Founding Birya B
Yosef Avidar, member of the Hagana General HQ, suggested using the traditional mass pilgrimage to the Tel-Hai defenders' gravesites on the 11th of Adar, to help rebuild Birya.
Yosef Avidar, member of the Hagana General HQ, suggested using the traditional mass pilgrimage to the Tel-Hai defenders' gravesites on the 11th of Adar, to help rebuild Birya. The operation was named "Operation Gidem (amputee)" after Tel-Hai hero Yosef Trumpeldor, and headed by Avidar, Shaul Avigur and Zvi Ayalon.
The success of the operation demanded a discreet gathering of the members and their arrival at the target without arousing the suspicion of the British, so that they'd be faced with a done deal. The target chosen for establishing Birya B was about 800 meters away from the original location, making it clear that the purpose of the operation was to renew the Jewish settlement in Birya. The commandership was assigned to Moshe Mann (Muntag), Galilee commander of the Hagana, and Mishal Shacham (Shechter), District commander of Tel-Hai.
On March 14th 1946, the night of Adar 11th, some three-thousand adults and youth made their way towards Birya. The operation's participants came from the valleys, Haifa and Tel-Aviv. In the diverse pilgrimage were founding members of the Collective Agricultural settlements, alongside new immigrants who were Holocaust survivors from the Buchenvalt concentration camp; over a thousand members of the pioneering youth movements, students and 'Gadna' cadets. The marchers left from four pre-determined gathering points: En-Zeitim, Mahanayim, Ayelet-Hashahar and Hulata. They marched in stormy weather, under pouring rain and strong winds, carrying building materials, tents, tools and plants on their backs. At first, the marchers were escorted by armed Palmach squads from the 7th Company, but out of concern for their possible arrest should they come up against the British, they were ordered to return to their base. At 06:00 all four convoys arrived at their destination. A few hours later, the Birya B structures were erected.
The success of the operation demanded a discreet gathering of the members and their arrival at the target without arousing the suspicion of the British, so that they'd be faced with a done deal. The target chosen for establishing Birya B was about 800 meters away from the original location, making it clear that the purpose of the operation was to renew the Jewish settlement in Birya. The commandership was assigned to Moshe Mann (Muntag), Galilee commander of the Hagana, and Mishal Shacham (Shechter), District commander of Tel-Hai.
On March 14th 1946, the night of Adar 11th, some three-thousand adults and youth made their way towards Birya. The operation's participants came from the valleys, Haifa and Tel-Aviv. In the diverse pilgrimage were founding members of the Collective Agricultural settlements, alongside new immigrants who were Holocaust survivors from the Buchenvalt concentration camp; over a thousand members of the pioneering youth movements, students and 'Gadna' cadets. The marchers left from four pre-determined gathering points: En-Zeitim, Mahanayim, Ayelet-Hashahar and Hulata. They marched in stormy weather, under pouring rain and strong winds, carrying building materials, tents, tools and plants on their backs. At first, the marchers were escorted by armed Palmach squads from the 7th Company, but out of concern for their possible arrest should they come up against the British, they were ordered to return to their base. At 06:00 all four convoys arrived at their destination. A few hours later, the Birya B structures were erected.