioed the district command, and headquarters, asking them to get the British to hurry up with help before all was lost. The 14 men trapped in the barrier-breaking armored vehicle were in a particularly bad way. They were under constant heavy fire with no way of getting out. All their attempts to get out met with failure. Zrubavel Horowitz, in command of the vehicle, did his best to rally them. At 1830, the vehicle was hit by Molotov cocktails and began to burn. Three men managed to get out through the opening in the floor, and eventually reached the Ezion Bloc on foot. Shortly afterward, the vehicle blew up --- either from the fire, or because Zrubavel chose to blow it up rather than let the wounded fall alive into Arab hands. All eleven fighters inside were killed. Later, Zrubavel was awarded posthumously the highest decoration for valour ---“Hero of Israel”.
From 1700 till dark the furious exchange of fire continued. The defenders outside the house were totally disorganized: squads found themselves fighting on their own, shooting at random and wasting ammunition. The abandoned armored vehicles were set on fire by the Arabs.
Inside the house, an NCO, Shalom Samson, organized the defence, assigning positions and distributing weapons and ammunition. Tepper radioed the district command, and headquarters, asking them to get the British to hurry up with help before all was lost. The 14 men trapped in the barrier-breaking armored vehicle were in a particularly bad way. They were under constant heavy fire with no way of getting out. All their attempts to get out met with failure. Zrubavel Horowitz, in command of the vehicle, did his best to rally them. At 1830, the vehicle was hit by Molotov cocktails and began to burn. Three men managed to get out through the opening in the floor, and eventually reached the Ezion Bloc on foot. Shortly afterward, the vehicle blew up --- either from the fire, or because Zrubavel chose to blow it up rather than let the wounded fall alive into Arab hands. All eleven fighters inside were killed. Later, Zrubavel was awarded posthumously the highest decoration for valour ---“Hero of Israel”.