The British Army in Palestine and the 1948 War

Containment, Withdrawal and Evacuation

Alon Kadish

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780429843327
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

Following the end of the Second World War, the main mission of the British Army in Palestine was to contain Jewish attacks and illegal immigration while the fate of the Mandate was being decided. This book is a record of the British Army during the final year of the Mandate and its impact on the course and outcome of the 1948 War.

With the decision of the UN General Assembly on 29th November 1947 to partition Palestine and the anticipated eruption of inter-communal violence, the Army was made responsible for the maintenance of law and order throughout Palestine until the termination of the Mandate on 15th May 1948. These crucial months are considered from the point of view of the ranks of the British Army, soldiers and field commanders rather than that of generals and statesmen. It makes extensive use of memoirs, contemporary writing and private diaries, as well as archival material and regimental journals. Subjects such as regimental culture and leisure activities are explored in addition to operations and peace-keeping.

The book offers an important contribution to the history of the Middle East, and readers interested in political science, the history of the British Army, military history, Palestine and Israel will find in this book a new and innovative view of the 1948 War.

1 Soldiering in Palestine 1947–1948

Arrival

In January 1947, the 1st battalion of the Irish Guards ended its tour of public duties in London and left for Pirbright prior to its departure to Palestine.¹ Following ‘a fairly lengthy spell of embarkation leave’, and having shed some 200 men to bring it down to the required strength of 815 men,² the battalion embarked on the evening of 26th February at Farnborough on two trains arriving in Glasgow around lunchtime the following day. According to the battalion’s news sheet,

It was with considerable anticipation that the Bn left Pirbright. The steely conditions of an unusually severe British winter made the prospect of Palestine, with the saving qualities of warmth and sunshine, more alluring than it would otherwise have been. … Pirbright, frozen and without fuel, Pirbright of ice-bound baths and solid shaving water, had no power to hold us. So we left in good heart.³

The battalion boarded the H.M. Transport Cameronia, originally of the Anchor Line. Requisitioned as a transport ship in 1940, it had carried throughout the war and after some 4,000 troops.⁴ After a send-off dinner and accompanied by the regimental band, the Cameronia weighed anchor in the early hours of 28th February, the same date and the same port from which the battalion had left with the 1st Division in 1943 for North Africa and the battle of Tunisia. ‘Later on in the voyage, as we steamed along the North Africa coast, many were to recollect their experiencies [sic] and the memories of the campaign’.⁵

All told, the Cameronia carried some 1,800 passengers including families of servicemen bound for India, the ship’s final destination, troops’ reinforcements and soldiers returning from leave. Initial fears of seasickness proved exaggerated and soon the battalion settled down to the pleasures of a leisurely cruise in the sunny Mediterranean.⁶

After Boat Stations in the morning, we were free to laze away the hours of daylight, or dispose ourselves, as we wished. The Ships’ activity or inactivity was centered round the deck tennis court, where some slumbered incognito behind enormous sun glasses, and others, elegant in white flannels, played their sets. Except for the prevailing khaki on the promenade decks, and our rather crowded quarters, the voyage bore the aspect of any pleasure cruise before the war; and it was no less lazy or pleasant.

At night there were cinema shows for everyone, and the traditional Tombola [raffle] patter could be heard through wide open ports and windows. Every day, too, the Pipes and Drums played in the afternoon, on the after part of the promenade deck.⁷

Entertainment of some form or another was provided to all ranks, and on the whole the impression recorded by the battalion newspaper was of a relaxed, organized holiday atmosphere.

On the Poop Deck, deck tennis is in full swing, and passengers of the fair sex are to be seen in contest with senior representatives of the Church and the Army. Further aft we are confronted with the agreeable spectacle of the Regimental Sergeant Major and other Warrant Officers trying their skill at that deadly game of deck quoits, attended by an admiring group of small children.⁸

On the lower promenade deck, ‘the time honoured game of Housey-Housey’ could be found in progress, ‘in an atmosphere of tense expectation and dense tobacco smoke. Outside those who prefer the peace of a Mediterranean cruise, bask in the sun in perfect containment’.⁹

The voyage served to strengthen the battalion’s cohesion. At the time, the 1st Irish Guards consisted of a mixture of veterans and fresh conscripts as well as reinforcements from the disbanded 3rd battalion and the soon-to-be suspended 2nd battalion.

