‘Troops were then forced to fire’: British army crowd control in Palestine, November 1945

Abstract

In November 1945, British army shooting during street riots and search operations in Palestine resulted in the death of 13 Jews and the injuring of dozens. The most costly in casualties caused by army fire during the whole Jewish insurgency, these incidents have nevertheless not received detailed attention in literature on the British army's counterinsurgency campaign in postwar Palestine. This article outlines British military use of firepower to control civilian crowds and the difficulties involved during these incidents, contributing to the debate on the army's principal of ‘minimum force’. It also highlights the serious problem of legitimizing opening of fire on unarmed protestors, epitomized in the army's fabricated account justifying shooting at a large crowd rushing a military cordon at Givat Hayim.

Keywords::

• British army
• counterinsurgency
• crowd control
• Haganah
• minimum force
• Palestine
• press control
• propaganda

Notes

^1.French, The British Way; Mockaitis, ‘The Minimum Force Debate’; Reis, ‘The Myth of British Minimum Force’.

^2.Golan, Allegiance in the Struggle, 87–93; Pail et al., Palmach, 131–40.

^3. Gort to S. of S. Colonies, 6 October; 8 October; 9 October 1945, CO733/456/8, The National Archives [TNA]; Haganah intelligence reports, ‘A Report from Kfar Giladi’, [undated]; ‘The incident at Kfar Giladi’, 9 October 1945, 115/54, Haganah Archives [HA].

^4.Palestine Post, 8 October 1945.

^5.The Times, 11 October 1945.

^6.Hansard, Vol. 414, Col. 404 (11 October 1945).

^7. Bloor, Popkins, and Creese to Winterton, 12 October 1945, CO733/456/8, TNA.

^8.Hansard, Vol. 414, Cols. 1985–1987 (24 October 1945); Winterton to Hall, 31 October 1945, CO733/458/6, TNA.

^9. Gort to S. of S. Colonies, 12 October 1945, CO733/456/8, TNA.

^10. Public Information Office, ‘Review of the Palestine Press’, 12 October; 14 October; 15 October; 16 October 1945, M/5145/30, Israel State Archive [ISA], Jerusalem. On British conduct during the Arab revolt, see Hughes, ‘The Practice and Theory of British Counterinsurgency’.

^11.Charters, The British Army, 139; French, The British Way, 83.

^12.Shoul, ‘Soldiers, Riots and Aid to the Civil Power’, 13–27; Lloyd, ‘The Amritsar Massacre’.

^13. Middle East Training Pamphlet No. 9: Part XIII: Notes for Officers on Internal Security Duties’, 115/51, HA; WO169/19521, TNA.

^14.Gwynn, Imperial Policing, 26.

^15. J.C. D'Arcy, ‘Directive on Degree of Force to be used in Internal Disturbances in Palestine’, [22] October 1945, WO275/13, TNA.

^16. ‘HQ British Troops in Palestine: Operational Log’, 14 November 1945; 15 November 1945, WO169/19745, TNA; ‘Incidents – Tel Aviv – 14 Nov 45’, 17 November 1945; ‘Statement in Explanation of Firing, Tel Aviv, Night 14 Nov 45’, 14 November 1945; Supt. of Police, Lydda District, to Inspector General, 17 November 1945, WO275/38, TNA; ‘3 Para Brigade Ops Log’, 15 November 1945; ‘3 Para Brigade Intelligence Summary No. 2’, 21 November 1945, WO169/19705, TNA; Shaw to Hall, 15 November 1945; O.A.G. to S. of S. Colonies, 15 November; 16 November 1945, CO733/456/9, TNA; Haganah intelligence report, ‘The breakthrough into the Government Buildings on the days 14.11 and 15.11’, 20 November 1945, 115/100A, HA.

^17. Haganah intelligence diary, 15 November 1945, 115/100A, HA. The political editor of London Illustrated News, Willi Frischauer, in Palestine at the time, described it as the most effective PR set-up he had ever seen. See World Press News, 6 November 1945.

^18.New York Times, Daily Mirror, Palestine Post, 16 November 1945.

^19. Haganah intelligence reports, 25 November; 21 December 1945, 115/100A, HA.

^20.Palestine Post, 19 November 1945.

^21.Davar, 22 November; 23 November 1945; Palestine Post, 25 November 1945.

^22. ‘3 Para Brigade Intelligence Summery No. 2’, 21 November 1945, WO169/19705, TNA.

^23.Palestine Post, 21 November 1945.

^24.New York Post, 20 November 1945.

^25. Halifax to Foreign Office, 26 November 1945, CO733/456/9, TNA.

^26. Cunningham to S. of S. Colonies, 30 November 1945, CO733/456/9, TNA.

^27. Minutes of Conference held by Comd 3 Para Bde at Sarafand, 24 November 1945, WO169/19705, TNA.

^28.Shoul, ‘British Tear Gas Doctrine’.

