LATRUN

The induction of my grandson Amitai into the Armoured Corps, which took place at Latrun, was particularly moving - since only one week before we were privileged to witness the same ceremony, at the Western Wall, of his triplet brother, Ohad. The third of the triplets, Aviad, is  due to join the IDF later this year.

The ceremony began at 3 p.m. when approximately 650 soldiers marched to a rousing tune; the flag was raised, torches were lit in memory of the fallen soldiers of the Corps.,  veteran officers gave inspiring speeches, together the soldiers swore loyalty to the IDF and their country, Bibles and guns were distributed by the commander of the Corps. The ceremony ended with the playing of the national anthem, accompanied by the  large crowd of visiting families and friends. After the national anthem and counting backwards all the soldiers threw their black berets in the air.

The Battles of Latrun were a series of military engagements between the Israel Defense Forces and the Jordanian Arab Legion on the outskirts of Latrun - at the outbreak of the 1948 War of Independence. Latrun takes its name from the monastery close to the junction of two major highways: Jerusalem to Jaffa/Tel Aviv and Gaza to Ramallah. In May 1948, it was under the control of the Arab Legion.

It commanded the only road linking the Israeli-controlled area of Jerusalem to Israel, giving Latrun vital and strategic importance in the battle for Jerusalem.

In 1948, the growing need for supplies among Jerusalem's Jewish population considerably weakened the Jewish foothold within the city. A small amount of supplies, mostly munitions, was ferried by air, but the shortage of food, water, fuel and medicines was acute. The Jewish leadership, under David Ben-Gurion, feared that the city would surrender to the Arab Legion, and a search for a way to bypass the Arab blockade commenced.

The Burma Road, named for the Chinese Burma Road, was a makeshift bypass road between Kibbutz Hulda and Jerusalem. It was built under the supervision of a Jewish American General Mickey Marcus during the 1948 Siege of Jerusalem. [A popular film was consequently made of this remarkable feat and it’s hero General Mickey Marcus called “Cast a Giant Shadow”].

The major problem in the building of the Burma Road was a very steep section at the beginning of the ascent, and vehicles had to be pushed by hand through long sections. 200 men from the Home Guard, together with mules, were sent  to cover the three  miles to Jerusalem which were impassable to vehicles. These men, mostly conscripts in their fifties, each carried a 45-pound load and made the trip twice a night. This effort lasted for five nights.

Meanwhile, bulldozers and road workers moved critical parts of the road out of the line of sight of Jordanian artillery and widened it. The Arab Legion spotted the activity and Jordanian artillery tried to shell the road, but ineffectively, since it could not be seen. Arab sharpshooters killed several road workers, and an attack on June 9 left eight Israelis dead.

The road was finally completed on June 14, and water and fuel pipes were laid alongside it. By the end of June the nightly convoy delivered 100 tons of supplies a night to Jerusalem.

Despite assaulting Latrun on five separate occasions Israel was ultimately unable to capture it, and it remained under Jordanian control until the Six-Day War.

The Battles of Latrun left their imprint on the Israeli collective imagination and constitute part of the "founding myth" of the Jewish State. The attacks cost the lives of at least 168 Israeli soldiers. The combat at Latrun also carries a symbolic significance because of the participation of the comparatively large number of new immigrant Holocaust survivors.

Today, the battleground site has an Israeli military museum dedicated to the Israeli Armoured Corps and a memorial to the Israeli War of Independence.