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| Battle of Yad Mordechai |
| Part of 1948 Arab-Israeli War |
|
|
| Belligerents |
| Israel |
Egypt |
| Commanders |
| Unknown |
Unknown |
| Strength |
130 local fighters
20 Palmach fighters |
2,000 |
| Casualties and losses |
| 26 dead 49 wounded |
About 400 dead and wounded |
The Battle of Yad Mordechai took place at the beginning of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Yad Mordechai is a small kibbutz in southern Israel, founded in the 1930s and renamed in 1943 after Mordechaj Anielewicz, the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April 1943. Its name means "Hand of Mordechai".
On 19 May 1948, five days after Israel's declaration of Independence, Yad Mordechai was attacked by a column of the Egyptian Army, with airplanes, artillery and tanks. It was defended by 150 men and women with 55 light weapons, one machine gun, and a two-inch mortar. Although vastly outnumbered and outgunned, the defenders fought fiercely and resolutely, feeling that the new battle was a direct continuation of that of five years before. They managed to destroy some of the tanks, and to turn back the enemy.
Thus they prevented an Egyptian land assault on Tel Aviv and allowed Israel's forces to reform their line of defence north of Ashdod, as well as setting the tone for the rest of the war.
On the sixth day of the battle, after having run out of ammunition completely, and losing over half of its fighting force to injuries and death, the defenders had no choice but to withdraw. The 26 defenders who died during the battle were buried in a mass grave under the command bunker. The kibbutz was held by the Egyptian army for half a year and was eventually released on 5 November 1948.
[edit] References
- Yad Mordechai, Encyclopaedia Judaica
