There main objects were the Jews, their communities, their fields and crops and other items.
They also killed, ambushed and assassinated the British.
For online sources, try: here; here; here; this book; this book; Italian Fascist involvement and this article too; see here for Nazi links; and we'll stop with this.
About 500 Jews and 4,500- 5,000 Arabs died in total. A large number of Arabs were killed by Husseini's faction, which apparently killed more Arabs than Jews, and most of the rest were killed by brutal British reprisals. There was at least one massacre of Jews in Tiberias.
After all that, I found this portion of a 2005 obituary interesting:
Major Vernon Sudbury
Major Vernon Sudbury, who has died aged 87, won an MC in Palestine with the Sherwood Foresters in 1939, and later a Bar in 1944 when he escaped from a Italian PoW camp.
As the Mandatory Power in Palestine since 1920, Britain had the exacting task of keeping the peace between Jews and Arabs, and maintaining friendly relations with both races. The Foresters' main problem was the armed gangs which seldom engaged them, even at long range, but preferred to terrorise villages, extort money and suppress, by abduction or assassination, any tendency to support the government.
On August 18 1939, a Sherwood Foresters force, consisting of Column HQ and three platoons, one commanded by 2nd Lieutenant Sudbury, left barracks for operations in the Arraba area.
As it was leaving El-Mughar, a group of about 10 armed men was seen in the olive groves to the west and south-west of the village. Two platoons were ordered to cut off the gang on either flank while the third waited for five minutes and then attacked through the olive groves. A call was made for air support.
About 15 minutes later, a gang of about 40 men was seen running out of the olive grove before splitting up. Sudbury's platoon pursued some of the rebels across the rough terrain, and succeeded in cutting them off from the main group, while inflicting several casualties. Sudbury then realised that speed was essential if he was to prevent another group from getting away.
He picked his fittest men and, despite coming under fire at close range, pushed ahead very fast through thick scrub. Towards the end of the operation, the platoons came under fire from the high ground, and the air support reported that it had pinned down part of the gang on the far side of the crest.
A section of Sudbury's platoon then went forward with Column HQ and engaged them. Four Arabs were killed in the open, but their total losses were later found to be substantially higher. A quantity of ammunition and a saddle-bag of documents were also captured. Sudbury was awarded an MC.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment