6th Airborne Division in Palestine
Encyclopedia
The 6th Airborne Division in Palestine was initially posted to the region as the Imperial Strategic Reserve. It was envisioned as a mobile peace keeping force, positioned to be able to respond quickly to any area of the British Empire
. In fact it became involved in an internal security
role between 1945 and 1948.
Palestine had been a British Mandate since the end of the First World War. Under the terms of the mandate, Great Britain was responsible for the government and security of the country. It had long been a stated British aim to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine and between 1922 and 1939 over 250,000 Jewish immigrants had arrived in the country. However Arab resistance and the Second World War prompted the British to curtail immigration. The time also saw the rise of the Jewish Resistance Movement, which eventually came into conflict with the British authorities.
When the 6th Airborne Division arrived in response to increasing terrorist activity, it became involved in internal security
, being responsible for cordons and search
operations, guarding convoys and key installations. As the situation worsened, the men of the division had to patrol the towns and cities, enforce curfews
and deal with rioting by the civilian population. They also protected Jewish and Arab settlements from sectarian violence
. This was not without loss to the division and several members were killed and wounded during this time.
The end of the British mandate coincided with the post war reduction of the British Army back to peace time levels, and the division's numbers were gradually reduced. By the end of their tenure in Palestine, the division's strength was reduced in real terms, to less than brigade
size. In 1948 it was disbanded soon after its withdrawal from Palestine.
of the First World War that a British Army
, known as the Egyptian Expeditionary Force
, first arrived in Palestine. The British Empire
forces, commanded by General
Edmund Allenby, defeated the occupying Turkish Army
and ended 400 years of rule by the Ottoman Empire
.
Around the same time, the British Foreign Secretary
Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to Baron Rothschild
which has since became known as the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The letter stated: "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
and Great Britain decided that any Jewish homeland would not be formed in the land to the east of the River Jordan. This instead became a separate country known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Encouraged by the British, 265,000 Jewish immigrants, mainly from Europe, came to settle in Palestine between 1919 and 1939. Arab resistance and violence to this influx of immigrants came to a head in 1937, and the Peel Commission
recommended that two states should be formed, one Arab and one Jewish, which would divide the country between them. Then in May 1939, the British restricted the number of Jewish immigrants to 75,000 in the White Paper of 1939
.
By the end of 1945, Jewish immigration had almost reached the 75,000 White Paper limit. Arab concerns led to the British putting further restrictions on immigration. Even when the scale of the Holocaust became known, the British stance remained the same. This led to an inevitable confrontation between the British authorities, illegal Jewish immigrants, and militant Zionist groups
. It became a widespread belief within the Jewish community that the British were practising antisemitism and were no different from Nazi Germany
. However, between 1945 and 1948 a further 85,000 Jewish immigrants, mostly survivors of the Holocaust, entered the country illegally.
was formed, comprising several pre-existing Jewish groups. In 1921, the part-time Haganah
was formed and trained as a national army. Most Jewish males and some females were required to join. After the Second World War, it obtained numerous surplus weapons to equip its members. The Haganah gave priority to increasing the Jewish population by bringing immigrants into the country from Europe. It always attempted to give prior notice of an attack so that any security service personnel in the area could be evacuated.
When Axis forces
posed a threat to the Middle East in the Second World War, the Haganah organized a full-time, elite force, the Palmach
. By 1947, this organization numbered around 2,200 members. Palmach members were subject to military discipline; many of them had served in the British forces during the war.
In 1937, a splinter group was formed by those not happy with the Hagana methods. This group was called the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel or Irgun in short. It launched a campaign of violence against the government in 1944, carrying out several terrorist attacks. By 1945, Irgun had an estimated membership of 1,500. A third group was the Lehi
, the Hebrew acronym of "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel", known in the British press as the Stern Gang. Lehi membership consisted of only around fifty men. It was the only Jewish group that contemplated working with the Italians and Germans during the war, and afterwards assassinated members of the British authorities. By 1946, both the Irgun and Lehi had declared war on Great Britain.
. After the Rhine crossing
in March 1945, it spent six weeks advancing across Germany to the Baltic Sea
.
At the end of the war in Europe, it had been planned to send the division to Burma to form an airborne corps
with the 44th Indian Airborne Division. However, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
, and the Japanese surrender, ended the war and changed British plans. The 6th Airborne Division was nominated to be the Imperial Strategic Reserve. Together with a Royal Air Force
troop-carrier formation, they were to be located in the Middle East
as a quick reaction peace keeping force for the British Empire.
By September 1945, the division was on route to the region for airborne training. However, conditions in Palestine were deteriorating. By the time the division arrived, instead of training, it was deployed on internal security
.
During the Second World War, the division was comprised of the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades and the glider infantry
6th Airlanding Brigade
. However the 5th Parachute Brigade had been sent to India ahead of the rest of the division. So when the division was dispatched to the Middle East, the 2nd Parachute Brigade was assigned to bring them up to strength. In May 1946, after the 1st Airborne Division was disbanded, the 1st Parachute Brigade joined the division, replacing the 6th Airlanding Brigade. In August 1946, the 5th Parachute Brigade returned from the Far East
, and joined the division, but was disbanded soon afterwards. The next major manpower development came in 1947, when the 3rd Parachute Brigade was disbanded and the 2nd Parachute Brigade, while remaining part of the division, was withdrawn to England, then sent to Germany.
Eric Bols
, the division began deployment to Palestine in 1945. The advance party arrived on 15 September, followed by the Tactical Headquarters on 24 September, then the 3rd Parachute Brigade on 3 October, the 6th Airlanding Brigade on 10 October and the 2nd Parachute Brigade on 22 October. After arriving by sea at Haifa
, the newly arrived troops were sent to camps in the District of Gaza
to acclimatize to the conditions, and to regain their fitness after the long sea journey from England. By the end of the month divisional headquarters was established at Bir Salim
. The 2nd Parachute Brigade at remained at Gaza
, the 3rd Parachute Brigade moved to the Tel Aviv
and Jaffa
region, while the 6th Airlanding Brigade moved to Samaria
.
