Rescuing the Nabi Daniel Convoy: British assistance
During the night, desperate efforts were made to persuade the British to intervene to save the convoy. At the same time, alternatives were discussed, such as an attempt to reach the Ezion Bloc on foot. This idea was dropped – there were too many wounded.
During the night desperate efforts were made to persuade the British to intervene to save the convoy. At the same time, alternatives were discussed, such as:
--- an attempt to reach the Ezion Bloc on foot. This idea was dropped - there were too many wounded.
--- sending in a rescue force with the Palmach’s remaining armored vehicles. This too was dropped.
--- sending in the fresh Field Combat unit which was stationed at Gush Ezion. This idea was also abandoned; it was feared that the Ezion Bloc, an attack on which was imminent, would be left with insufficient defenders.
At daybreak the following morning, 28.3.48, airplanes were used effectively. They carried out 37 bombing and supply missions, and prevented the Arab attackers from getting close enough to storm the house. Uzi Narkis relates that he used a scheme thought up by Amos Horev: the bombs were nothing more than ten centimeter lengths of 1-inch iron pipe, filled with explosive and an accelerator, and provided with a time-fuse connected to an igniter. Equipped with these and with boxes of matches, he took off in a “Tiger Moth”. Once over the site, he lit fuse after fuse and dropped these crude “bombs” upon the enemy, perhaps helping to hold them off.
A British force set out in the morning, but did not reach the scene until 1700. It had to dismantle numerous roadblocks on the way. When it came within a kilometer of the house it stopped, for fear of being hit by the attacking planes. They began to parley with the Arab commanders. The Jewish district command ordered the fighters of the convoy to hand over their weapons to the British, to pick up their wounded, take all vehicles which could move and destroy the rest. The British officer insisted on their leaving everything behind, as a condition of being taken to Jerusalem. From lack of any choice, Ehud Wangwith and Aryeh Tepper agreed, and the evacuation began.
The British brought 210 people to Jerusalem. 24 of the wounded were stretcher cases – another 49 could walk. More than 150 weapons of different kinds were lost, and many vehicles: 10 armored cars, 4 buses, and 25 trucks. All the dead were left on the field.
The dead were: Tzvi Ashkenazi; Yechiel Grantstein; Zrubavel Hurvitz; Yossi Ziv; Amiel Yizhar; Dov Katzman; Aryeh Slotzki; David Kostika; Reuven Rubinstein; Zvi Reichman; Ben-Zion Schwartz; and Aryeh Sharoni.
--- an attempt to reach the Ezion Bloc on foot. This idea was dropped - there were too many wounded.
--- sending in a rescue force with the Palmach’s remaining armored vehicles. This too was dropped.
--- sending in the fresh Field Combat unit which was stationed at Gush Ezion. This idea was also abandoned; it was feared that the Ezion Bloc, an attack on which was imminent, would be left with insufficient defenders.
At daybreak the following morning, 28.3.48, airplanes were used effectively. They carried out 37 bombing and supply missions, and prevented the Arab attackers from getting close enough to storm the house. Uzi Narkis relates that he used a scheme thought up by Amos Horev: the bombs were nothing more than ten centimeter lengths of 1-inch iron pipe, filled with explosive and an accelerator, and provided with a time-fuse connected to an igniter. Equipped with these and with boxes of matches, he took off in a “Tiger Moth”. Once over the site, he lit fuse after fuse and dropped these crude “bombs” upon the enemy, perhaps helping to hold them off.
A British force set out in the morning, but did not reach the scene until 1700. It had to dismantle numerous roadblocks on the way. When it came within a kilometer of the house it stopped, for fear of being hit by the attacking planes. They began to parley with the Arab commanders. The Jewish district command ordered the fighters of the convoy to hand over their weapons to the British, to pick up their wounded, take all vehicles which could move and destroy the rest. The British officer insisted on their leaving everything behind, as a condition of being taken to Jerusalem. From lack of any choice, Ehud Wangwith and Aryeh Tepper agreed, and the evacuation began.
The British brought 210 people to Jerusalem. 24 of the wounded were stretcher cases – another 49 could walk. More than 150 weapons of different kinds were lost, and many vehicles: 10 armored cars, 4 buses, and 25 trucks. All the dead were left on the field.
The dead were: Tzvi Ashkenazi; Yechiel Grantstein; Zrubavel Hurvitz; Yossi Ziv; Amiel Yizhar; Dov Katzman; Aryeh Slotzki; David Kostika; Reuven Rubinstein; Zvi Reichman; Ben-Zion Schwartz; and Aryeh Sharoni.