Evelyn Barker
Encyclopedia
General
Sir Evelyn Hugh Barker KCB
KBE
DSO
MC
(1894–1983) was a British Army
general in World War II, and commander of British forces in the Mandate Palestine from 1946 to 1947. Barker is remembered for his order, following the King David Hotel bombing
, that (We) will be punishing the Jews in a way the race dislikes as much as any, by striking at their pockets and showing our contempt of them.
, and the next year sent to the French theatre of World War I. He fought in France, took part in the Thessaloniki
operation, was wounded and decorated. In 1919, together with King's Royal Rifle Corps, Barker took part in the British military expedition against the Bolsheviks in the south of the former Russian Empire
.
As commander of the 2nd battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, Barker served in Palestine
during the Palestinian Arab Revolt of 1936 – 39, returning to the UK in 1938 to take command of 10th Infantry Brigade.
In October 1939, shortly after the start of World War II he took his brigade, one of three forming 4th Infantry Division
, to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. After the defeat of the Allies
on the continent, he was evacuated from Dunkirk with the remaining troops to Britain where he assumed command over the 54th (East Anglian) Division. In April 1943 Barker took over the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division, which he led in the Battle of Normandy
and the ensuing fighting in Northern France.
Barker distinguished himself during the liberation of Le Havre
. During early December 1944 Sir Richard O'Connor was transferred to India to take command of the Eastern Army and Lieutenant-General Barker was appointed the new commander of VIII Corps to replace him. VIII Corps saw extensive action during the final push into Germany between March and May 1945. On 15 April 1945, elements of Barkers Corps liberated the remaining survivors of the Belsen concentration camp. After the German capitulation, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery appointed Barker to head the Schleswig-Holstein
Corps District of the British occupation zone. He was also knighted KBE
immediately after the campaign.
(GOC) with British forces in Mandate Palestine, where he had served in the days of the Arab Revolt
. Palestine was now the scene of another guerilla war, this time waged by the Zionist militants of the Haganah
, Irgun
and LEHI
. Barker’s was the challenging task of ending the increasingly numerous and lethal attacks by the armed Zionist groups. He found the country at a new peak of tensions between the Jewish community and the British troops, after the LEHI’s 25 April raid on the 6th Airborne Division car park near Tel Aviv in which several unarmed soldiers were killed execution-style. Officers reported that some units were close to mutinying and going on revengeful rampage in the villages. Controlling vindictive passions of his troops, as well as his own, would for General be sometimes as difficult as controlling the security situation.
Barker soon arrived at the conclusion that pacification of the country dictated harsher measures, first of all, enforcement of the death penalty, and certain collective actions against the entire Jewish community for its perceived complicity. Like most of the military personnel stationed in Palestine, he blamed the Yishuv
at large for the attacks of the militants, and the softness of the British approach to the Jews for the failure to stop them. Whereas hangings and collective punishment were broadly employed against the Palestinian Arabs during the 1936-39 Arab Revolt, not a single Zionist militant had ever been executed for attacking British forces (with the exception of the two LEHI assassins of Lord Moyne who were tried and hanged in Cairo
). Together with other high-ranking British officers, Barker repeatedly asked civil authorities to let the army “take off the gloves” and employ harsher methods in the pursuit of the “terrorists”. The perception of the government’s timidity with regard to the Jews, predominant in the military circles, was expressed in the memoirs of Bernard Montgomery, Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1946-48:
, and was known for her intelligence and tastes. The evening dances in the Karm al Mufti mansion, where Antonius had written his Arab Awakening, were attended by diplomats, artists, British officers. Evelyn Barker, by now married with a son, dallied there with his arab hostess.
In his position on the death penalty, Barker was not only strongly supported by his subordinates, but directly instructed by his superiors. Chief of the Imperial General Staff Bernard Montgomery conveyed to Barker that capital punishments of the Jewish militants must be carried out even when British soldiers were held hostages for the sentenced “terrorists”. When, on 18 June 1946, the Irgun abducted five British officers, to be held as hostages for the recently condemned to death members of the Irgun, Montgomery reacted by an urgent unplanned visit to Palestine for talks with Barker, of which he later recalled:
Barker confirmed the sentences even before the instigation from Montgomery. But the opposite decision was taken by superior authorities: on 3 July, High Commissioner
for Palestine, Alan Cunningham, commuted the deaths sentences to imprisonment, in order, as it is generally held, to save the British hostages. The Irgun
then released the captured British officers.