It was not long before the division became involved in operations, enforcing a night time curfew
at the end of October after the railway in the divisional area was sabotaged. On 13 November the British Government confirmed they would examine the conditions of Jews in Europe and consult the Arabs to ensure Jewish immigration, at the time around 1,500 persons a month, was not hindered.
Unhappy that the announcement did not go far enough, the Jewish National Council arranged a twelve hour strike for the next day. Rioting started in Tel Aviv and the Jewish part of Jerusalem, which resulted in the 3rd Parachute Brigade being deployed to patrol the streets for the following five days.
The first operation involving the 6th Airlanding Brigade followed two attacks by the Palmach on coastguard stations over the night of 24/25 November. Palestine Police Force
dogs tracked the attackers to the settlements of Rishpon
and Sidna Ali. In the following cordon and search
operation, the police were stoned by the inhabitants, and the soldiers on the cordon had to prevent reinforcements from other settlements reaching the villages. The next day, 26 November, the police were involved in hand to hand fighting with the villagers and eventually withdrew, calling on the brigade to enter the settlements and enforce law and order. Leaving some men behind on the cordon to hold back the estimated 3,000 crowd, the remainder of the brigade entered the settlements. Here they carried out several baton charges and for the first time used tear gas to disperse the crowds. In the clean up operation, 900 persons were later arrested.
Near the end of the year, over the night of 26/27 December, several attacks were carried out by the Irgun on police stations, Palestine Railways installations and one British Army armoury. The 3rd Parachute Brigade again enforced a night time curfew on Tel Aviv. Then on 29 December, it took part in Operation Pintail, the search of Ramat Gan, for Irgun members involved in the attacks. The brigade questioned the 1,500 inhabitants, arresting eighty-nine.
On 5 March Major General James Cassels took over command of the division. The next action involving the division was over the night of 2/3 April, when units of the Irgun attacked railway installations in the divisional area. While one attack on the Yibna
railway station and police post was in progress, a mobile patrol from the 9th Parachute Battalion arrived, detonating a mine while crossing a bridge. Three of the patrol were wounded, but the others took off after the saboteurs. Reinforcements arrived from the 5th and 6th Parachute Battalions. In the morning, tracks of around thirty men were discovered leading away from the area. A spotter plane later located the men and directed a section of the 8th Parachute Battalion to intercept them. After a small battle, fourteen of the saboteurs were wounded and twenty-six prisoners taken.
In March the 1st Parachute Brigade joined the division. The 6th Airlanding Brigade left the division on 13 April, but remained in Palestine as the 31st Independent Infantry Brigade. This reduced the division's manpower by around twenty-five per cent as the strength of the airlanding brigade had been almost equal to that of two parachute brigades combined.
At 20:45 on 25 April, the Lehi carried out an attack on a divisional car park in Tel Aviv. On that night, the car park was guarded by ten men from the 5th Parachute Battalion. The attackers, around thirty men, established a fire base in a house overlooking the car park. The attack began with a bomb thrown into a guard tent. Gunfire was directed at all of the soldiers in the area, then twenty of the attackers stormed the car park. Once inside the compound, they entered the guard tents, killing four unarmed soldiers and looting the rifle racks of weapons. Another two off-duty soldiers, responding to the attack, were killed approaching the car park. In total, seven men from the division were killed.
This was the first deliberate attack by any group targeting the British Army, which had not established defences against any form of assault. During the following day seventy suspects were rounded up, but no evidence of their involvement could be found. In response to the attack, the British imposed a road curfew from 18:00 to 06:00 each night and all cafes, restaurants and public entertainment venues in Tel Aviv were closed between 20:00 and 05:00. However this was not enough for some members of the division, who attacked Jewish houses in Qastina
and Be'er Tuvia
, injuring some of the occupants. Those involved were later punished by the British Army.
Attacks on the security services had increased to a level that on 19 June all ranks were ordered to be armed at all times on or off duty, and to travel in pairs during the day and in threes at night. Near the end of June the division received orders for Operation Agatha
, the arrest of Jewish leaders "suspected of condoning" or being involved in sabotage or murder of civil and military personnel. Agatha was a nationwide operation involving not only the 6th Airborne Division but the Palestinian Police Force and all other army units in the country. Secondary objectives were to gather intelligence and arrest any members of the Palmach that could be found.
Operation Agatha started at 04:15 on 29 June. The 2nd Parachute Brigade was responsible for Tel Aviv, the 1st Parachute Brigade for Jewish settlements around Ma'abarot and the 3rd Parachute Brigade for those around Givat Brenner
. The operation ended on 1 July after 2,718 suspects had been arrested. Many had no connection to the resistance movements and were only arrested for harassing the searchers or for refusing to give their names when asked. The 6th Airborne Division alone arrested 636 persons, 135 of them for being suspected Palmach members and ten were Jewish leaders.
The next major incident was on 22 July, when the British administrative and military headquarters located in the King David Hotel were bombed
. No members of the division were directly involved, but the Royal Engineers
of the 9th Airborne Squadron were called in to take charge of the search for survivors and secure the part of the building left standing. Over the next three days they located six survivors and the bodies of ninety-one victims. To assist in the search for those responsible, the 8th and 9th Parachute Battalions moved into Jerusalem on 23 July.
