The order of progression

In the vanguard was an armored company of the Fifth Battalion, led by Shmuel (“Uli”) Giv’on. Immediately behind them came the armored bus carrying the heads of the Jewish Agency, as well as Yitzhak Sadeh, who was coming up to take command of Operation Yevusi. Behind them came the trucks laden with supplies --- first of all, the vital supplies for the approaching festival of Passover. The supposition was that even if the convoy was held up, the vanguard would get through. The men of the Fifth Battalion were distributed among the cars and the trucks so that extra vehicles would not be needed to carry them. This may have been a major error: scattering these men throughout the convoy meant that they could not be used as a concentrated force to deal with Arab ambushes.

In the rearguard was a further concentration of armored vehicles, with a platoon from the “Giv’ati” brigade, for further protection. There was thus a considerable distance between the two groups of armored vehicles.

During the preceding night, a reinforced platoon of the Fourth Battalion took up positions guarding the road between Latrun and Saris.