^29. War Cabinet Conclusions, 13 November 1944, CAB65/44/20, TNA.

^30. Hadingham to Inspector General, 28 November 1945, 115/54, HA.

^31.Manchester Guardian, 26 November 1945; New York Times, 26 November 1945.

^32. Cunningham to S. of S. Colonies, 28 November 1945, CO733/456/9, TNA.

^33. Milpal to 6 Airborne Div, 25 November 1945, WO169/19745, TNA.

^34. MILPAL to MIDEAST (for CGS), 25 November 1945, WO169/19745, TNA.

^35. Hadingham to Inspector General, 28 November 1945, 115/54, HA; 3rd Parachute Brigade Headquarters, ‘Guy Fawcus’ Ops Log, 25 November 1945, WO169/19705, TNA.

^36. 8 Bn. (Parachute Regiment), War Diary, 25 November 1945, WO169/20084, TNA. The attackers left base from the nearby village of Kfar Shmaryahu. See Pail et al., Palmach, 141–3.

^37. Hadingham to Inspector General, 28 November 1945, 115/54, HA.

^38. Hadingham to Inspector General, 28 November 1945, 115/54, HA.

^39.Palestine Post, 26 November 1945.

^40. Hadingham to Inspector General, 28 November 1945, 115/54, HA.

^41. Haganah intelligence report, ‘The Events at Shefayim’, 29 November 1945, 115/54, HA. The Haganah report noted that in the afternoon, when the 8th Parachute Battalion was replaced by the 3rd Parachute Battalion, their commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Bradish behaved in a much more ‘gentle’ manner.

^42. 8 Bn. (Parachute Regiment), War Diary, 26 November 1945, WO169/20084, TNA.

^43. Hadingham to Inspector General, 28 November 1945; Asher to Bina, 26 November 1945, 0930; Haganah intelligence report, ‘The Events at Shefayim’, 29 November 1945, 115/54, HA.

^44. Palmach Information Centre [in Hebrew], Eliahu Cohen Chinsky, http://www.info.palmach.org.il.

^45. Hadingham to Inspector General, 28 November 1945, 115/54, HA.

^46. Haganah intelligence report, ‘The Events at Shefayim’, 29 November 1945, 115/54, HA.

^47. ‘Note on Talk with Chief Secretary J.V.W. Shaw’, 27 November 1945, S25/2287, Zionist Archives, Jerusalem.

^48.Haaretz, 27 November; Palestine Post, 27 November 1945; Haganah intelligence report, ‘The Events at Shefayim’, 29 November 1945, 115/54, HA.

^49. ‘Official Communiqué No. 32’, Palestine Post, 27 November 1945.

^50. Hadingham to Inspector General, 28 November 1945, 115/54, HA.

^51. High Commissioner to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 9 July 1946, CO537/1715, TNA; Jewish Telegraph Agency, ‘Police Document Disproves British Attempt to Whitewash Attack on Jewish Settlements’, 7 December 1945; Eshnav, 20 December 1945.

^52.Pail et al., Palmach, 142.

^53. 1st Infantry Division, ‘Report on Incident Night 24/25 Nov’. 45, 25 November 1945, WO169/19656, UKNA.

^54. ‘Intelligence Summary No. 5’, 27 November 1945, WO169/20032, UKNA.

^55. ‘Report on incidents in Palestine 25/26 November 45, Part II’, 1 December 1945, WO169/19745, TNA.

^56. Haganah intelligence, ‘Report on the army and police operations against Givat Hayim’, 115/54, HA.

^57. 1st Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, ‘Intelligence Log of Events Givet Haiyum 26 November 1945’, 27 November 1945, WO169/20035; 6th Airlanding Brigade, ‘Report on Operations in Hogla Area’, 27 November 1945; Shadworth to Inspector General, 27 November 1945, WO169/19706; 1 Div. to Milpal, 26 November 1945, WO169/19656; ‘Report on incidents in Palestine 25/26 November 45, Part II’, 1 December 1945, WO169/19745, TNA; Giles to Chief Secretary, 11 December 1945, 47/446, HA; Haganah intelligence, ‘Report on the army and police operations against Givat Hayim’, undated, 115/54, HA.

^58. 6th Airlanding Brigade, ‘Report on Operations in Hogla Area’, 27 November 1945, WO169/19706; Haganah intelligence, ‘Secondary Report No. 2: Report on branch no 1 on the day 25/11/45–26/11/45 (Ein Hahoresh); Comments on Ein Hahoresh report (secondary report no. 2)’; ‘Appendix B – Persons Admitted to Hospital’ appended to Hadingham to Inspector General, 28 November 1945, 115/54, HA. A subsequent report by British headquarters in Palestine confuses matters slightly in describing the shooting by the 6th Gordon Highlanders as a separate incident from that involving the 2/7th Middlesex battalion. However, this stands in contrast to the accounts cited above, the earlier report of 6th Airlanding Brigade and Haganah intelligence, which recorded no such separate shooting incident. See ‘Report on incidents in Palestine 25/26 November 45: Part II’, 1 December 1945, WO169/19745, TNA.