. Having the long-awaited order to arrest the leaders of the Jewish Agency, which was now strongly believed to be complicit in terrorism, Barker organised Operation Agatha
in high secrecy and with high hopes of delivering a strong blow to the guerillas. The operation began in early morning of Saturday, 29 June (it became known as “Black Sabbath” among the Yishuv
), with tens of thousands of soldiers and policemen employed in cordon-and-search action in almost every Jewish settlement. By the end of the day, over 2700 Jews were detained, including some leaders of the Jewish Agency. Dozens of weapon caches were found, including one in the Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv
.
in Jerusalem when at 12.37 pm, Monday, 22 July 1946, the southern wing of the building collapsed in a large explosion, killing more than 100 Britons, Arabs and Jews. It looked immediately apparent (and was very soon confirmed) that the hotel, which housed the headquarters of the Mandate administration, had been targeted by Zionist militants
. Shortly after the explosion, Barker was in his office writing the order to his troops:
Barker’s aide, Brigadier Walter Sale, gave the order the lowest secrecy status, “Restricted”, and the leaders of the Yishuv quickly learnt of the GOC’s outburst of anger. Upon making its way to the hands of Palestinian Zionists, the text was immediately multiplied and sent to Western capitals, before it could be silently revoked. The order was rescinded in two weeks, but the avalanche of criticism it produced delivered a blow to the government’s handling of Palestine. The public resonance of Barker’s reaction to the bombing soon rivalled the resonance of the bombing itself; the order became the “spoiler” of the politico-diplomatic offensive allowed to the British government by the King David Hotel bombing
. Already with a trail of rumours about his alleged antisemitism, General Barker became possibly the individual most hated by the Jews, together with Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin
. The publicity campaign against Barker became a part of the propaganda thrust against the British policy in Palestine. A British newspaper carried a caricature of the GOC holding Hitler’s Mein Kampf
.
Barker later regretted issuing this order:
Speaking specifically of the Palestinian situation, Commander-in-Chief Miles Dempsey later reported to War Minister Frederick Bellenger:
ring responsible for the King David Hotel bombing was hiding in Tel Aviv
, General Barker organised a massive police operation in the city. His instructions to his subordinate Major General Cassels were short: “Jim, I want you to search Tel Aviv, every single room and attic and cellar in Tel Aviv. Is that quite clear ?”
The police action in Tel Aviv, codenamed Operation Shark, began on 30 July and achieved several successes, including the discovery of a large weapon cache in the city’s main synagogue, and the arrest of the LEHI
’s leader Yitzhak Shamir
. But the most important figure of the Zionist underground, Menachem Begin
of the Irgun, slipped through British hands. He hid in a secret compartment of his house while British soldiers stayed in his home for two days. General Barker later recalled: “We should have caught him, but the men did not search his house properly. This is one of the problems of search operations. You have to rely on very junior people, and, if they make a mistake, the whole operation can be damaged.”
In August, Barker had his authority overruled once more, when High Commissioner Cunningham commuted death sentences of 18 LEHI combatants and sent them to jail instead of the gallows
.
Meanwhile, British government, under economic pressures of the post-war period and pro-Zionist political pressures from the USA, intensified efforts to find a political solution. Palestine became too sensitive an issue, and Barker too scandalous a figure; the two had to be divorced. On 22 October, it was announced that the General would be promoted to a position in Britain. He continued in his duties of General Officer Commanding for several more months.
On 24 January 1947, Barker confirmed death sentence on the Irgun fighter Dov Gruner
. Barker later said in an interview for a researcher:
Understanding that the militants will seek hostages to prevent Gruner’s execution, as they did in the past to save other prisoners, Barker issued orders to heighten alert among the British troops.
On the final day of his Palestinian command, 13 February, Barker confirmed death sentences of three Irgun members, - Mordechai Alkachi, Yahiel Dresner (Dov Rosenbaum) and Eliezer Kashani. With that, he left Palestine forever. Alkachi, Dresner, Kashani and Gruner were hanged in the Acre
prison at dawn on 16 April.
and the LEHI
. In Palestine, explosive devices were placed around his home and at the very door of it, and the GOC survived sometimes by alertness of his officers, other times by luck. Assassination plots followed him to Britain after his return from the Mandate in February 1947. Among the would-be assassins was the future President of Israel, and the nephew of Haim Weizmann, Ezer Weizman
. A former Royal Air Force
pilot, and now a student of aviation in London, the 23-y.o. Ezer Weizman co-worked with his Irgun colleague tracking Barker to his house and producing a plan to use an explosive device against him. Before the duo was able to plant the device into the road, however, Weizman was visited by the police. Having attracted suspicions, the future President quickly left the island. The story of this plot remained unknown until Weizman himself revealed it in his memoir “On Eagle’s Wings” 30 years later. The retired Barker commented on this news in 1977:
The LEHI, for its part, produced several more attempts on Barker’s life. In one of them, a mail envelop charged with explosive powder (a method of killing that had been known for a while) arrived at Barker’s home on 11 May 1948, but was detected by his alert wife.
