Survive and Tell (cont.)

An officer in the Israel Defense Force

Upon conclusion of the course, we were designated to artillery corps units – in regiments 404, 402, 403 – and mixed anti tank and antiaircraft regiments and to the 881 and 882 antiaircraft regiments.

I was sent to the artillery corps antiaircraft regiment 881. With me were Amnon Rubinstein, Arieh Schwartz and Yitzhak Hirsch. We arrived late evening at camp number 137 near Tira by lorry.

We were received by the Regimental Sergeant Major, Paul Prooker, ex military police. Paul held a large cane in his hand, as customary with regimental sergeant majors in the British Army. He received us very well, with military politeness, but made sure to remind us that he was king here. In the darkness, we were brought to the hut, with a corrugated tin roof.

The next day, we met with Battalion Commander Major Uzi Orshanski, who had been a driver in the British army, studied construction engineering at the Technion and was promoted quite quickly up the rank levels of the antiaircraft corps. His deputy was Captain Zvi Nesher. At that time, there was another officer who was not very young. Even then he had gray hair, glasses and seemed to be more suitable to be in the army reserves than the permanent service. His name was Yehuda Birnbaum. Everyone called him "Biri".

After the group meeting, personal interviews were held, via which, we were all designated our positions. Arieh Schwartz and Amnon Rubinstein were sent to Ramat David a few days later. Hirsch was appointed adjutant for reserve duty purposes or, as it is called today, Liaison Officer for reserves and I was appointed Commandant of the Headquarters Battery.

I did not like this appointment but the Battalion Commandant explained that this was only a temporary command and that he needed me in view of my command experience, as opposed to my colleague's lack of experience.

So I would become Commandant of the Battery and they would be deputies of people with greater experience, until they gained sufficient experience and confidence. After only one day, I understood that I had taken upon myself a very difficult task.

Most of the people in the regiment were in the Headquarters Battery- detainees, deserters, ex deserters, people passing through, all the instructors and, of course, all the commanding staff. The Quartermaster Officer was a corporal, there was no transportation officer. Nobody instructed those that were supposed to be instructed.

The sergeant major of the Headquarter Battery was Corporal Yossef Rosenthal, who had more personal problems than the soldiers.

Here, as Commandant of the Headquarters Battery, I began my career in the permanent army. The challenge was great and I felt that I had the knowledge, the capability and the spiritual strength to make changes and fast.

First of all I went to see the prison cell. As one who had spent a lot of time confined behind a fence, I wanted to see the detainees, especially as I had been informed that not all of them had been convicted.

I went to the far end of the camp and was stunned at what I saw. The detainees were lying in a place that was once used as kennels by the British Army, in tiny fenced-in units, not tall enough for a person to stand up straight and tied to chains.

I could not bear the disgraceful sight. The Prison Supervisor Lance Corporal Itzhak Skili, also an NCO of the regimental police, proudly told me that he knew how to deal with detainees because he himself had been in prison for over a year.

I instructed Corporal Rosenthal to immediately free all detainees and bring them to me for immediate trial. I instructed him to imprison Lance Corporal Skili and I appointed one of the regimental policemen, Gabriel Greenberg, as Battalion Guard NCO.

The Battalion Commandant was apparently unaware of what had occurred in the prison. When I approached him and requested judicial authority (as we had been taught in the course), he was surprised to hear the story and immediately granted me judicial authority even though he was not actually authorized to do so.

The court hearings were more like personal interviews than trials. It quickly became clear to me that we were not dealing with criminals but, rather, people with problems concerning livelihood at home, in the "Ma'abarot" (transit camps), in their tin huts and little shacks, that had caused them to be absent from the army, to desert or even become unruly. I only sent a very few back to prison, but not to the kennels. I erected a tent next to the regimental police force tent, at the entrance to the camp, in order to grant me a personal observation point. We fenced it in and made regular visits in order to make sure that they were being treated humanely, fairly and according to law.

With regard to the other soldiers, I began to prepare a plan for them to solve their problems by granting assistance or vacation leave so that they could help at home. With regard to Lance Corporal Skili, I asked the Battalion Commandant to put him on trial and he was demoted and sent to place most suitable for him, the army prison.