^59.Mid-East Mail, 20 October 1945.

^60. 2/7th Middlesex War Diary, October 1945, WO169/20070, TNA.

^61. 2/7th Middlesex War Diary, 13; 24 November 1945, WO169/20070, TNA.

^62. 2/7th Middlesex War Diary, 25 November 1945, WO169/20070, TNA.

^63. 2/7th Middlesex War Diary, 26 November 1945, WO169/20070; 1 Div to Milpal, 27 November 1945, WO169/19656, TNA.

^64.Haaretz, 27 November 1945; Hamashkif, 2 December 1945.

^65. Jerusalem 131 to Speaker of House of Commons, 26 November 1945, CO733/456/9, TNA.

^66. 1 Div to Milpal, 26 November 1945, WO169/19656, TNA. A report from 6th Airlanding Brigade to 6th Airborne Division after that midnight, at 2.45 a.m., made no mention too of Jewish shooting. See 6th Airborne Division Headquarters War Diary, 27 November 1945, WO169/19685, TNA.

^67.Palestine Post, 27 November 1945.

^68. 1 Div to Milpal, 27 November 1945, WO169/19656, TNA.

^69.Palestine Post, 28 November 1945; Milpal to Mideast, 27 November 1945, WO169/19745, TNA.

^70. 2/7th Middlesex War Diary, 26 November 1945, WO169/20070, TNA. The man on a horse arrested was a local watchman named Arye Ben Yaakov. In Dare Wilson's influential account of the 6th Airborne Division postwar campaign in Palestine, first published in 1949, the man on horseback, supposedly ‘picked off’, was already said to lead a crowd ‘estimated at 3,000’. This has been recounted in British army memoirs and recent history books in English and Hebrew. See Wilson, With 6th Airborne Division in Palestine, 33; Purdon, List the Buggle, 68; Rose, ‘A Senseless Squalid War’, 88; Eyal, From Intifada to Revolt, 230.

^71.Haaretz, 28 November 1945, 1–2.

^72.The Times, Daily Telegraph, News Chronicle, Scotsman, Glasgow Herald, Manchester Guardian, 28 November 1945.

^73. 2/7th Middlesex War Diary, 26 November 1945, WO169/20070, TNA.

^74. 1 Div Intelligence Summery No. 13, ‘Occurrences at Givat Haiyim 143199, 25/26 November’, 28 November 1945, WO169/19656, TNA.

^75. ‘Lessons from Ops 25/26 November 45’, 7 December 1945, WO169/19745, TNA.

^76. ‘Report on incidents in Palestine 25/26 November 45: Part II’, 1 December 1945, WO169/19745, TNA.

^77.Palestine Post, 29 November 1945.

^78. Cunningham to S. of S. Colonies, 28 November 1945, CO733/456/9, TNA.

^79.New York Times, Christian Science MonitorLos Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, 28 November 1945.

^80. Halifax to Foreign Office, 30 November 1945, CO733/456/9, TNA.

^81.Hansard, Vol. 416, Cols. 2067–2068 (3 December 1945).

^82. Eastern Department to British Embassy, 18 December 1945, CO733/456/9, TNA.

^83.Palestine Post, Hamashkif, 2 December; Haboker, 3 December, Davar, 5 December 1945.

^84. Kellar to Trafford Smith, 5 January 1946, KV5/33, TNA.

^85. Haganah intelligence managed to put it hands on this document too. See British order from 13 January 1945, translated into Hebrew, sent to Bina, 81101, 20 January 1945, 115/54, HA.

^86. Giles to Chief Secretary, 11 December 1945, 47/446, HA.

^87. Haganah intelligence report, 11 January 1946, 115/54, HA.

^88. Levy to Hall, 6 December 1945; 19 December 1945, CO733/456/9, TNA.

^89. Hall to Levy, 10 January 1946, CO733/456/9, TNA.

^90. Cunningham to S. of S. Colonies, 28 November 1945, CO733/456/9, TNA.

^91. Haganah intelligence, ‘Report on the army and police operations against Givat Hayim’, 27 November 1945, 115/54, HA; Aley Hefer, December 2005.

^92.Golan, Allegiance in the Struggle, 120–2.

^93. ‘Lessons from Ops 25/26 November 45’, 7 December 1945, WO169/19745, TNA.

^94. Hadingham to Inspector General, 28 November 1945, 115/54, HA.

^95. ‘Minutes of Conference Held on IS OP “Guy Fawkes” by Comd 3 Para Bde’, 29 November 1945, WO169/19705, TNA.

^96. Major-General E.L. Bols, ‘Report on Operations’, 29 November 1945, WO275/38, TNA.

^97. Gutch to Samuel, 12 December 1945, M/361/26, ISA.