The British response to the bombing came on 30 July, when the division carried out Operation Shark. Believing that the bombers were being sheltered in Tel Aviv, every dwelling and building was searched for members of the Lehi and Irgun, and the population questioned. During the operation, a cordon surrounded the city and a curfew was imposed on its inhabitants. To allow the population to buy food and other essentials, the curfew was lifted for two hours every second day, until the end of the operation. The division's three parachute brigades were each given one quarter of the city to cordon and search while the fourth quarter was the responsibility of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, attached to the division for the operation. Over four days each brigade questioned around 100,000 people, and 787 were detained for further questioning. During the searches, five arms dumps were found, containing four machine guns, twenty-three mortars, 176 rifles and pistols, and 127,000 round of ammunition. Also found were £50,000 of forged bearer bond
s, forging equipment and a large amount of explosives.
The division's next operations were Bream and Eel, searching for arms in Dorot
and Ruhama
, by the 3rd and 8th Parachute Battalions, and the 9th Airborne Squadron Royal Engineers. The two villages were cordoned at dawn on 28 August. Over the next six days the settlements were searched, during which a large quantity of assorted weapons, including heavy machine guns and mortars, were found.
Over the remaining months of the year the division carried out patrols of the rail and road networks, which were being mined. Some of the mines killed men from the division attempting to disarm them, until orders were issued to blow the mines up rather than disarm them. Then on 2 December a road mine killed four men from the 2nd Forward Observation Unit (Airborne).
A change in command occurred on 13 December when Major General Cassels left the division and was replaced by Eric Bols, now commanding the division for the second time.
Upon their arrival in the north, the 1st Parachute Brigade assumed responsibility for the District of Galilee
, and the 3rd Parachute Brigade for the District of Haifa
, with division headquarters located in the Stella Maris Monastery
. The 1st Parachute Brigade also took under its command the Transjordan Frontier Force
and a battalion of the Arab Legion
to cover their large area. In the north the division was mainly responsible for the security of the port of Haifa
, the largest in the country, where they protected oil installations, the Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline
and prevented illegal immigrants from landing on the coastline. On 31 January it was announced that all non-essential British civilians were to be evacuated, due to the worsening situation. The evacuation took place from Haifa between 5 and 8 February, under the control of the 8th Parachute Battalion and the Royal Navy
.
On 4 May a group of around forty men carried out the Acre Prison break
, releasing forty-one Jews and 214 Arabs. At the same time a mortar attack was carried out on the 2nd Parachute Battalion's camp, as a diversion. The first unit to reach the prison was a platoon
from the 1st Parachute Battalion, 35 minutes later. Other men from the battalion and some divisional units were bathing in the sea a short distance from the prison. A truck load of escaping prisoners opened fire on one unit's armoured car. The escaping truck then reached an improvised road block set up by some bathers and crashed under fire. The division's bathing party killed four attackers, four Jewish and one Arab escapee, and recaptured thirteen Jews. The bathers had eight men wounded during the short battle. While this was going on, the 1st Parachute Brigade was establishing a cordon around Acre
and the surrounding area but no further escapees were caught.
The next attack was on officers from the 9th Parachute Battalion on 28 June. The officers were dining at a restaurant when two men of the Irgun approached and fired machine guns through the windows. One officer was killed outright while several others were wounded. The officers returned fire and the car the gunmen were escaping in crashed; later examination revealed at least one of them had been wounded. On 19 July two police officers on patrol in Haifa were shot in the back and killed. The following day the 3rd Parachute Brigade cordoned the area and imposed a night time curfew, which was not lifted until 30 July.
Leadership of the division changed again on 19 August, when Major General Hugh Stockwell
was given command. In October the British War Office
announced the division would be reduced by one brigade. The 3rd Parachute Brigade was disbanded, leaving the 1st Parachute Brigade in Palestine and the 2nd Parachute Brigade in England. The 1st Parachute Brigade assumed responsibility for Haifa and to cover all its commitments the 2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment
was attached to the brigade.
At a meeting on 29 November, the United Nations General Assembly
decided to end the British Mandate on 1 August 1948. Palestine would be partitioned into separate Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem becoming an international city. The Jewish state would have fifty-six per cent of the land with a population of 490,000 Jews and 325,000 Arabs, while the Arab state would have 807,000 Arabs, but only 10,000 Jews. The population of Jerusalem would be around 105,000 Arabs to 100,000 Jews.
On 13 December trouble came from another quarter, in the town of Safed
, opposite the Golan Heights. Fighting had started between the Arab and Jewish inhabitants. The police requested help from the army and a company from the 8th Parachute Battalion was assigned the task. Arabs fired at the British unit on 21 December without causing any injuries.
Tension in the Golan Heights area remained high and on 9 January the Jewish settlements of Dan and Kfar Szold
were attacked by Arab irregulars from the Arab Liberation Army
, who crossed the border from Syria. The division responded by immediately sending a troop of armoured cars from the 17th/21st Lancers
to each village. By the afternoon the 1st Parachute Battalion had joined the battle and air support from the Royal Air Force was called in. The battle ended with the Arabs withdrawing; their casualties are not known. Nine Jews were killed or wounded by the Arabs, the British troops uninjured.
To assist in controlling the region, an ad-hoc formation called Craforce was established. Under the command of the division's commander, Royal Artillery Brigadier C. H. Colquhoun, were the division's artillery, the 17th/21st Lancers, the 1st Parachute Battalion and the 1st Battalion Irish Guards
. Craforce became involved with breaking up attacks between Arab and Jewish forces. The Arabs did not directly attack the British, but did engage them when British attempted to intervene in an attack on Jewish settlements.
In February the Arab Liberation Army, under the command of Fawzi al-Qawuqji
, was estimated to be around 10,000 strong. It was believed around 1,000 volunteers from neighbouring Arab states joined each month.
On 18 February it was announced that the 6th Airborne Division would be disbanded when they left Palestine. The 1st Parachute Brigade handed over Haifa to the 1st Guards Brigade on 6 April. Gradually the division's units left the country. The division's last units, comprising part of divisional headquarters, the 1st Parachute Battalion and the 1st Airborne Squadron Royal Engineers, departed on 18 May.
