Special Night Squads
Encyclopedia
The Special Night Squads (SNS) (Hebrew
: Plugot Ha'Layla Ha'Meyukhadot, פלוגות הלילה המיוחדות) were a joint British-Jewish counter-insurgency unit, established by Captain Orde Wingate in Palestine
in 1938, during the 1936-1939 Arab revolt. The SNS comprised British infantry soldiers and Jewish Supernumerary Police. Wingate hand-picked his men, among them Yigal Allon
and Moshe Dayan
, and trained them to form mobile ambushes. As practical support from the British was minimal Wingate collaborated illegally with the Haganah
, reinforcing his unit with FOSH
regulars.
Wingate, an intelligence officer in the British army's General Headquarters (GHQ) in Jerusalem, examined sabotage and weapon smuggling operations in northern Palestine (Galilee). In March 1938, following several weeks of experimental ambushes and patrols, he had gained permission from the British General Officer Commanding (GOC), Lieutenant-General Archibald Wavell, to establish a joint British-Jewish unit for night operations against the Arab gangs. However, the Jewish agency had opposed this venture at first, leading to its postponement until early June.
The new British GOC, Lieutenant-General Robert Haining
, had also approved Wingate's proposal to establish a "Night Movement Group", and the SNS became operative on early June, 1938.
The British 16th Brigade, under Brigadier John Fullerton Evetts
, supplied three twelve men squads including officers, to the new unit. The men were taken from the Royal Ulster Rifles
(squad commanded by Lieutenant H.E.N. Bredin
), the Royal West Kent Regiment (Lt. Michael "Mike" Grove) and the Manchester Regiment (commanded by Lt. Robert King-Clark).
25 Jewish supernumerary policemen were drafted to the unit, all of them Haganah
members. the Jewish squadmen were hand-picked by Haganah regional commanders and Yitzhak Sadeh
, commander of the FOSH
units in the Haganah. Later, 50 more Jewish squadmen were drafted to the SNS, also from Haganah cadres.
The Special Night Squads' primary task was to the defend the Iraqi Petroleum Company pipeline, which was frequently attacked by Arab gangs. The squads also raided known gang bases, such as the villages of Dabburiya and Hirbat-Lidd. The force's success caused the cessation of attacks on the pipeline and brought a decline in insurgent activity in the area. It is presumed that about 12.5% of all guerrilla casualties in 1938 were caused by the SNS, which had lost only two of its men (Pvt. Stephen Chapman from the Royal West Kents and supernumerary Yosef Ben-Moshe) in action. According to Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld, their training included "... how to kill without compunction, how to interrogate prisoners by shooting every tenth man to make the rest talk; and how to deter future terrorists by pushing the heads of captured ones into pools of oil and then freeing them to tell the story".
Yoram Kaniuk
writes:
For its actions, Wingate was awarded the Distinguished Service Order
(DSO), and all three officers were awarded the Military Cross
(MC). Several soldiers and supernumeraries were also awarded medals and citations.
The unit's success caused the establishment of a fourth SNS-like unit in the Sharon, tasked with guarding the electric powerline. During 1939 every British brigade in Palestine had established its own Special Night Squads, although without Jewish participation.
Wingate left the SNS on October 1938, for a leave in England. during his leave he was involved with the Zionist struggle against the Woodhead Commission
report, meeting with such notables as Malcolm Macdonald
, then secretary of the colonies, Lord Beaverbrook and Winston Churchill
. This was frowned upon by Wingate's commanders, who had him demoted from command and returned to GHQ intelligence in November 1938. Bredin replaced Wingate as commander of the SNS, until its disbandment.
The SNS continued to operate in the original form until January 1939 when, due to British policy change
, the Jewish supernumeraries were forbidden from participating in offensive operations. Until its disbandment, during September 1939, the Jewish troops of the SNS served mainly on prison guard and garrison duties.
The British viewed Wingate as a security risk and the SNS were disbanded in 1938. Wingate was posted out of the country and his passport was stamped "NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER PALESTINE".