I never again met Skili Itzhak and I am not interested in what became of him. He really was not worthy of being set free. What depressed me most was his story of how he "woke up" the detainees. He said that he would arrive quietly at the kennels, open the fire hosepipe and flood them with a great flow of cold water that had cooled during the night. This reminded me of the atrocities that I had heard of, some of which I had seen, at the Nazi camps in Europe. I just could not believe that in the IDF, in the State of Israel, after gaining independence, things like this could happen. Perhaps this is why this event influenced me with regard to the frequent and pedantic appraisals that I adapted for the rest of my service.

The job of Commandant of the Headquarters Battery gave me a lot of hard, nerve-wracking work, but also a great deal of satisfaction. I observed the changes and achievements within a very short time.

I instilled order in the storerooms that were full of the deserters' kitbags. The food storeroom was hoarded. There were piles of sugar, tea and coffee. I quickly understood that we were overstocked, so much so that the food supply base informed us that they would stop supplies. When I investigated further, it became clear to me that the system used, prior to my arrival, was to ask the Battalion Commandant "How many rations to order?" and he would give a random number and this was how the number of rations was determined. Being that the weekly supply was according to daily average quota, the storerooms were filled with items that were most difficult to consume.

Outside of the IDF, meat and vegetables were being allocated according to the famous rationing system of Dov Yossef, the Minister Of Supply And Rationing. Here, they were ordering in abundance and gorging huge amounts. Abundance, of course, created waste. The soldiers were hungry at home and wasting food at the base. I, who had known starvation for years, knew the value of food and was aware of the suffering of the soldiers, with whom I had began to be well acquainted, and this urged me to deal with this problem both quickly and thoroughly.

Standing left to right, Major Uzi Orshanski,
RSM Paul Pruker, Capt. Zvi Nesher,
Capt. Yehuda Birnbaum (Biri)
Kneeling left to right: 2^nd Lt. Zeev Caspin,
2nd Lt. Akiva Harari, 2^nd Lt. Shalom Fichman.

I explained to the Battalion Commandant the extent of the problem and he authorized me to solve it however I wished. He even gave me the use of the "Battalion Commandant's" truck, a deed considered in those days to be equal to receiving a Decoration for Valor personally from Ben Gurion. I knew how to drive an armoured-truck, lorry and weapons carrier. However, I had never drive a Ford F-1 pickup and especially the Battalion Commandant's car.

While driving to Yaffo, where the headquarters for food supplies was located, I had a most traumatic experience. I was caught up in a traffic jam in a narrow road leading from the Clock Square and on the left a lorry was parked with building metals jutting out over the side. The lorry began to roll back very slowly and I became so panicky that I was unable to shout or beep. In my imagination, I saw how the Battalion Commandant's truck was going to be crushed. I was so worried about the truck that I was unable to move even though I was endangering myself. The lorry driver finally managed to stop it rolling backwards. There I was, with a damaged car and very worried. I managed to organize the matter of overstocking of the food and planned a regime for repaying the debts.

I was mostly concerned now with fixing the truck. I could not return with one of the Battalion Commandant's most important items in such a bad state.

The lorry driver ignored me. I searched for a garage that would agree to fix the bodywork and glass and return the car to its former state. After a few hours of searching and begging, I found a little garage in Yaffo that agreed to fix it. They mostly fixed my conscience. My torment was evident. The mechanic calmed me and explained that I should be happy that I was not hurt and that it was possible to fix a car. He really was good to me and I remember him to this day.

I returned to the battalion later than planned. They told me that the Battalion Commandant was very worried, not about the car but about me. He left a message that I should bring the car to his house in Haifa. When I arrived at his house I told him what had happened and how upset I had been since the morning. The Battalion Commandant did not tell me off. He said, as I hoped he would, that it could have happened to anyone, and the issue was closed.

From his noble behavior, I learnt that there is not reason to shout after action, especially if the person has suffered enough in view of the deed. It is always preferable to instruct and prevent damage and waste than to tell someone off for actions taken.