In February 1948 the 2nd Parachute Brigade moved from England to Germany, becoming part of the British Army on the Rhine. The 6th Airborne Division was disbanded in April 1948, shortly after their return to England, leaving the 2nd Parachute Brigade as the only brigade-sized airborne formation in the British Army. Being the only surviving parachute formation, in June its battalions were renumbered: the 5th (Scottish) Parachute Battalion became the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, while the 4th/6th Parachute Battalion became the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, and the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion
became the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment. Finally, in July 1948, the brigade was renumbered the 16th Parachute Brigade
, taking the numbers "1" and "6" from the two wartime airborne divisions.
On 14 May, the day before the end of the British mandate, David Ben-Gurion
, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, announced the establishment of the state of Israel in parts of what was known as the British Mandate of Palestine. The announcement was the catalyst for the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The infant state of Israel had, by the end of the war, mobilised around 100,000 soldiers forming twelve brigades and fledgling naval and air forces. These forces defeated the combined armies of five Arab states, forcing the majority of them back out of Israeli territory.
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. In fact it became involved in an internal security
Internal security
Internal security, or IS, is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other self-governing territories. generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats...
role between 1945 and 1948.
Palestine had been a British Mandate since the end of the First World War. Under the terms of the mandate, Great Britain was responsible for the government and security of the country. It had long been a stated British aim to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine and between 1922 and 1939 over 250,000 Jewish immigrants had arrived in the country. However Arab resistance and the Second World War prompted the British to curtail immigration. The time also saw the rise of the Jewish Resistance Movement, which eventually came into conflict with the British authorities.
When the 6th Airborne Division arrived in response to increasing terrorist activity, it became involved in internal security
Internal security
Internal security, or IS, is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other self-governing territories. generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats...
, being responsible for cordons and search
Cordon and search
Cordon and search is a military tactic to cordon off an area and search the premises for weapons or insurgents. It is one of the basic counter insurgency operation. Other related operations are Cordon and knock and Cordon and kick....
operations, guarding convoys and key installations. As the situation worsened, the men of the division had to patrol the towns and cities, enforce curfews
Curfew
A curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...
and deal with rioting by the civilian population. They also protected Jewish and Arab settlements from sectarian violence
Sectarian violence
Sectarian violence and/or sectarian strife is violence inspired by sectarianism, that is, between different sects of one particular mode of ideology or religion within a nation/community...
. This was not without loss to the division and several members were killed and wounded during this time.
The end of the British mandate coincided with the post war reduction of the British Army back to peace time levels, and the division's numbers were gradually reduced. By the end of their tenure in Palestine, the division's strength was reduced in real terms, to less than brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
size. In 1948 it was disbanded soon after its withdrawal from Palestine.
Background
It was during the Sinai and Palestine CampaignSinai and Palestine Campaign
The Sinai and Palestine Campaigns took place in the Middle Eastern Theatre of World War I. A series of battles were fought between British Empire, German Empire and Ottoman Empire forces from 26 January 1915 to 31 October 1918, when the Armistice of Mudros was signed between the Ottoman Empire and...
of the First World War that a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, known as the Egyptian Expeditionary Force
Egyptian Expeditionary Force
The Egyptian Expeditionary Force was formed in March 1916 to command the British and British Empire military forces in Egypt during World War I. Originally known as the 'Force in Egypt' it had been commanded by General Maxwell who was recalled to England...
, first arrived in Palestine. The British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
forces, commanded by General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Edmund Allenby, defeated the occupying Turkish Army
Turkish Army
The Turkish Army or Turkish Land Forces is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire...
and ended 400 years of rule by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
.
Around the same time, the British Foreign Secretary
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to Baron Rothschild
Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild
Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild FRS , a scion of the Rothschild family, was a British banker, politician, and zoologist.-Biography:...
which has since became known as the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The letter stated: "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
Mandate
In July 1922, the British Mandate of Palestine was created. Under the terms of the mandate, Great Britain was responsible for the government and defence of the country and for the establishment of a Jewish homeland. Then in September 1922, the League of NationsLeague of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
and Great Britain decided that any Jewish homeland would not be formed in the land to the east of the River Jordan. This instead became a separate country known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Encouraged by the British, 265,000 Jewish immigrants, mainly from Europe, came to settle in Palestine between 1919 and 1939. Arab resistance and violence to this influx of immigrants came to a head in 1937, and the Peel Commission
Peel Commission
The Peel Commission of 1936-1937, formally known as the Palestine Royal Commission, was a British Royal Commission of Inquiry set out to propose changes to the British Mandate of Palestine following the outbreak of the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine...
recommended that two states should be formed, one Arab and one Jewish, which would divide the country between them. Then in May 1939, the British restricted the number of Jewish immigrants to 75,000 in the White Paper of 1939
White Paper of 1939
The White Paper of 1939, also known as the MacDonald White Paper after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary who presided over it, was a policy paper issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain in which the idea of partitioning the Mandate for Palestine, as recommended in...
.
By the end of 1945, Jewish immigration had almost reached the 75,000 White Paper limit. Arab concerns led to the British putting further restrictions on immigration. Even when the scale of the Holocaust became known, the British stance remained the same. This led to an inevitable confrontation between the British authorities, illegal Jewish immigrants, and militant Zionist groups
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
. It became a widespread belief within the Jewish community that the British were practising antisemitism and were no different from Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. However, between 1945 and 1948 a further 85,000 Jewish immigrants, mostly survivors of the Holocaust, entered the country illegally.
Jewish resistance movements
During this time the Jewish Resistance MovementJewish Resistance Movement
The Jewish Resistance Movement , sometimes called United Resistance Movement , was an umbrella group for Jewish Resistance movements in the British Mandate of Palestine...
was formed, comprising several pre-existing Jewish groups. In 1921, the part-time Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
was formed and trained as a national army. Most Jewish males and some females were required to join. After the Second World War, it obtained numerous surplus weapons to equip its members. The Haganah gave priority to increasing the Jewish population by bringing immigrants into the country from Europe. It always attempted to give prior notice of an attack so that any security service personnel in the area could be evacuated.