Field Marshal Montgomery, who as commander of northern Palestine had authorised the SNS, told Dayan in 1966 that he considered Wingate to have "been mentally unbalanced and that the best thing he ever did was to get killed in a plane crash in 1944".
The Special Night Squads came to be viewed as the British army's first special forces and the forerunners of the Special Air Service
regiments.
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: Plugot Ha'Layla Ha'Meyukhadot, פלוגות הלילה המיוחדות) were a joint British-Jewish counter-insurgency unit, established by Captain Orde Wingate 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....
in 1938, during the 1936-1939 Arab revolt. The SNS comprised British infantry soldiers and Jewish Supernumerary Police. Wingate hand-picked his men, among them Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon was an Israeli politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Israeli Labor party, and acting Prime Minister of Israel, and was a member of the Knesset and government minister from the 10th through the...
and Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...
, and trained them to form mobile ambushes. As practical support from the British was minimal Wingate collaborated illegally with 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 :...
, reinforcing his unit with FOSH
FOSH
The FOSH was an elite Jewish strike force established as the commando arm of the Haganah in 1937, during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine in the British Mandate of Palestine. Its members were hand-picked by Yitzhak Sadeh, commander of the Jewish Settlement Police.By March 1938 the Fosh had...
regulars.
Wingate, an intelligence officer in the British army's General Headquarters (GHQ) in Jerusalem, examined sabotage and weapon smuggling operations in northern Palestine (Galilee). In March 1938, following several weeks of experimental ambushes and patrols, he had gained permission from the British General Officer Commanding (GOC), Lieutenant-General Archibald Wavell, to establish a joint British-Jewish unit for night operations against the Arab gangs. However, the Jewish agency had opposed this venture at first, leading to its postponement until early June.
The new British GOC, Lieutenant-General Robert Haining
Robert Haining
General Sir Robert Hadden Haining KCB DSO was a British General who served during World War II.-Military career:Robert Haining was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1901...
, had also approved Wingate's proposal to establish a "Night Movement Group", and the SNS became operative on early June, 1938.
The British 16th Brigade, under Brigadier John Fullerton Evetts
John Fullerton Evetts
Lieutenant-General Sir John Fullerton Evetts CB, CBE, MC was a career soldier of the British Army.-Military career:Educated at Lancing College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Evetts was commissioned into The Cameronians in 1911.He fought on the Western Front during World War I, and was...
, supplied three twelve men squads including officers, to the new unit. The men were taken from the Royal Ulster Rifles
Royal Ulster Rifles
The Royal Ulster Rifles was a British Army infantry regiment. It saw service in the Second Boer War, Great War, the Second World War and the Korean War, before being amalgamated into the Royal Irish Rangers in 1968.-History:...
(squad commanded by Lieutenant H.E.N. Bredin
H.E.N. Bredin
Major-General Humphrey Edgar Nicholson 'Bala' Bredin CB, DSO and two Bars, MC and Bar was a British soldier whose military service took him from 1930s Palestine via Dunkirk, North Africa and Italy to the Cold War in Germany. Bredin was the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel A. Bredin, of the Indian...
), the Royal West Kent Regiment (Lt. Michael "Mike" Grove) and the Manchester Regiment (commanded by Lt. Robert King-Clark).
25 Jewish supernumerary policemen were drafted to the unit, all of them 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 :...
members. the Jewish squadmen were hand-picked by Haganah regional commanders and Yitzhak Sadeh
Yitzhak Sadeh
Yitzhak Sadeh , was the commander of the Palmach, one of the founders of the Israel Defense Forces at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel and a cousin of British philosopher Isaiah Berlin.-Biography:...
, commander of the FOSH
FOSH
The FOSH was an elite Jewish strike force established as the commando arm of the Haganah in 1937, during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine in the British Mandate of Palestine. Its members were hand-picked by Yitzhak Sadeh, commander of the Jewish Settlement Police.By March 1938 the Fosh had...
units in the Haganah. Later, 50 more Jewish squadmen were drafted to the SNS, also from Haganah cadres.
