Grandma's army

  Just before the ceasefire, the Israeli armoured column was caught by surprise when they heard a wave of enemy warplanes suddenly appearing - killing several soldiers. When another wave came along, the gunners were ready, and hit at least one of the fighters. McElroy, one of the two veteran WWII pilots who were sent to engage in an air battle with the enemy, succeeded in gunning down two of their   Spitfires. His fellow pilot, Goodlin, was caught up in a dangerous duel with another enemy plane, in which he was successful. Neither of the pilots was Jewish. Happening to glance at the Spitfire’s fuselage, Goodlin couldn’t credit what he was seeing!    It was a distinctive large blue, white and red round emblem. The emblem of the British Royal Airforce. It transpired that the   British had been sending armed scouting flights over the battle area since the day before. Two Mosquito aircraft with four Spitfire escorts had flown over the battle zone, without be...

  When sudden rains came to the Negev, the planned offensive had to be postponed. Meanwhile, the Egyptians had been reinforcing their garrisons in the Gaza Strip, predicting that the Israelis planned to attack around Gaza. The predictions were correct. On December 22 nd a massive artillery   barrage on Egyptian positions in the Gaza Strip commenced. After two days of hard fighting and many casualties, little ground was gained on either side. But the assault on Gaza was a deception. Two armoured brigades of the Israeli Army were slipping into position   near Beersheba. From there, they would cut across the Sinai to the Mediterranean coast – behind the enemy stronghold at Gaza. The Egyptian Army would be encircled. Israeli archeologists had recently uncovered a Roman trade route from Beersheba to the Sinai. This way, the Israeli force intended to bypass the enemy fortifications, cutting off all Egyptian forces between El Arish and Gaza. Yigal Allon, who was a for...

  The Royal Egyptian Air Force was the main adversary of the Israel Air Force in the War of Independence.  In 1945, the British had supplied 21 Spitfires to the Egyptian Air Force, and an additional 41 Spitfires during 1946 and 1947.   The Egyptian Spitfires had more success against the Israelis on the ground than in the air.  Until the Israel Air Force could fight them in the air with more planes, the Egyptian Spitfires indiscriminately shelled and bombarded Israeli civilian and military targets.  By mid-December 1948, 15 additional Spitfires were ready for delivery to Israel.   On the 18th six Spitfires, led by Sam Pomerance, left for Yugoslavia. Due to a very severe snow storm, the aircraft were forced to turn back.  Two Spitfires were lost as a result of the storm. Sam Pomerance, who had orchestrated the Operation, was killed when he crashed into a mountain during the storm. The second pilot, Bill Pomerantz, survived his crash – landing ...