We have found that life in a ship is impossible without a willing contribution from everybody to the good of the whole. The communal life of the troop-deck, with the crowded floor space and its sultry atmosphere demand a great deal of give and take from each one of us, and it is in such circumstances that the spirit of companionship and co-operation is fostered. The freedom to laze on the deck when the day’s task is done has given us additional chances to get to know each other, and knowledge breeds reliance. The voyage is to be welcomed if only for the confidence and understanding that has built up between all ranks, and which will stand us in good stead when we embark on our job in Palestine.¹⁰

The battalion’s voyage daily newsletter, en route, The Ocean Shamrock, produced by the Orderly Room staff, made sure to remind its readers of the dire conditions they had left behind: ‘Freezing weather continues. North and South are cut off by road, many villages isolated completely, supplies of fuel are difficult, many miners can’t get to their work’.¹¹ In Britain, ‘cold and discomfort loom large, and affection proportionately diminishes’. At the same time, it did not ignore the situation in Palestine where Jewish underground groups were waging a deadly and vicious campaign against the British authorities: the newsletter reported the bombing of the Goldsmith Officers’ Club in Jerusalem which resulted in twelve dead. But these brief items seem to have had no effect on moral and its commanders were confident that the battalion would surely prevail as it had during the war, in dealing with what seemed a far lesser challenge.

The same qualities are expected of us now, as when we fought to preserve our livelihoods, the same devotion to the problem on hand, the same conduct. The War may be over, Britain may no longer depend for existence on us and others like us. But it is a principle, that all things must be done well. There is a problem, less urgent, less exciting, less exacting but none the less a problem. We should lend to its solution, as in more urgent times, our unfailing energies.¹²

An indication of what the battalion expected to encounter in Palestine may be seen in the Ocean Shamrock’s column ‘Easy Arabic’ which was jokingly introduced as likely to prove “a popular feature with those far sighted men, who would wish to be on intimate terms with those dusky women, famous for their exotic beauty”.¹³ Halfway through the voyage, the newsletter noted: ‘Yesterday we found an impromptu class, in what we supposed to be Arabic, taking place in the officers lounge. We sincerely hope that the same interest is exhibited daily below the decks’.¹⁴ Apart from standard phrases, questions, numbers, etc., lesson seven included the exclamations “Shut up you rascal!” and the ever useful and relatively mild “May God curse your father!” (yenal abuk).¹⁵

The voyage ended with an open-deck concert introducing available talent with some help from other units, the ship’s company, and a children’s party. The main star proved to be Sergeant Gillespie of No 2 Company ‘who amongst his other qualities, appears to be the only English man in a company of Irishmen, Scotsmen, and Welshmen’. Gillespie doubled as ‘Compere, conductor and comedian’. Choirs of the Irish Guards and the South Wales Borderers sang, soldiers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders performed ‘a sword dance and Highland Fling’, reciprocated with an Irish jig by the Pipe Major and a Guardsman. Members of the ship’s company ‘produced some amusing skits and an admirable imitation of a saxophone’. The entertainment concluded with ‘a hilarious song about King Cole and the boys of the 1^st I.G. which received prolonged applause’.¹⁶ Although the ship was officially dry, ‘those of us who had bottles retired either to our cabins, or up to the boat deck to drink, and talk, and gaze, and chase away the stars’.¹⁷

The Cameronia docked in Port Said on the evening of 9th March and the 1st Irish Guards began to disembark the next morning, proceeding to Qassassin some forty miles away. The trip which lasted four hours served as an introduction to the soldiers’ Egypt.

On the way we stopped at innumerable small stations along the line, and each time the train arrived at the platform our coaches were inundated by a wave of vendors of every kind, selling knives and watches, oranges, eggs, coshes, the inevitable bogus Turkish Delight and dried dates. Often the train started with a dozen of them still aboard. These were pushed off by irate Company Quartermaster Sergeants, as the train gathered speed. Several hung on until it reached its maximum [speed] of 25 m.p.h. before they could be dislodged, with hoots of triumph.¹⁸

On the 13th of March, the battalion left Egypt by train for Palestine. It arrived at its designated camp Atlit, south of Haifa, late in the evening of the next day having had to switch to lorries in Lydda where the line had recently been blown.¹⁹

Haifa was the other main gateway to Palestine for British troops travelling by sea. The 42nd Commando arrived in Haifa in April 1948 in order to cover the army’s withdrawal. The troops first caught sight of the Palestine coast in evening light.

There was something clean and refreshing in the sight of the crowd of white houses, se...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of maps
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Soldiering in Palestine 1947–1948
• 2 The southern sector
• 3 Railways
• 4 The road to Jaffa, the road to Jerusalem
• 5 Jerusalem
• 6 The Galilee and Haifa
• 7 Jaffa
• 8 The course of the evacuation
• 9 Some final observations and conclusions
• Appendix A: British military journals
• Appendix B: British military archives
• Index