The Special Night Squads' primary task was to the defend the Iraqi Petroleum Company pipeline, which was frequently attacked by Arab gangs. The squads also raided known gang bases, such as the villages of Dabburiya and Hirbat-Lidd. The force's success caused the cessation of attacks on the pipeline and brought a decline in insurgent activity in the area. It is presumed that about 12.5% of all guerrilla casualties in 1938 were caused by the SNS, which had lost only two of its men (Pvt. Stephen Chapman from the Royal West Kents and supernumerary Yosef Ben-Moshe) in action. According to Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld, their training included "... how to kill without compunction, how to interrogate prisoners by shooting every tenth man to make the rest talk; and how to deter future terrorists by pushing the heads of captured ones into pools of oil and then freeing them to tell the story".
Yoram Kaniuk
Yoram Kaniuk
Yoram Kaniuk is an Israeli writer, painter, journalist, and theater critic.-Biography:Yoram Kaniuk was born in Tel Aviv. His father, Moshe Kaniuk, born in Ternopil, Galicia , was the first curator of Tel Aviv Museum of Art. His grandfather was a Hebrew teacher who wrote his own textbooks....
writes:
The operations came more frequently and became more ruthless. The Arabs complained to the British about Wingate's brutality and harsh punitive methods. Even members of the field squadsNotrimThe Notrim were a Jewish Police Force set up by the British in the Mandatory Palestine in 1936 to help defend Jewish lives and property during the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. The force was divided into Supernumerary Police and highly mobile Settlement Police...
complained... that during the raids on BedouinBedouinThe Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
encampments Wingate would behave with extreme viciousness and fire mercilessly. Wingate believed in the principle of surprise in punishment, which was designed to confine the gangs to their villages. More than once he had lined rioters up in a row and shot them in cold blood. Wingate did not try to justify himself; weapons and war cannot be pure.
For its actions, Wingate was awarded the Distinguished Service Order
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...
(DSO), and all three officers were awarded the Military Cross
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....
(MC). Several soldiers and supernumeraries were also awarded medals and citations.
The unit's success caused the establishment of a fourth SNS-like unit in the Sharon, tasked with guarding the electric powerline. During 1939 every British brigade in Palestine had established its own Special Night Squads, although without Jewish participation.
Wingate left the SNS on October 1938, for a leave in England. during his leave he was involved with the Zionist struggle against the Woodhead Commission
Woodhead Commission
The Woodhead Commission, properly known as the Palestine Partition Commission, was established in 1938 in the British Mandate of Palestine to investigate the implementation of the Peel Commission's plan for a partition of Palestine....
report, meeting with such notables as Malcolm Macdonald
Malcolm Macdonald
Malcolm Ian Macdonald is a former English footballer nicknamed Supermac, famed for scoring goals for Luton Town, Newcastle United and Arsenal.-Football career:...
, then secretary of the colonies, Lord Beaverbrook and Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. This was frowned upon by Wingate's commanders, who had him demoted from command and returned to GHQ intelligence in November 1938. Bredin replaced Wingate as commander of the SNS, until its disbandment.
The SNS continued to operate in the original form until January 1939 when, due to British policy change
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...
, the Jewish supernumeraries were forbidden from participating in offensive operations. Until its disbandment, during September 1939, the Jewish troops of the SNS served mainly on prison guard and garrison duties.
The British viewed Wingate as a security risk and the SNS were disbanded in 1938. Wingate was posted out of the country and his passport was stamped "NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER PALESTINE".
Field Marshal Montgomery, who as commander of northern Palestine had authorised the SNS, told Dayan in 1966 that he considered Wingate to have "been mentally unbalanced and that the best thing he ever did was to get killed in a plane crash in 1944".
The Special Night Squads came to be viewed as the British army's first special forces and the forerunners of the Special Air Service
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
regiments.