. He remained in correspondence with his former lover Katie Antonius for some years.
In 1950, Sir Evelyn Hugh Barker retired from service, aged 56. He had a long and seemingly comfortable retirement. For several years he was in correspondence with Liddell Hart, the known British military specialist and historian. Barker was among many individuals who gave accounts of their personal roles in Palestinian events to the researcher Nicholas Bethell
, for his book “The Palestine Triangle: the Struggle for the Holy Land, 1935-48” (among other interviewees were Menachem Begin
, Abba Eban
, Alan Cunningham, Israel Galili, Katie Antonius, Ezer Weizman
, as well as many publicly unknown individuals).
Evelyn Barker died on 23 November 1983, at the age of 89, and was buried in Somerset
.
General (United Kingdom)
General is currently the highest peace-time rank in the British Army and Royal Marines. It is subordinate to the Army rank of Field Marshal, has a NATO-code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank....
Sir Evelyn Hugh Barker KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
KBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(1894–1983) was 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...
general in World War II, and commander of British forces in the Mandate Palestine from 1946 to 1947. Barker is remembered for his order, following the King David Hotel bombing
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...
, that (We) will be punishing the Jews in a way the race dislikes as much as any, by striking at their pockets and showing our contempt of them.
Military service in 1913–1946
He was the son of a high-ranking officer, Major-General Sir George Barker. In 1913, Evelyn Barker was commissioned with King's Royal Rifle CorpsKing's Royal Rifle Corps
The King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry regiment, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...
, and the next year sent to the French theatre of World War I. He fought in France, took part in the Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
operation, was wounded and decorated. In 1919, together with King's Royal Rifle Corps, Barker took part in the British military expedition against the Bolsheviks in the south of the former Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
As commander of the 2nd battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, Barker served in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
during the Palestinian Arab Revolt of 1936 – 39, returning to the UK in 1938 to take command of 10th Infantry Brigade.
In October 1939, shortly after the start of World War II he took his brigade, one of three forming 4th Infantry Division
4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
The 4th Infantry Division is a regular British Army division with a long history having been present at the Peninsular War the Crimean War , the First World War , and during the Second World War.- Napoleonic Wars :...
, to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. After the defeat of the Allies
Allies
In everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them...
on the continent, he was evacuated from Dunkirk with the remaining troops to Britain where he assumed command over the 54th (East Anglian) Division. In April 1943 Barker took over the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division, which he led in the Battle of Normandy
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
and the ensuing fighting in Northern France.
Barker distinguished himself during the liberation of Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
. During early December 1944 Sir Richard O'Connor was transferred to India to take command of the Eastern Army and Lieutenant-General Barker was appointed the new commander of VIII Corps to replace him. VIII Corps saw extensive action during the final push into Germany between March and May 1945. On 15 April 1945, elements of Barkers Corps liberated the remaining survivors of the Belsen concentration camp. After the German capitulation, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery appointed Barker to head the Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
Corps District of the British occupation zone. He was also knighted KBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
immediately after the campaign.
Taking command in Palestine
In the spring of 1946, General Barker took appointment for the position of General Officer CommandingGeneral Officer Commanding
General Officer Commanding is the usual title given in the armies of Commonwealth nations to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC II Corps or GOC 7th Armoured Division...
(GOC) with British forces in Mandate Palestine, where he had served in the days of the Arab Revolt
Arab Revolt
The Arab Revolt was initiated by the Sherif Hussein bin Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.- Background :...
. Palestine was now the scene of another guerilla war, this time waged by the Zionist militants of the 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 :...
, Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
and LEHI
Lehi
Lehi refers to:In Mormonism:* Lehi , a prophet in the Book of Mormon of the 7th-6th centuries BC* Lehi, son of Helaman, another prophet in the Book of Mormon of the late 1st century BC...