When Axis forces
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
posed a threat to the Middle East in the Second World War, the Haganah organized a full-time, elite force, the Palmach
Palmach
The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
. By 1947, this organization numbered around 2,200 members. Palmach members were subject to military discipline; many of them had served in the British forces during the war.
In 1937, a splinter group was formed by those not happy with the Hagana methods. This group was called the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel or Irgun in short. It launched a campaign of violence against the government in 1944, carrying out several terrorist attacks. By 1945, Irgun had an estimated membership of 1,500. A third group was the Lehi
Lehi (group)
Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...
, the Hebrew acronym of "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel", known in the British press as the Stern Gang. Lehi membership consisted of only around fifty men. It was the only Jewish group that contemplated working with the Italians and Germans during the war, and afterwards assassinated members of the British authorities. By 1946, both the Irgun and Lehi had declared war on Great Britain.
British 6th Airborne Division
Despite its name, the 6th Airborne Division was one of only two British airborne divisions raised during the Second World War. Before being deployed to Palestine, the division had served only in Europe. It had participated in the Normandy landings and the Battle of the BulgeBattle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
. After the Rhine crossing
Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity was a successful joint American–British airborne operation that took place toward the end of World War II...
in March 1945, it spent six weeks advancing across Germany to the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
.
At the end of the war in Europe, it had been planned to send the division to Burma to form an airborne corps
Corps
A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
with the 44th Indian Airborne Division. However, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
, and the Japanese surrender, ended the war and changed British plans. The 6th Airborne Division was nominated to be the Imperial Strategic Reserve. Together with a Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
troop-carrier formation, they were to be located in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
as a quick reaction peace keeping force for the British Empire.
By September 1945, the division was on route to the region for airborne training. However, conditions in Palestine were deteriorating. By the time the division arrived, instead of training, it was deployed on internal security
Internal security
Internal security, or IS, is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other self-governing territories. generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats...
.
During the Second World War, the division was comprised of the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades and the glider infantry
Glider infantry
Glider infantry was a type of airborne infantry in which soldiers and their equipment were inserted into enemy controlled territory via military glider rather than parachute...
6th Airlanding Brigade
6th Airlanding Brigade (United Kingdom)
The 6th Airlanding Brigade was a glider infantry brigade forming part of the British airborne forces during the Second World War. Composed of three infantry battalions and supporting units, it was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division....
. However the 5th Parachute Brigade had been sent to India ahead of the rest of the division. So when the division was dispatched to the Middle East, the 2nd Parachute Brigade was assigned to bring them up to strength. In May 1946, after the 1st Airborne Division was disbanded, the 1st Parachute Brigade joined the division, replacing the 6th Airlanding Brigade. In August 1946, the 5th Parachute Brigade returned from the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
, and joined the division, but was disbanded soon afterwards. The next major manpower development came in 1947, when the 3rd Parachute Brigade was disbanded and the 2nd Parachute Brigade, while remaining part of the division, was withdrawn to England, then sent to Germany.
1945
Still commanded by its last wartime commander, Major GeneralMajor General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Eric Bols
Eric Bols
Major-General Eric Louis Bols, CB, DSO and Bar was an officer in the British Army, who was most notable for serving as the commanding officer of the British 6th Airborne Division during Operation Varsity in 1945...
, the division began deployment to Palestine in 1945. The advance party arrived on 15 September, followed by the Tactical Headquarters on 24 September, then the 3rd Parachute Brigade on 3 October, the 6th Airlanding Brigade on 10 October and the 2nd Parachute Brigade on 22 October. After arriving by sea at Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, the newly arrived troops were sent to camps in the District of Gaza
District of Gaza
The District of Gaza was an administrative district, situated in the southern Mediterranean coastline of the British Mandate of Palestine. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the district disintegrated, with Israel controlling the northern and eastern portions while Egypt held control of the southern...
to acclimatize to the conditions, and to regain their fitness after the long sea journey from England. By the end of the month divisional headquarters was established at Bir Salim
Bir Salim
Bir Salim was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Ramla. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 9, 1948 by the Givati Brigade. It was located 4 km west of Ramla.The population in 1945 was 410....
. The 2nd Parachute Brigade at remained at Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
, the 3rd Parachute Brigade moved to the Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
and Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
region, while the 6th Airlanding Brigade moved to Samaria
Samaria
Samaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...
.
It was not long before the division became involved in operations, enforcing a night time curfew
Curfew
A curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...
at the end of October after the railway in the divisional area was sabotaged. On 13 November the British Government confirmed they would examine the conditions of Jews in Europe and consult the Arabs to ensure Jewish immigration, at the time around 1,500 persons a month, was not hindered.
Unhappy that the announcement did not go far enough, the Jewish National Council arranged a twelve hour strike for the next day. Rioting started in Tel Aviv and the Jewish part of Jerusalem, which resulted in the 3rd Parachute Brigade being deployed to patrol the streets for the following five days.