The lesson is to learn from mistakes, but not to add suffering to torment. I arranged the training scheme and improved administration. I minimized waste at the camp that had once been the British Army's transportation base, which slowly became a base in which IDF soldiers lived, trained and progressed. The antiaircraft array that belonged then to the antiaircraft command and was under the command of Colonel Boris Senior (later Eldor). Boris was a pilot in South Africa, the son of an affluent family that flew to Israel at the beginning of the War of Independence via Egypt, bringing two airplanes acquired by his family.

After a few months of intensive work, a backup of officers arrived who had passed through training center no. 1 and had taken courses within the antiaircraft framework. Zeev Caspin was appointed adjutant, Akiva Harari was appointed Commandant of the Headquarter Battery and Israel Ben-Dror was appointed Deputy Commandant of the Battery.

Heavy Antiaircraft Squadron 885

I changed paths. Captain Yehuda Birnbaum was appointed to establish a heavy antiaircraft squadron. He must have been closely following my progress and suggested that I join him in establishing the unit. The unit was supposed to operate 75-millimeter guns made in France, with radar, a localization table for forecasting the future position, to which the shell has to be aimed in order to hit the plane.

The idea of working with Biri and especially of establishing a new unit appealed to me. I joined as Commandant of the Heavy Antiaircraft Battery in squadron 885. We stayed at camp 137 as tenants of the 881 ^st battalion.

Being that we both had privileges with the hosting regiment, this connection did not cause any problems. We continued to live in the same place, eat in the same dining room and fulfill the duties of orderly officers for the whole base. We also remained friends.

During those years, all the officers would stay in the camp. There were a few exceptions, especially in view of the fact that most of the officers were still single men from Haifa and camp 137 is about a 10-minute drive from the city.

In the meantime, my parents had moved from Herzlia to Haifa. My father had begun working for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, as a supervisor of the flourmills in the Haifa region. My parents rented a room in an abandoned Arab house, at 57 Hillel Street. The house was at the end of a road that was only half built, near Balfour Road. My parent's home was adjacent to the Persian Gardens. There was no electricity. The toilets were primitive, in the yard, and the tap outside was used for the two rooms – one belonging to my parents and one to an elderly lady who lived next door. At the front of the house there was an area that was used by the Boy Scouts of the Hadar HaCarmel area. For my parents, this was practically a realization of a dream. Finally a house, perhaps only one room without any kind of luxury, but they were living alone and had a most beautiful view. One could see all of Hadar HaCarmel and the lower city and especially the sea. Behind the house there were fig trees, olive trees and more. I even found some vines.

I loved to visit them at their home and my parents were even more pleased. In spite of the fact that my accommodation at the camp was much more comfortable, with electricity and hot showers, this was "home". My mother spoiled me as much as she could. She was happy. My father never complained that he had to work at the flourmill and he felt that this was enough. It did not bother him even when they transferred him for one year to Tiberias. He would travel on Sunday, stay at the Ginnosar Hotel and return on Friday. The conditions gradually improved in Hillel Street. We added a little room that was used as a shower room and kitchenette. Eventually we were connected to electricity lines.

Biri would take me home in the evenings and pick me up in the morning. He lived with his with his parents on Arlozorov Street, not very far from us.

Biri was single, even though he was about 40 years old. He was a very gentle man, but a very strict and uncompromising commandant. He was the most orderly person that I had met up till then, organized and calculated, polite and generous and, most of all, considerate. We made the perfect pair. I admired him and he admired me, even though I was 20 years his junior. Perhaps the experience I had acquired during my 20 intensive years bridged the age gap. I learnt how to use thegun from a French book and a little from Biri, who had used such a cannon during the War of Independence.

At the David Institute, or as it was called then - the science corps, they were developing radar, intended for us. Biri suggested that I, who had studied to be a radar technician, join them in order to become acquainted with the machine and perhaps hasten its completion. I was happy at the chance that had been given to me.

I traveled every morning by the military bus of the science corps from the "Ora" cinema to Kordani where I worked with Dr. Shaki and the engineer Vulkan on converting the AN-ASB radar 5 that I had known from the course, to an automatic radar tracing system by Lobe Switching from 4 "Yagi" antennas.