. Barker’s was the challenging task of ending the increasingly numerous and lethal attacks by the armed Zionist groups. He found the country at a new peak of tensions between the Jewish community and the British troops, after the LEHI’s 25 April raid on the 6th Airborne Division car park near Tel Aviv in which several unarmed soldiers were killed execution-style. Officers reported that some units were close to mutinying and going on revengeful rampage in the villages. Controlling vindictive passions of his troops, as well as his own, would for General be sometimes as difficult as controlling the security situation.
Barker soon arrived at the conclusion that pacification of the country dictated harsher measures, first of all, enforcement of the death penalty, and certain collective actions against the entire Jewish community for its perceived complicity. Like most of the military personnel stationed in Palestine, he blamed the Yishuv
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
at large for the attacks of the militants, and the softness of the British approach to the Jews for the failure to stop them. Whereas hangings and collective punishment were broadly employed against the Palestinian Arabs during the 1936-39 Arab Revolt, not a single Zionist militant had ever been executed for attacking British forces (with the exception of the two LEHI assassins of Lord Moyne who were tried and hanged in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
). Together with other high-ranking British officers, Barker repeatedly asked civil authorities to let the army “take off the gloves” and employ harsher methods in the pursuit of the “terrorists”. The perception of the government’s timidity with regard to the Jews, predominant in the military circles, was expressed in the memoirs of Bernard Montgomery, Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1946-48:
Relationship with Katie Antonius
Soon after arriving in Palestine, Evelyn Barker became a frequenter of the Jerusalem haute societe gatherings in the mansion of Katie Antonius. The hostess was the widow of the famous Lebanese-Palestinian intellectual George AntoniusGeorge Antonius
George Habib Antonius, CBE was a Lebanese-Egyptian author and diplomat, settled in Palestine, one of the first historians of Arab nationalism. Born in Deir al Qamar in a Lebanese Orthodox Christian family, he served in the British Mandate of Palestine. His 1938 book The Arab Awakening was...
, and was known for her intelligence and tastes. The evening dances in the Karm al Mufti mansion, where Antonius had written his Arab Awakening, were attended by diplomats, artists, British officers. Evelyn Barker, by now married with a son, dallied there with his arab hostess.
Advocating death penalty
General Barker saw capital punishment as an effective discouragement against resorting to arms, and argued for a wide application of death penalty against Zionist guerillas. That it was never applied in the preceding years, he considered among the major causes of the failure to suppress the insurgency. Barker would later express his position in this way:In his position on the death penalty, Barker was not only strongly supported by his subordinates, but directly instructed by his superiors. Chief of the Imperial General Staff Bernard Montgomery conveyed to Barker that capital punishments of the Jewish militants must be carried out even when British soldiers were held hostages for the sentenced “terrorists”. When, on 18 June 1946, the Irgun abducted five British officers, to be held as hostages for the recently condemned to death members of the Irgun, Montgomery reacted by an urgent unplanned visit to Palestine for talks with Barker, of which he later recalled:
Barker confirmed the sentences even before the instigation from Montgomery. But the opposite decision was taken by superior authorities: on 3 July, High Commissioner
High Commissioner
High Commissioner is the title of various high-ranking, special executive positions held by a commission of appointment.The English term is also used to render various equivalent titles in other languages.-Bilateral diplomacy:...
for Palestine, Alan Cunningham, commuted the deaths sentences to imprisonment, in order, as it is generally held, to save the British hostages. The Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
then released the captured British officers.
Operation Agatha
Spurred to deliver, in middle June 1946 Barker started planning a large-scale police operation throughout the YishuvYishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
. Having the long-awaited order to arrest the leaders of the Jewish Agency, which was now strongly believed to be complicit in terrorism, Barker organised 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...
in high secrecy and with high hopes of delivering a strong blow to the guerillas. The operation began in early morning of Saturday, 29 June (it became known as “Black Sabbath” among the Yishuv
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
), with tens of thousands of soldiers and policemen employed in cordon-and-search action in almost every Jewish settlement. By the end of the day, over 2700 Jews were detained, including some leaders of the Jewish Agency. Dozens of weapon caches were found, including one in the Great Synagogue of 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...
.
