The Operation
The company set out from its base on Mt. Canaan at 1700 hours on 14.2.48. It was a difficult march on foot, over stony ground and muddy soil, with intermittent showers of rain
The company set out from its base on Mt. Canaan at 1700 hours on 14.2.48. It was a difficult march on foot, over stony ground and muddy soil, with intermittent showers of rain. Despite the difficult conditions, good navigation brought them to a point 2 km from the village, where they halted to rest and regroup, then carried on, reaching their objective at 23:40.
The operation began at midnight. When the men started to climb the hill which overlooked the village, they realized that they had been misled by the aerial photos. What appeared in the photos to be shallow steps, were in fact terraces, each two meters high, whose smooth stone surfaces made the climbe very difficult. Finally they reached the village without being discovered, and on the order being given, the first fighters went in. A guard who opened fire was hit, and on hearing the shots, the villagers who had weapons began shooting from inside the houses, though their fire was ineffectual.
The demolition squads began setting the charges in the buildings which were to be blown up, while the main force withdrew to cover among the terraces. The sign for the demolition teams to activate the fuses --- after which they had one and a half minutes to get clear and take cover --- was a blast on a bugle. A similar procedure was carried out in another part of the village by the other platoon.
The entire operation took about eight minutes. After it was done, the two wounded were taken care of. One of them had lagged behind his comrades as they ran for cover, and was shot in the chest by a member of the reserve, who mistook him for an Arab. The other had his leg broken by a flying piece of rock from one of the explosions.
The operation began at midnight. When the men started to climb the hill which overlooked the village, they realized that they had been misled by the aerial photos. What appeared in the photos to be shallow steps, were in fact terraces, each two meters high, whose smooth stone surfaces made the climbe very difficult. Finally they reached the village without being discovered, and on the order being given, the first fighters went in. A guard who opened fire was hit, and on hearing the shots, the villagers who had weapons began shooting from inside the houses, though their fire was ineffectual.
The demolition squads began setting the charges in the buildings which were to be blown up, while the main force withdrew to cover among the terraces. The sign for the demolition teams to activate the fuses --- after which they had one and a half minutes to get clear and take cover --- was a blast on a bugle. A similar procedure was carried out in another part of the village by the other platoon.
The entire operation took about eight minutes. After it was done, the two wounded were taken care of. One of them had lagged behind his comrades as they ran for cover, and was shot in the chest by a member of the reserve, who mistook him for an Arab. The other had his leg broken by a flying piece of rock from one of the explosions.