Operation Danny

Operation Dani
Part of 1948 Arab–Israeli War
The strategically important airport at Lydda following its capture by the IDF in July 1948
Date July 9–19, 1948 Location West of Tel Aviv Result IDF succeed in capturing Ramle, Lydda and surrounding villages. Failed to capture Latrun
Belligerents
Israel (IDF)	Transjordan (Arab Legion)
Commanders and leaders
Yigal Alon Yitzhak Rabin	Glubb Pasha
Strength
6,000

Yitzhak Sadeh (left) and Yigal Allon, 1948

8th Armoured Brigade capture Lydda airport (1948)

Operation Danni (Hebrew: מבצע דני‎, Mivtza Dani) was an Israeli military offensive launched at the end of the first truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The objectives were to capture territory east of Tel Aviv and then to push inland and relieve the Jewish population and forces in Jerusalem. The main forces fighting against the IDF were the Arab Legion and Palestinian irregulars ^[1]

It was launched at the end of the first truce, July 9–19, 1948. On 10 July, Glubb Pasha ordered the defending Arab Legion troops to "make arrangements...for a phony war"^[2] The operation commander was Yigal Allon and his deputy was Yitzhak Rabin. The total force numbered around 6,000 men.^[3]

Name

The operation was named after Palmach officer Dani Mass, who had fallen on January 16, 1948 while commanding a relief action known as "Convoy of 35".

Objectives

The first phase of Operation Dani was to capture the cities of Lydda and Ramle, located on the road to Jerusalem, southeast of Tel Aviv. Ramle was one of the main obstacles blocking Jewish transportation.^[4] From the start of the war, Lydda and Ramle militiamen had attacked Jewish traffic on nearby roads.^[5] Ramle became a focal point for blocking Jewish transportation, forcing traffic from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv to a southern bypass.^[6]

The second phase was to capture the fort at Latrun and break through Ramallah. The operation was carried out under Palmach command using the Yiftach Brigade, the Harel Brigade, the 8th Armored Brigade and two battalions from the Kiryati and Alexandroni brigades.

Lydda and Ramle

Palmach (Yiftach brigade) soldiers with a (just destroyed by a PIAT) captured Jordanian army armored car, Operation Dani . 15 July 1948

On 9 July units from the Yiftach Brigade began approaching Ramle from the south. At the same time troops from the other brigades began attacking villages north of Lydda. Caught in a pincer movement and with only a token Arab Legion presence the two towns were captured the following day. This put Lydda airport and the strategic railway station at Ramle in Israeli hands. Two days after the capture of Lydda and Ramle only a few hundred of the 50,000 to 70,000 residents remained in the two towns.

Latrun

Road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The second phase of the operation failed after several costly attacks on Arab Legion positions at Latrun and the threat of a UN-imposed cease-fire.^[7]

Casualties

The Palmach record the names of ninety-one of its members killed during this Operation. Forty-four were killed at Khirbet Kurikur on 18 July 1948. Seven were killed in the capture of Lydda.^[8]

Palestinian communities captured

(Most of the villages were systematically destroyed shortly after capture)

Units

• Overall Commander: Yigal Allon
• 8th Armored Brigade Commander Yitzhak Sadeh^[9]
• Alexandroni Brigade
• Kiryati Brigade (two battalions)
• Yiftach Brigade Commander Mula Cohen ^[10]

See also

• List of battles and operations in the 1948 Palestine war
• List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestinian exodus

References