The order prohibiting social interaction with the Jews
Barker was in his office at the King David HotelKing David Hotel
The King David Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Jerusalem, Israel. Opened in 1931, the hotel was built with locally quarried pink limestone and was founded by Ezra Mosseri, a wealthy Egyptian Jewish Banker. To this day the hotel remains one of the most prominent and prestigious hotels in Israel, and...
in Jerusalem when at 12.37 pm, Monday, 22 July 1946, the southern wing of the building collapsed in a large explosion, killing more than 100 Britons, Arabs and Jews. It looked immediately apparent (and was very soon confirmed) that the hotel, which housed the headquarters of the Mandate administration, had been targeted by Zionist militants
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
. Shortly after the explosion, Barker was in his office writing the order to his troops:
Barker’s aide, Brigadier Walter Sale, gave the order the lowest secrecy status, “Restricted”, and the leaders of the Yishuv quickly learnt of the GOC’s outburst of anger. Upon making its way to the hands of Palestinian Zionists, the text was immediately multiplied and sent to Western capitals, before it could be silently revoked. The order was rescinded in two weeks, but the avalanche of criticism it produced delivered a blow to the government’s handling of Palestine. The public resonance of Barker’s reaction to the bombing soon rivalled the resonance of the bombing itself; the order became the “spoiler” of the politico-diplomatic offensive allowed to the British government by the King David Hotel bombing
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...
. Already with a trail of rumours about his alleged antisemitism, General Barker became possibly the individual most hated by the Jews, together with Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
. The publicity campaign against Barker became a part of the propaganda thrust against the British policy in Palestine. A British newspaper carried a caricature of the GOC holding Hitler’s Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
.
Barker later regretted issuing this order:
Speaking specifically of the Palestinian situation, Commander-in-Chief Miles Dempsey later reported to War Minister Frederick Bellenger:
Operation Shark
With information that the IrgunIrgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
ring responsible for the King David Hotel bombing was hiding in 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...
, General Barker organised a massive police operation in the city. His instructions to his subordinate Major General Cassels were short: “Jim, I want you to search Tel Aviv, every single room and attic and cellar in Tel Aviv. Is that quite clear ?”
The police action in Tel Aviv, codenamed Operation Shark, began on 30 July and achieved several successes, including the discovery of a large weapon cache in the city’s main synagogue, and the arrest of the LEHI
Lehi
Lehi refers to:In Mormonism:* Lehi , a prophet in the Book of Mormon of the 7th-6th centuries BC* Lehi, son of Helaman, another prophet in the Book of Mormon of the late 1st century BC...
’s leader Yitzhak Shamir
Yitzhak Shamir
' is a former Israeli politician, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, in 1983–84 and 1986–92.-Biography:Icchak Jeziernicky was born in Ruzhany , Russian Empire . He studied at a Hebrew High School in Białystok, Poland. As a youth he joined Betar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement...
. But the most important figure of the Zionist underground, Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
of the Irgun, slipped through British hands. He hid in a secret compartment of his house while British soldiers stayed in his home for two days. General Barker later recalled: “We should have caught him, but the men did not search his house properly. This is one of the problems of search operations. You have to rely on very junior people, and, if they make a mistake, the whole operation can be damaged.”
In August, Barker had his authority overruled once more, when High Commissioner Cunningham commuted death sentences of 18 LEHI combatants and sent them to jail instead of the gallows
Gallows
A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered...
.
Meanwhile, British government, under economic pressures of the post-war period and pro-Zionist political pressures from the USA, intensified efforts to find a political solution. Palestine became too sensitive an issue, and Barker too scandalous a figure; the two had to be divorced. On 22 October, it was announced that the General would be promoted to a position in Britain. He continued in his duties of General Officer Commanding for several more months.
On 24 January 1947, Barker confirmed death sentence on the Irgun fighter Dov Gruner
Dov Gruner
Dov Gruner was a Jewish Zionist leader born in Kisvárda, Hungary on December 6, 1912. On April 19, 1947, he was executed by the British Mandatory authorities in Palestine on the charge of "firing on policemen, and setting explosive charges with the intent of killing personnel on His Majesty's...
. Barker later said in an interview for a researcher:
Understanding that the militants will seek hostages to prevent Gruner’s execution, as they did in the past to save other prisoners, Barker issued orders to heighten alert among the British troops.
On the final day of his Palestinian command, 13 February, Barker confirmed death sentences of three Irgun members, - Mordechai Alkachi, Yahiel Dresner (Dov Rosenbaum) and Eliezer Kashani. With that, he left Palestine forever. Alkachi, Dresner, Kashani and Gruner were hanged in the Acre
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
prison at dawn on 16 April.
