MY ISRAEL:
THE BATTLE OF KIBBUTZ YAD MORDECHAI: Israel’s War of Independence (1948)
Located four kilometers north of the Gaza strip & eleven kilometers south of Ashkelon, Kibbutz Yad Mordechai fell within the biblical tribal allotment of Judah.
Founded in December 1943 on land purchased by the Jewish National Fund, the kibbutz population comprised mainly of pioneers from Poland who managed to leave Europe prior to WW2. Named after Mordechai Anielewicz, the leader of the Warsaw ghetto uprising who fell in battle during the month of May 1943. The kibbutz members belonged to Hashomer Hatzair, a movement that embraced those policies advocated by the communists under the leadership of Mr Stalin. So enamored with communist ideology, the founding members hung a picture of Stalin in the communal dining room & mourned his death in 1953. Much has changed since those early years and today there are kibbutz members who don yarmulkes.
The initial population comprised of 140 adults and 43 children. Located in an arid region, the kibbutz members initially had to work as hired laborers in order to survive. They were involved in the construction of roads & provided a laundry service for Australian soldiers stationed in the area at the time. Additionally they hired themselves out as orange pickers to Arab farmers in the nearby area. Initially the relationship between Arab and Jew was good but changed in 1946 with the rise of Arab nationalism.
A future conflict between the Jews & the Arabs appeared likely & the kibbutz members had to ready themselves in the event of a war. Most of the members had no military experience; consequently, the kibbutz decided to send 10 men to the Jewish brigade for military training. Names written on scraps of paper were placed into a hat. The first 10 names retrieved from the hat departed for the Jewish Brigade, who were at the time stationed in Italy. Formed in late 1944, the Jewish Brigade was part of the British Army during World War II & comprised of Jews from Mandatory Palestine who fought under the command of Anglo-Jewish officers.
Further preparations for war involved the hiding of weapons to prevent the British from confiscating them & arresting the perpetrators of the “crime”.
Other measures included the evacuation of children, nursing mothers and some women.
Strategically located on the main road that connects the south of the country to Tel Aviv, the kibbutz appealed for reinforcements from the army who were only able to send 30 soldiers from the Palmach, the elite fighting force of the pre-state defense force known as the Haganah. Bear in mind that the War of Independence began on the 15 May 1948, on which date five Arab countries, namely Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria & Lebanon launched a combined attacked against Israel.
The BATTLE of YAD MORDECHAI began on the 19th May 1948. The Egyptian onslaught began with an assault by planes. 2500 Egyptian soldiers supported by an armory of small tanks, armored vehicles & artillery pieces then attacked the kibbutz. Facing this force were 113 kibbutz members, 20 of whom were woman, plus 30 Palmach soldiers. The kibbutz members were armed with an array of primitive light weapons of differing calibers. The armory included 37 rifles and semi-automatic rifles, a PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) gun, two light mortars and two machine guns. Those men that were familiar with weaponry serviced the arms & ensured that the small supply of ammunition suited the weapon at hand. The Egyptians severed the phone lines to prevent communication between the kibbutz defenders, & the few remaining woman on the kibbutz acted both as runners & nurses. The former conveyed information between lightly fortified positions within the kibbutz & the latter tended to the wounded.
One of the kibbutz members had fought against the Nazis at Stalingrad and in the process had lost a leg. He maintained that the ferocity of the Battle of Yad Mordechai was comparable to that which he experienced in Stalingrad. The Egyptians hoped to capture the kibbutz within 2 hours, but took 6 days to complete the task.
During the battle, three kibbutz defenders captured by the Egyptians, were never again seen, & a gruesome find of the decapitated body of a women kibbutz member was discovered. After 6 days, the 23 dead soldiers were hurriedly buried in a mass grave, this done to prevent the Egyptians from mutilating their bodies. Accompanying the remaining 40 wounded soldiers, the defenders had to retreat and abandon the kibbutz.
During their five-month occupation of the kibbutz, the Egyptians destroyed everything, including the famed water tower, remnants of which remain to this day and bears witness to the ferocity of the battle.
Holding the line for 6 days against such staggering odds allowed the Israel Defense Forces to establish a new line of defense, thereby stopping the Egyptian advance to the north.
Retaken by the I.D.F. on November 5, 1948, the first act of the returning kibbutz members was, to see whether the Egyptians had discovered the mass grave. Much to their relief the grave remained undiscovered and the bodies reinterred at another location on the kibbutz.
Ron Traub (Tour Guide & Architect).
Website: rontraub-tours.com
Photo’s: Rimonah Traub.
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