The technical work was very interesting and pleasant. But I reached the conclusion that the team did not have a date for completing the work. I reported this to Biri and asked to return to the unit to deal with the issues that could, perhaps, advance the establishment of the battery. In the meantime, the first group of soldiers had arrived. We were supposed to turn them into instructors and crew chiefs.

I drew up a monthly training plan that included general disciplinary training, such as drills, arms drill, physical and educational training and mainly artillery education. I instructed all of the aforementioned, beginning with the wakeup call at 05:30 a.m., right up to lights out at 10:30 p.m. Many months passed in which I trained the soldiers up till the time when one order in the morning was sufficient for them to execute practice, practically without orders, till the end of the day. In spite of this, I did not utilize the "robot" capacity of my cadets and I made efforts to keep the training interesting and varied, but mostly to maintain the discipline that I ensured in full.

The soldiers in compulsory army service during the early fifties were all of different ages. There were those who were 18 years old and those who were older even than 25, because the country was still absorbing new immigrants from Europe, Iraq and North Africa. I especially remember Ghenia Lemberg, because he really was exceptional in this group.

He was a new immigrant that did not speak Hebrew, highly educated (he claimed that he was a railway engineer) and had arrived in Israel via China. Till then I was not aware that there were Jews in China. From Lemberg, I learned of the Harbin community to which he was associated.

Being that he was a very pleasant mannered man, attractive and disciplined, I gave him my special attention. I practically adopted him in order to assist him to become acclimatized to the country. My knowledge of the Russian language helped a lot.

Within a few months, all the cadets had become experts at internal and external ballistics, were familiar with the intricacies of ammunition and artillery, and knew how to use a medium-sized machine-gun "Beza".

We visited historical sites in order to become acquainted with our nation's past and the country, the new homeland for the immigrants, of whom I was one. The cadets enjoyed these study trips as much as I did. The fact is that because I organized and guided these trips, it forced me to learn more and more about the history of our people and culture. This gave me great satisfaction and increased my love for this homeland of our forefathers, which had warmly embraced me. I also adopted the new immigrants that served in my unit with great warmth and love. I tried very hard at all times to facilitate them, without, of course, lessening discipline.

Many months of indirect training passed, while waiting for the completion of the development of the plotting table and the radar. I had used all my capabilities to train and keep the soldiers busy at a reasonable level of interest. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that I could not do any more with them and that I was just wasting time and the army's resources.

Freezing of Heavy Antiaircraft Squadron 885

I had a heart to heart talk with Biri. I told him what I thought and felt. I described to him the situation with regard to the soldiers and we both came to the conclusion that there was no point in continuing to torture ourselves.

We apparently understood that there was no chance that the development of the radar and the plotting table (a primitive electro-mechanical machine for determining air path) would be completed in the near future. Biri agreed with me that we had to postpone the establishment of the unit until we received the appropriate equipment.

In view of my innocence, on the one hand, and Biri's honesty on the other hand, we closed the unit, the unit that we could have spent time on and been promoted in without any difficulty. I am not sorry that this is what we did and I feel that, in the end, both of us gained from it. I, in the meantime, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.

When I informed my hosting Battalion 881, that I had offered to cancel/freeze the squadron, they were very happy but said that only "Yekkehs" like us could propose such an thing.

Training Base no. 9, School of Artillery

Biri suggested that the work should be implemented in a different manner. To establish an organizational framework for two battery reserves based on artillery, while anticipating a solution for the radar and "Predictor" (a machine that calculates future position) and that I should be transferred to Training Base no. 9 so that I would become Commandant of the Heavy Antiaircraft Course, focusing on radar training.

My proposal to close the squadron meant leaving home once again and moving to "Tsrifin". I returned to the base in which I was selected for officer's commission, this time not as a frightened cadet but as an officer with the rank of lieutenant and commandant of the course. I shared a room with Dorian Ginsburg (who changed his name to Gilon), who had returned from a course in France and was appointed Commandant of the Officers Course graduation class no. 5 and his cadets, to name but a few, included Major General Arieh Levy and Colonel Moshe Peled.

I prepared myself for the job. I wrote out a plan for the course and the lessons. The radar was still being restored at the Electronics Support Depot 108 in Tsrifin. This was the SCR-545 radar that I mentioned earlier during the course. Zvi Rissel (now a professor and the Weizman Institute) was trying to repair the radar, as was Arieh Kaplan who participated the radar technician course with me.