Assassination plots
Evelyn Barker was a target of the IrgunIrgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
and the LEHI
Lehi
Lehi refers to:In Mormonism:* Lehi , a prophet in the Book of Mormon of the 7th-6th centuries BC* Lehi, son of Helaman, another prophet in the Book of Mormon of the late 1st century BC...
. In Palestine, explosive devices were placed around his home and at the very door of it, and the GOC survived sometimes by alertness of his officers, other times by luck. Assassination plots followed him to Britain after his return from the Mandate in February 1947. Among the would-be assassins was the future President of Israel, and the nephew of Haim Weizmann, Ezer Weizman
Ezer Weizman
' was the seventh President of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air Force and Minister of Defense.-Biography:...
. A former 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...
pilot, and now a student of aviation in London, the 23-y.o. Ezer Weizman co-worked with his Irgun colleague tracking Barker to his house and producing a plan to use an explosive device against him. Before the duo was able to plant the device into the road, however, Weizman was visited by the police. Having attracted suspicions, the future President quickly left the island. The story of this plot remained unknown until Weizman himself revealed it in his memoir “On Eagle’s Wings” 30 years later. The retired Barker commented on this news in 1977:
The LEHI, for its part, produced several more attempts on Barker’s life. In one of them, a mail envelop charged with explosive powder (a method of killing that had been known for a while) arrived at Barker’s home on 11 May 1948, but was detected by his alert wife.
Last years of military service, and retirement
After leaving Palestine in February 1947, Evelyn Barker assumed his promotion to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern CommandEastern Command (United Kingdom)
-History:The Command was established in 1905 from the Fourth Army Corps and was based in London. Among the formations raised under its supervision in World War I was the 12th Division. Its headquarters was initially located at Horseguards in London. During World War II the Command relocated to...
. He remained in correspondence with his former lover Katie Antonius for some years.
In 1950, Sir Evelyn Hugh Barker retired from service, aged 56. He had a long and seemingly comfortable retirement. For several years he was in correspondence with Liddell Hart, the known British military specialist and historian. Barker was among many individuals who gave accounts of their personal roles in Palestinian events to the researcher Nicholas Bethell
Nicholas Bethell
Nicholas William Bethell, 4th Baron Bethell was a British politician. He was an historian of Central and Eastern Europe. He was also a translator and human rights activist. He sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative from 1967 to 1999...
, for his book “The Palestine Triangle: the Struggle for the Holy Land, 1935-48” (among other interviewees were Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
, Abba Eban
Abba Eban
Abba Eban was an Israeli diplomat and politician.In his career he was Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister, Education Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations...
, Alan Cunningham, Israel Galili, Katie Antonius, Ezer Weizman
Ezer Weizman
' was the seventh President of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air Force and Minister of Defense.-Biography:...
, as well as many publicly unknown individuals).
Evelyn Barker died on 23 November 1983, at the age of 89, and was buried in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
.
Barker’s antisemitism
Barker’s letters to his former lover Katie Antonius contain overtly antisemitic passages. He wrote “Yes I loathe the lot - whether they be Zionists or not. Why should we be afraid of saying we hate them. Its time this damned race knew what we think of them - loathsome people" about the Jews in April 1947. He had a strong sentiment against the Jews by that time; the question is only whether he developed it during his Palestinian months, or at an earlier stage of life. If considered within the context of the widespread anti-Jewish attitudes among the British troops in Palestine of the post-war period, Barker’s antisemitism was probably a product of the military conflict with armed Zionists. Animosity towards the Jews had indeed pervaded British army in Palestine, and Barker was in this respect outstanding in no way. Arguably, the foundation of this feeling was not the traditional antisemitism with its incrimination of greed and destructiveness, and not merely the fact of the armed conflict with Jewish guerillas, but the idea of a treachery committed by the Jews against Britain whom they allegedly owed everything they had in Palestine. The policy of the Balfour Declaration, the protection from the Arabs and from the Germans in 1941-43, were seen by many Britons as great favours bestowed by the Empire on the Jewish people. In the antisemitic passages of his letters to Katie Antonius, Barker makes a reference to such British sacrifices, unappreciated by the Jews: “…everything that we did for these Jews, in terms of money and human lives.”Honours and awards
- Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath - 1950 (CB - 1944)
- Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire - 5 July 1945 (CBE - 20 August 1940)
- Distinguished Service OrderDistinguished Service OrderThe Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
- 1918 - Military CrossMilitary CrossThe Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
- Mention in Despatches - 26 July 1940, 22 March 1945, 10 May 1945
- Commandeur, Légion d'Honneur (France) - 1944