1948 War Of Inependence

However on May 15th the Arab states invaded. Over the years there has been much debate around the question of numerical superiority. It has been argued that the Arab states (Mainly Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, aided by some other Arab states) fielded only 25000 troops against 60000 of the Israeli forces. The last article I read quoted newly discovered documents showing that during May of 1948 the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) had only 30000 troops. Even if the IDF had 60000 troops in the beginning of the war (I don’t believe it did), it was still the underdog.  Numbers are not the only important thing in war.  The Arab Armies were, more or less, cohesive, trained units, with armor support, air forces and artillery. The IDF had no tanks, only unarmed airplanes, and no real artillery. Some troops were new immigrants came right of the ships at Haifa port. This meant that some units had 20 different languages to give orders in. Some troopers entered combat with no weapons or without the knowledge of using a rifle. This meant that a lot of the fighting had to be done by a small core of ex-"Palmach" units. The "Palmach" was the elite "Hagana"(which was disbanded to form the IDF) units and only had a few thousand men. Most of the offensive actions could only be taken by "Palmach" since no other unit had the skills or experience. Apart from all of this (and I think this facts are more then enough to declare the IDF the underdog), one must realize that, at least in the early part of the invasion the IDF only defended. This meant the entire Egyptian force (of about 10000)for example , attacked 2 or 3 places at a time using its entire might  while the IDF had to use its southern forces(lets make it a generous 15000) to protect dozens of settlements and roads. So, in every settlement there were maybe a few hundred men and women. The Arabs therefore might have been strategically outnumbered by 2 to 1 (again, I doubt it), but usually were tactically superior by 3, 5, and even 10 to 1. All of these facts were balanced by the will of the civilians and soldiers, who fought bravely everywhere. Some settlements stopped Arab tanks with nothing more than Molotov cocktails and machineguns. Slowly and surly the Arab advance was halted. The IDF recruited men and purchased arms. On May 29th a flight of 4 "Avia" S199 Czech built fighter planes dived into the main advancing Egyptian column only a few dozen miles away from Tel-Aviv. The S199s dropped their bombs and cleared their guns at the surprised Egyptian soldiers. This was the first sortie of IDF fighter planes. The planes caused little damage and 2 were shot down, but they were not mere fighter planes-they were a sign of what's to come. The Arabs no longer had the advantage of air superiority; soon they will loose all their advantages. By the 11th of June both sides were tired. A temporary break in fighting was declared. It was during that break that the war was won.

The break allowed the IDF to greatly increase all its capabilities. Fighter planes, tanks, and artillery pieces were added to the IDF in a well-managed expansion program. By the end of this break the IDF held all the cards. It was trained, organized, fairly well equipped and finally had the advantage of initiative. Finally the IDF could use all its power in directed, planned attacks. From the 9th of June 1948, when the break ended, until the 18th of that month, The IDF went on the offensive squeezing the Syrians to a little bulge, and taking complete control of the center of the country. Another break started on the 18th of June. During the summer the Iraqis retreated completely from their positions in the north. The Egyptians dug in the same place their advance was halted by the S199 attack a few weeks earlier. On the 15th Israel took the initiative again, driving the Egyptians back although not completely out of mandatory Palestine. On the north the entire Galilee was taken from the Lebanese and local groups. The western Negev was taken from the Jordanians. The armistice agreement in 1949 left the Jews with an Israel much safer and bigger then the one promised by the UN. Israel gained the whole Arab region of the Galilee, the Arab part of the Negev and a corridor leading to western Jerusalem. The Egyptians managed to keep the Gaza Strip, but at a high cost. The Syrian and Lebanese earned nothing, the former retreating from their costly bulge. The Jordanians, the fiercest among the Arab armies (in quality) gave Israel a bitter fight and took the west bank. The Palestinian Arabs lost everything- they hoped the invading Arab countries would drive the Jews out and grant the local Arabs independence, but the invaders failed militarily and morally. In fact the Jordanians and Egyptians did not even give the Palestinians independence on the small areas the invading forces did conquer.

An Israeli .30 Cal MG team. Notice the hats, typical of Palmach men.

An Egyptian Spitfire shot down over Hertzelia. This aircraft was later used by the IAF.

Victory: The Israeli flag flying over Eilat,the most southern point in Israel,10/March/1949. The force did not have a flag, so ink was applied to a white sheet. This was later named "Degel Ha'dio"- "The Ink Flag".