The first operation involving the 6th Airlanding Brigade followed two attacks by the Palmach on coastguard stations over the night of 24/25 November. Palestine Police Force
Palestine Police Force
The Palestine Police Force was a British colonial police service established in the British Mandate for Palestine on 1 July 1920, when High Commissioner Herbert Samuel's civil administration took over responsibility for security from General Allenby's Occupied Enemy Territory Administration...
dogs tracked the attackers to the settlements of Rishpon
Rishpon
Rishpon is a moshav in the Center District of Israel. Located in the Sharon plain near Herzliya, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaSharon Regional Council. In 2007 it had a population of 1,000....
and Sidna Ali. In the following cordon and search
Cordon and search
Cordon and search is a military tactic to cordon off an area and search the premises for weapons or insurgents. It is one of the basic counter insurgency operation. Other related operations are Cordon and knock and Cordon and kick....
operation, the police were stoned by the inhabitants, and the soldiers on the cordon had to prevent reinforcements from other settlements reaching the villages. The next day, 26 November, the police were involved in hand to hand fighting with the villagers and eventually withdrew, calling on the brigade to enter the settlements and enforce law and order. Leaving some men behind on the cordon to hold back the estimated 3,000 crowd, the remainder of the brigade entered the settlements. Here they carried out several baton charges and for the first time used tear gas to disperse the crowds. In the clean up operation, 900 persons were later arrested.
Near the end of the year, over the night of 26/27 December, several attacks were carried out by the Irgun on police stations, Palestine Railways installations and one British Army armoury. The 3rd Parachute Brigade again enforced a night time curfew on Tel Aviv. Then on 29 December, it took part in Operation Pintail, the search of Ramat Gan, for Irgun members involved in the attacks. The brigade questioned the 1,500 inhabitants, arresting eighty-nine.
1946
The first mission of 1946 was Operation Hebron on 8 January. This time the objective was the cordon and search of the town of Rishon LeZion by the 3rd Parachute Brigade and the police, during which fifty-five suspects were taken into custody. For the rest of the month, the brigade was involved in several smaller operations. In Operation Pigeon on 30 January, they searched the Shapira district of Tel Aviv.On 5 March Major General James Cassels took over command of the division. The next action involving the division was over the night of 2/3 April, when units of the Irgun attacked railway installations in the divisional area. While one attack on the Yibna
Yibna
Yibna was a Palestinian village of 5,420 inhabitants, located 15 kilometers southwest of Ramla. Yibna was occupied by Israeli forces on June 4, 1948, and was depopulated during the military assault and expulsion.-History:...
railway station and police post was in progress, a mobile patrol from the 9th Parachute Battalion arrived, detonating a mine while crossing a bridge. Three of the patrol were wounded, but the others took off after the saboteurs. Reinforcements arrived from the 5th and 6th Parachute Battalions. In the morning, tracks of around thirty men were discovered leading away from the area. A spotter plane later located the men and directed a section of the 8th Parachute Battalion to intercept them. After a small battle, fourteen of the saboteurs were wounded and twenty-six prisoners taken.
In March the 1st Parachute Brigade joined the division. The 6th Airlanding Brigade left the division on 13 April, but remained in Palestine as the 31st Independent Infantry Brigade. This reduced the division's manpower by around twenty-five per cent as the strength of the airlanding brigade had been almost equal to that of two parachute brigades combined.
At 20:45 on 25 April, the Lehi carried out an attack on a divisional car park in Tel Aviv. On that night, the car park was guarded by ten men from the 5th Parachute Battalion. The attackers, around thirty men, established a fire base in a house overlooking the car park. The attack began with a bomb thrown into a guard tent. Gunfire was directed at all of the soldiers in the area, then twenty of the attackers stormed the car park. Once inside the compound, they entered the guard tents, killing four unarmed soldiers and looting the rifle racks of weapons. Another two off-duty soldiers, responding to the attack, were killed approaching the car park. In total, seven men from the division were killed.
This was the first deliberate attack by any group targeting the British Army, which had not established defences against any form of assault. During the following day seventy suspects were rounded up, but no evidence of their involvement could be found. In response to the attack, the British imposed a road curfew from 18:00 to 06:00 each night and all cafes, restaurants and public entertainment venues in Tel Aviv were closed between 20:00 and 05:00. However this was not enough for some members of the division, who attacked Jewish houses in Qastina
Qastina
Qastina was a Palestinian village, located 38 kilometers northeast of Gaza City. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.-Location:...
and Be'er Tuvia
Be'er Tuvia
Be'er Tuvia is a moshav in the Southern District of Israel near the city of Kiryat Malakhi. It is affiliated with the Be'er Tuvia Regional Council....
, injuring some of the occupants. Those involved were later punished by the British Army.
Attacks on the security services had increased to a level that on 19 June all ranks were ordered to be armed at all times on or off duty, and to travel in pairs during the day and in threes at night. Near the end of June the division received orders for Operation Agatha
Operation Agatha
Operation Agatha sometimes called Black Shabbat or Black Saturday because it began on the Jewish sabbath, was a police and military operation conducted by the British authorities in the British Mandate of Palestine...
, the arrest of Jewish leaders "suspected of condoning" or being involved in sabotage or murder of civil and military personnel. Agatha was a nationwide operation involving not only the 6th Airborne Division but the Palestinian Police Force and all other army units in the country. Secondary objectives were to gather intelligence and arrest any members of the Palmach that could be found.
Operation Agatha started at 04:15 on 29 June. The 2nd Parachute Brigade was responsible for Tel Aviv, the 1st Parachute Brigade for Jewish settlements around Ma'abarot and the 3rd Parachute Brigade for those around Givat Brenner
Givat Brenner
Givat Brenner , also written Giv'at Brener, is a kibbutz in the Center District of Israel. Located around two kilometres south of Rehovot, it falls under the jurisdiction of Brenner Regional Council...
. The operation ended on 1 July after 2,718 suspects had been arrested. Many had no connection to the resistance movements and were only arrested for harassing the searchers or for refusing to give their names when asked. The 6th Airborne Division alone arrested 636 persons, 135 of them for being suspected Palmach members and ten were Jewish leaders.
King David Hotel bombing
The King David Hotel bombing was an attack carried out by themilitant right-wing Zionist underground organization Irgun on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946...
. No members of the division were directly involved, but the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
of the 9th Airborne Squadron were called in to take charge of the search for survivors and secure the part of the building left standing. Over the next three days they located six survivors and the bodies of ninety-one victims. To assist in the search for those responsible, the 8th and 9th Parachute Battalions moved into Jerusalem on 23 July.
