Joseph Tabenkin
Joseph Tabenkin | |
---|---|
Kibbutz Ein Harod, Israel | |
Allegiance | Palmach, Israel |
Joseph "Yosefle" Tabenkin (Hebrew: יוסף טבנקין; March 18, 1921 – September 24, 1987) was an Israeli commander of the Fourth Battalion of the Palmach's Harel Brigade in the years leading up to and during the 1948 Palestine war, also known as Israel's "War of Independence."
Biography
Joseph Tabenkin was born in Tel Aviv to
Military career
In 1938, at the age of seventeen, Tabenkin joined the Field Squadron of the Haganah, an underground paramilitary organization operating in Mandatory Palestine. In 1942, he enlisted in the Palmach, an elite unit of that organization, where he soon made a career as an instructor, until in 1947, during a time of disturbances in Mandate Palestine, he was promoted to commander of the Palmach's Platoon Dalet, where he served under Yigael Yadin. In December 1947, Tabenkin participated in retaliatory raids on Arab targets in Ramla for the murders of Jews committed by the Arabs.[1] After the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre in late December 1947, Tabenkin personally took charge of the Haifa port by sending 25 of his men from the Palmach to the harbour in order to restore law and order.[2]
During the outbreak of war in 1948, he saw military action in Operation Nachshon where he served with the Second Battalion known as Ha-portzim,[3] thence in Operation Harel (when the unit then took on the name Fourth Battalion of the Harel Brigade) and, later, took part in operations known as Operation Danny. Afterwards, with renewed fighting in the fall, Tabenkin led operations in Operation Ha-Har, when he had already replaced Yitzhak Rabin as the commander of the Harel Brigade. In this final operation, he led his combatants to military victories, who, at that time, had gained the mastery of the field. He was commander when, under directions from Moshe Dayan, a military unit specializing in biological warfare, contaminated the wells of Biddu and Beit Surik with diphtheria and typhus bacteria to prevent the dispossessed Palestinians in those localities from re-establishing themselves in their homes.[4]
Operation Nachshon's mission was to break the
In May 1948, the Harel Brigade was involved in
Tabenkin accredited himself with having designed the first armored car in the War of Independence.[9] According to Tabenkin, he brought 4,500 Jewish fighters from Cyprus, and also organized the first Jewish pilots for combat operations.[10]
In 1950, Tabenkin retired from the IDF at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Post war
After the war, Tabenkin studied industrial engineering at
Published works
- Yitzhak Tabenkin and the Challenges of his Time, Hadar: Tel-Aviv 1986
- The Turning Point in the War of Independence, Tabenkin Memorial: Ramat Ef'al 1989 (published post-mortem)
References
- ^ Uri Milstein, History of Israel's War of Independence: The first month, vol. 2, University Press of America: New York 1997, pp. 138-ff.
- ^ Uri Milstein, History of Israel's War of Independence: The first month, vol. 2, University Press of America: New York 1997, p. 90.
- ^ Yosef Tabenkin, The Turning Point in the War of Independence (המפנה במלחמת העצמאות), Yad Tabenkin: Efal 1989, p. 123 [Hebrew]
- ^ Benny Morris, Benjamin Z. Kedar, ‘Cast thy bread’: Israeli biological warfare during the 1948 War Middle Eastern Studies 19 September 2022, pages =1-25 pp.2-3.
- ^ Yosef Tabenkin, The Turning Point in the War of Independence (המפנה במלחמת העצמאות), Yad Tabenkin: Efal 1989, pp. 74, 154–155 (ch. 4) [Hebrew]
- ISBN 2-266-10698-8
- ^ "Operation ha-Har". Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- JSTOR 23401299.
- ^ Uri Milstein, History of Israel's War of Independence: The first month, vol. 2, University Press of America: New York 1997, p. 137.
- JSTOR 23396383.
External links
- Yad Tabenkin Archives, Ramat Ef'al (Yosefle Tabenkin's Testimony, 12-4/48/4)