SAVIOURS IN THE SKY - AIRMEN VI

 

By the time another cease-fire took effect on the 31^st October 1948, the roles of the warring sides had been reversed. With invaluable assistance from the three bombers in Israel’s arsenal, Israel forces now occupied the upper Galilee all the way to the Lebanese border. They had extended Israel’s northern borders into Arab-designated land.

With the truce barely in place, Ben-Gurion suddenly received a shocking notice! The UN Security Council informed him that Israel must withdraw to its previous positions held on October 14^th!

This meant that Israel would have to hand back the Galilee, and withdraw from Beersheba. The Egyptian army would be allowed to return to Ishdud, able to attack Tel-Aviv. Israel would surrender the supply route to the Negev, which had cost them so many lives.

It was obvious that the demand originated from the British Foreign Secretary, the notorious Ernest Bevin, who had compiled the “white paper”. Cease fires and withdrawals were never proposed when the Arab armies were storming through Israeli villages and kibbutzim. Now that the Arabs were losing territory they had seized from Israel, Bevin wanted Israel to withdraw.

The UN demand couldn’t be ignored, but Ben-Gurion played for time by instructing Israel’s envoy to the UN to try and have the resolution withdrawn – or, at least, changed. He now knew that the war in the Negev desert had to be brought forward as soon as possible. The only way this could be implemented was, firstly, to capture the “Monster on the Hill”. As long as the colossal fortress at Iraq Suwedan remained uncaptured, the key route to the southern Negev was blocked.

But, with the truce in effect, the Israelis would need a provocation.

An Israeli army jeep was dispatched as bait for the gunners in the fortress. The Egyptians obligingly opened fire - in clear view of the UN forces. Immediately, recently acquired Israeli antitank guns began bombarding the fortress. After half an hour of non-stop shooting, a breach in the Monster’s outside wall  opened up. Israeli infantry stormed through. The Egyptian defenders were too stunned to offer much resistance.

After seven bloody failures, the Israelis had captured the “Monster” without losing a single soldier!

In mid-December, Ben Gurion announced to his assembled war cabinet that the time had come to end the conflict with Egypt - by expelling them from the Negev. Israel would commit all of its top infantry brigades to an offensive against the Egyptians in the Negev. They would still face five well-armed Egyptian brigades – in the Sinai, Gaza and the Judean hills. The  success of the mission was only feasible if the air force could provide close air support and maintain control of the sky.

The airforce was down to three Spitfires, two Mustang bombers and no more than a couple of flyable Messerschmitts,  at any given time. These were still crashing at an appalling rate. Meanwhile, the Egyptian airforce was adding to its number of Spitfires supplied by the British, together with a number of other fighters. They now had sixty-five modern fighters and a dozen bombers, which they moved into Sinai.

By November the question they were all asking was, what was happening in Czechoslovakia with the Spitfires? With only two days left until the planned attack, the Spitfires from Czechoslovakia still hadn’t come.  Ben Gurion made the decision. The offensive would begin on 19^th December as scheduled – with, or without, the planes.