The British response to the bombing came on 30 July, when the division carried out Operation Shark. Believing that the bombers were being sheltered in Tel Aviv, every dwelling and building was searched for members of the Lehi and Irgun, and the population questioned. During the operation, a cordon surrounded the city and a curfew was imposed on its inhabitants. To allow the population to buy food and other essentials, the curfew was lifted for two hours every second day, until the end of the operation. The division's three parachute brigades were each given one quarter of the city to cordon and search while the fourth quarter was the responsibility of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, attached to the division for the operation. Over four days each brigade questioned around 100,000 people, and 787 were detained for further questioning. During the searches, five arms dumps were found, containing four machine guns, twenty-three mortars, 176 rifles and pistols, and 127,000 round of ammunition. Also found were £50,000 of forged bearer bond
Bearer bond
A bearer bond is a debt security issued by a business entity, such as a corporation, or by a government. It differs from the more common types of investment securities in that it is unregistered – no records are kept of the owner, or the transactions involving ownership. Whoever physically...
s, forging equipment and a large amount of explosives.
The division's next operations were Bream and Eel, searching for arms in Dorot
Dorot
Dorot is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located on Route 334 near Sderot, it falls under the municipal jurisdiction of the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council. In 2008, it had a population of 454....
and Ruhama
Ruhama
Ruhama is a kibbutz in the Negev desert in southern Israel. The original settlement established in 1911, is considered the first modern Jewish settlement in the Negev....
, by the 3rd and 8th Parachute Battalions, and the 9th Airborne Squadron Royal Engineers. The two villages were cordoned at dawn on 28 August. Over the next six days the settlements were searched, during which a large quantity of assorted weapons, including heavy machine guns and mortars, were found.
Over the remaining months of the year the division carried out patrols of the rail and road networks, which were being mined. Some of the mines killed men from the division attempting to disarm them, until orders were issued to blow the mines up rather than disarm them. Then on 2 December a road mine killed four men from the 2nd Forward Observation Unit (Airborne).
A change in command occurred on 13 December when Major General Cassels left the division and was replaced by Eric Bols, now commanding the division for the second time.
1947
Between 29 December 1946 and 3 January the division's brigades carried out seven search operations in Tel Aviv, arresting 191 people. On 2 January several attacks were made on roads in the division's area. One attack wounded eight men of the 4th and 5th Parachute Battalions. Another attack on the same day was carried out by the Lehi against the 1st Parachute Battalion headquarters in Tel Aviv, killing a Jewish policeman and wounding two soldiers and another police officer. Then on 18 January the 6th Airborne and 1st Infantry Division swapped locations, the airborne division now assuming responsibility for the north of the country. Although it remained part of the division, the 2nd Parachute Brigade was withdrawn to England on 24 January.Upon their arrival in the north, the 1st Parachute Brigade assumed responsibility for the District of Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
, and the 3rd Parachute Brigade for the District of Haifa
District of Haifa
The District of Haifa was an administrative district of the British Mandate of Palestine that covered the northern Mediterranean coast of regional Palestine, southwestern Galilee, and the Wadi Ara region. It was disintegrated after the British withdrawal from the area. Prior to and during the 1948...
, with division headquarters located in the Stella Maris Monastery
Stella Maris Monastery
The Stella Maris Monastery or Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Haifa is a 19th-century Carmelite nunnery located on the slopes of Mount Carmel, Israel.- History :...
. The 1st Parachute Brigade also took under its command the Transjordan Frontier Force
Transjordan Frontier Force
The Transjordan Frontier Force was formed, on 1 April 1926, as a para-military border guard to defend Trans-Jordan's northern and southern borders. The TJFF was also an Imperial Service regiment whose Imperial Service soldiers agreed to serve wherever required and not just within the borders of...
and a battalion of the Arab Legion
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th century.-Creation:...
to cover their large area. In the north the division was mainly responsible for the security of the port of Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, the largest in the country, where they protected oil installations, the Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline
Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline
Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline led crude oil from the oil fields in Kirkuk, located in north Iraq, through Jordan to Haifa, and was active in the years 1935-1948. The oil line's length was about 942 km, and it took about 10 days to move oil from start to finish...
and prevented illegal immigrants from landing on the coastline. On 31 January it was announced that all non-essential British civilians were to be evacuated, due to the worsening situation. The evacuation took place from Haifa between 5 and 8 February, under the control of the 8th Parachute Battalion and the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
.
On 4 May a group of around forty men carried out the Acre Prison break
Acre Prison break
The Acre Prison break was a operation undertaken by the Irgun on May 4, 1947 in the British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke through the walls of Acre prison and freed 28 incarcerated Irgun and Lehi members.-Background:...
, releasing forty-one Jews and 214 Arabs. At the same time a mortar attack was carried out on the 2nd Parachute Battalion's camp, as a diversion. The first unit to reach the prison was a platoon
Platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
from the 1st Parachute Battalion, 35 minutes later. Other men from the battalion and some divisional units were bathing in the sea a short distance from the prison. A truck load of escaping prisoners opened fire on one unit's armoured car. The escaping truck then reached an improvised road block set up by some bathers and crashed under fire. The division's bathing party killed four attackers, four Jewish and one Arab escapee, and recaptured thirteen Jews. The bathers had eight men wounded during the short battle. While this was going on, the 1st Parachute Brigade was establishing a cordon around Acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
and the surrounding area but no further escapees were caught.
The next attack was on officers from the 9th Parachute Battalion on 28 June. The officers were dining at a restaurant when two men of the Irgun approached and fired machine guns through the windows. One officer was killed outright while several others were wounded. The officers returned fire and the car the gunmen were escaping in crashed; later examination revealed at least one of them had been wounded. On 19 July two police officers on patrol in Haifa were shot in the back and killed. The following day the 3rd Parachute Brigade cordoned the area and imposed a night time curfew, which was not lifted until 30 July.