I continued to prepare for the course. At that time I was the only person in the country who knew what he wanted to do on the course and, more or less, knew how to do it. I felt like a pioneer, establishing the radar into the artillery corps. I did not know of any professional literature in the army and I did not know that I could have, and should have, ordered books and writing materials, so I purchased, from my own pocket, an Hebrew/English dictionary in order to translate specific chapters on the subject of radar from the book "Principles of Radar" issued by MIT during the 2 ^nd World War.

I bought a book that was used by professional schools called "The Basics of Electricity" and I spoke for many hours with Zvi Rissel in order to learn about the machine he was trying to restore by "Cannibalizing" the two machines that were in the country.

When it seemed that I had completed the study and preparation phase, I began to draw up a syllabus for the course. Major David Goren was the Head of the antiaircraft Branch at the Artillery HQ. He ordered me to prepare a plan for the course that would not exceed four weeks, because the course was intended for reservists and they could only be called up for a limited time. We had a few disagreements, I used my relative advantage in order to act as I saw fit but David, who had a higher rank than me and was, perhaps, more experienced, did not make my life easy. I understood that I must comply with the time constraint.

Basically, we were two difficult characters that hit head on but, ulitmately, we remained friends, while recognizing the temporary balance of power.

The radar, which was finally ready, arrived at Training Center no. 9. I placed it near the hut where I resided. I used my "expertise" in order to determine the place so as to prevent it from being placed in the antiaircraft area of the base. I spent many days operating the radar in order to gain the proficiency required from an instructor and my confidence grew from day to day.

The entire base was curious and I enjoyed contributing to their curiosity. Via my expertise, I gained an image that very much helped me later on. I was friendly with many and many more wanted to be my friend.I really enjoyed being at the base, the almost complete independence, the status, the personal comforts, but mostly I enjoyed increasing my knowledge of the radar. I continued studying the "Bible" of the radar at that time "The Principles of Radar" written by MIT – 10 years earlier.

The first set of cadets reported for the course. They were all reservists apart from two soldiers that were supposed to be my assistants in future training. One was called Verasano - I do not remember the name of the second one.

I taught the cadets everything I new, but simplified. I trained myself to turn complicated terminology into simple terms. I thought up simple examples in order to explain the physical phenomena. In retrospect, I can see that I made many mistakes, but this was not important because it made logic to the people I instructed.

During that period, the corps planned to purchase a mortar localization radar from Britain and for this purpose they appointed Shlomo Carmel, research officer of the corps, to travel to England and study the "Green Archer" radar that was developed during the Second World War. It was obvious that prior to the trip he would undergo a special radar course given by "the Greatest Expert in the Corps" – who was none other that Shalom Eitan. I was very proud that Shlomo Carmel, one of the most intelligent and educated of men, was my pupil. In addition, he gave me a good name at higher levels where he had direct access and this definitely helped my career. After he left the army, Shlomo Carmel became a mathematics teacher in the "Ohel Shem" school in Ramat-Gan.

Adjutant and Training Officer in Training Center no. 9

There was supposed to be an interval of 9 months between the first and second courses. There were no plans for me during this intermediate period.

Right at the end of the first course, Lt. Hava Pitercovsky, the base adjutant was transferred to a higher position in the antiaircraft array and received the rank of Captain. The Commandant of the base, Lt. Colonel Miodovsky, offered me the position of Adjutant and Training Officer of the base. I gladly agreed. The Second-in-command of the base at that time was Major Itzhak Ziman, who was commandant of one of the units in my Officers Course. The RSM, Moshe Kleinbaum, reported to me immediately and asked to receive instructions, this gave me great satisfaction.

The duties of Adjutant and Training Officer were diverse. I had an excellent team. The chief clerk was a citizen name Solnik, who knew everything. In fact, within this sphere, I was free of worries – I only had to authorize by signature the hundreds and thousands of forms used in the army.