Leadership of the division changed again on 19 August, when Major General Hugh Stockwell
Hugh Stockwell
General Sir Hugh Charles Stockwell GCB, KBE, DSO & Bar was a British soldier, most remembered for commanding the Anglo-French ground forces during the Suez Crisis and his service as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1960 to 1964.-Early life:Stockwell was born in Jersey, but spent...
was given command. In October the British War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
announced the division would be reduced by one brigade. The 3rd Parachute Brigade was disbanded, leaving the 1st Parachute Brigade in Palestine and the 2nd Parachute Brigade in England. The 1st Parachute Brigade assumed responsibility for Haifa and to cover all its commitments the 2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment
Middlesex Regiment
The Middlesex Regiment was a regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms when the 57th and 77th Regiments of Foot were amalgamated with the county's militia and rifle volunteer units.On 31 December 1966 The Middlesex Regiment was amalgamated with three...
was attached to the brigade.
At a meeting on 29 November, the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
decided to end the British Mandate on 1 August 1948. Palestine would be partitioned into separate Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem becoming an international city. The Jewish state would have fifty-six per cent of the land with a population of 490,000 Jews and 325,000 Arabs, while the Arab state would have 807,000 Arabs, but only 10,000 Jews. The population of Jerusalem would be around 105,000 Arabs to 100,000 Jews.
On 13 December trouble came from another quarter, in the town of Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
, opposite the Golan Heights. Fighting had started between the Arab and Jewish inhabitants. The police requested help from the army and a company from the 8th Parachute Battalion was assigned the task. Arabs fired at the British unit on 21 December without causing any injuries.
1948
Kfar Szold
Kfar Szold is a kibbutz in the Hula Valley in the Upper Galilee area of Israel.-History:Kfar Szold was founded during the 1940s by Jewish immigrants from Hungary, Austria and Germany and was named after Henrietta Szold, who founded Hadassah, the Women's Zionist organization...
were attacked by Arab irregulars from the Arab Liberation Army
Arab Liberation Army
The Arab Liberation Army , also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji...
, who crossed the border from Syria. The division responded by immediately sending a troop of armoured cars from the 17th/21st Lancers
17th/21st Lancers
The 17th/21st Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1922 to 1993.It was formed in 1922 in England by the amalgamation of the 17th Lancers and the 21st Lancers . From 1930 to 1939 it was deployed overseas; first in Egypt for two years, and then in India for seven...
to each village. By the afternoon the 1st Parachute Battalion had joined the battle and air support from the Royal Air Force was called in. The battle ended with the Arabs withdrawing; their casualties are not known. Nine Jews were killed or wounded by the Arabs, the British troops uninjured.
To assist in controlling the region, an ad-hoc formation called Craforce was established. Under the command of the division's commander, Royal Artillery Brigadier C. H. Colquhoun, were the division's artillery, the 17th/21st Lancers, the 1st Parachute Battalion and the 1st Battalion Irish Guards
Irish Guards
The Irish Guards , part of the Guards Division, is a Foot Guards regiment of the British Army.Along with the Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish regiments remaining in the British Army. The Irish Guards recruit in Northern Ireland and the Irish neighbourhoods of major British cities...
. Craforce became involved with breaking up attacks between Arab and Jewish forces. The Arabs did not directly attack the British, but did engage them when British attempted to intervene in an attack on Jewish settlements.
In February the Arab Liberation Army, under the command of Fawzi al-Qawuqji
Fawzi Al-Qawuqji
Fawzi al-Qawuqji was the field commander of the Arab Liberation Army during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War in Palestine, and a rival of the principal Palestinian Arab leader, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini.-Biography:...
, was estimated to be around 10,000 strong. It was believed around 1,000 volunteers from neighbouring Arab states joined each month.
On 18 February it was announced that the 6th Airborne Division would be disbanded when they left Palestine. The 1st Parachute Brigade handed over Haifa to the 1st Guards Brigade on 6 April. Gradually the division's units left the country. The division's last units, comprising part of divisional headquarters, the 1st Parachute Battalion and the 1st Airborne Squadron Royal Engineers, departed on 18 May.
Aftermath
Since the end of the Second World War, the campaign in the British Mandate of Palestine had cost the British 338 dead. The numbers for the 6th Airborne Division between October 1945 and April 1948 were fifty-eight men dead and 236 wounded due to enemy action, a further ninety-nine men died, from causes not associated with a hostile act. During their searches of Jewish and Arab settlements, men from the division had located 99 mortars, 34 machine guns, 174 sub machine guns, 375 rifles, 391 pistols, 97 land mines, 2,582 hand grenades and 302,530 rounds of ammunition.7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion
The 7th Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, formed by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was raised by the conversion of the 10th Somerset Light Infantry to parachute duties...
became the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment. Finally, in July 1948, the brigade was renumbered the 16th Parachute Brigade
16th Parachute Brigade (United Kingdom)
The 16th Parachute Brigade was an airborne forces brigade of the British Army.It can trace its formation to February 1948, when the 2nd Parachute Brigade left the 6th Airborne Division and moved to Germany, becoming part of the British Army of the Rhine...
, taking the numbers "1" and "6" from the two wartime airborne divisions.
On 14 May, the day before the end of the British mandate, David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, announced the establishment of the state of Israel in parts of what was known as the British Mandate of Palestine. The announcement was the catalyst for the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The infant state of Israel had, by the end of the war, mobilised around 100,000 soldiers forming twelve brigades and fledgling naval and air forces. These forces defeated the combined armies of five Arab states, forcing the majority of them back out of Israeli territory.
External links
- The "Kalaniots" The 6th Airborne Division In Palestine at Britain's small wars
- The Jewish Community Under the Mandate at The Jewish Virtual Library