Most of the work involved taking care of social assistance and organizing resources – training areas, apparatus, vehicles and artillery. The job, which was at the center of things and executed close to the commandant of the base, gave me a very good feeling and compensated for the hard work involved. The Welfare Sergeant was called Yehudit, who, later on, married Moshe Langer, (Tamir) and we will meet up them again a number of times in the future.

I do not know what prompted a change with me romantically speaking. Perhaps it was due to my establishing myself, my involvement in Israel and the fact that I was an officer. It is a fact that once I was appointed second lieutenant, I became more attractive to women. I no longer had to draw up complicated plans in order to make contact with girls and to travel long distances in order to barely smell them. Now they came to me. I was not a "Casanova", but I was OK in this area. No great loves, just pleasant friendships, with a prize, that usually gave both parties involved great pleasure and satisfaction. Nothing permanent and nothing lasting.

My parents' neighbor from the Hotel Cherniavsky, was already a soldier and she used to visit me at the weekends. She, apparently, had great hopes for me, but this was one-sided. In October 1952, during a weekend trip I took with one of my cousins that had came from America in order to serve in the IDF, and who owned a vehicle, I caught Malaria.

I went out with him and his girlfriend and with Yehudit, "the neighbor", and it was then, at the "Kinneret" (Lake Tiberias) – next to the Villa Melcet that I apparently encountered the Anopheles bites. As soon as I returned from the trip I became ill, I had a high temperature accompanied by the shivers. I was taken to the clinic and hospitalized in one of the sick rooms in "Tsrifin".

In the sickroom, I was looked after by young and lovely nurses. One of them was an officer born in Italy, who had been brought up in a convent during the war. While I was in the sickroom, she did not treat me but occasionally came to visit me. Nothing serious.

At the end of the war, I was sent to convalescence home no. 3 in St Lukes and a few days later she came to visit me. This touched my heart and this is what may be termed in books as love. I did feel different towards her and we began to date. She even came with me to the wedding of this very same cousin and everyone agreed that we were suited.

One day, I received a letter from her asking me not to contact her again, either by letter or phone. I did not understand what had happened. It was only 30 years later that she asked to meet me to explain the meaning of the letter. While we had been dating, another officer had made a proposal she could not refuse. He offered her marriage, but presented one condition - that she stop being in contact with any other men, especially me, because we were friends and he knew of our friendship. All this she explained to me while she was going through divorce proceedings thirty years later.

After I had completed training two courses at training center no. 9, I was mostly involved in being Adjutant and Training Officer. In fact, I was Training Coordination's Officer because each field had its own head of training on the academic side of the courses. I was well acquainted with the officers who reigned terror on all at the course for a period of 9 months.

I quickly learned that they were basically nice and pretty normal people, with the same weaknesses as others, but they were not allowed to show this during the course. Their rooms were not so tidy and they even played cards. The leader of the games was the second-in-command of the base, Itzhak Ziman and the RSM, Moshe Kleinbaum. Since I was appointed Adjutant, the RSM tried to be my friend, and even asked me to give him a movement order so that if his wife would find it, by chance, in his pocket she would realize why he had been missing from home at nights. I started to see the army from a different perspective. I tried to fight this kind of phenomena and even brought up the subject of the cards in a meeting with the Commandant of the base and told him that he must immediately stop this disgraceful habit. That very same night I came to him to sign a document, while he, his second-in-command and the RSM were in the middle of a game of poker. I did not like the idea of  "Don't do as I do, do as I say". This was completely derogatory to what I had learned in the "Hagana" and during my practical experience during my war service: To set a personal example. I was disappointed, but decided that I would not go their way. And I would always set a personal example.

I requested to participate in a parachuting course and, after waiting for 6 months, it was my turn. I was driven to Tel-Nof, to the School of Parachuting. I did not pass the medical examination because, according to the doctor, I had a hernia problem. I was prepared to sign to the fact that I would take responsibility if anything happened, but then the telephone call came from the Commandant of the base, Lieutenant Colonel Moidovsky (now Meidad), telling me that I must return to base.

When I reported to him, he explained that he had been appointed Commandant of the "Eged Artillery" for the big maneuver and I was his Intelligence Officer.

When I told him that I had never before acted as Intelligence Officer, he replied that he had never been "Eged" Commandant (An Artillery Group of 3 Battalions and support units).

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