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(Genesis II ID: Genisis II #4)   [next]   [previous]

Prior Publication: Genesis 48

Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, Israel 1948-05-23 (4 others)

Overview:

Egypt had dispatched an expeditionary force of around 10,000 men under the command of Major General Ahmad Ali al-Mwawi to Palestine in April 1948. The Egyptians had bypassed several settlements along their route of advance, but on reaching Yad Mordechai on May 16, Mwawi decided that the settlement was too large and well defended to be simply bypassed. The Egyptians had the benefit of armor, artillery and air support. They also mustered 2,500 soldiers for the assault, far outnumbering the commune's 130 defenders. On the night of May 18–19, a small Israeli armored column reached the kibbutz and extracted its 92 children. Left behind were 110 members (twenty of them women) and two squads of Palmachniks, equipped with light weapons, a medium machine gun and a PIAT hand-held anti-tank weapon. The Egyptians prepared for their assault for two days. Just after dawn on May 19, two battalions of infantry and one armored battalion attacked the village with artillery support. The Egyptians succeeded in breaching the perimeter fence, but after three hours of heavy fighting, were repulsed, leaving behind dozens of dead; the kibbutz suffered five dead and eleven wounded. The Egyptians spent May 21–22 shelling the kibbutz. The Egyptian air force prevented a relief column from reaching the site. The settlement's buildings were leveled and the defenders had become "inhabitants of caves and tunnels". By May 22, with dozens of wounded, the defenders were pleading for permission to withdraw. The final Egyptian attack on May 23 saw the armor providing much better support for the infantry, and the Egyptians occupied a part of the settlement. At night, the Israeli defenders, exhausted from the fighting and low on ammunition, withdrew from the settlement. The Israeli withdrawal was unknown to the Egyptians and the following day, they opened up with a four-hour artillery barrage on the now empty kibbutz. Following the barrage, they occupied the settlement, ending the battle. The Israeli delaying action at Yad Mordechai bought the newly established Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) time to organize a defensive line against the northward Egyptian drive toward Tel Aviv.

Defender: Israeli (Elements of the Negev Brigade and kibbutz defenders)  

Errata (source)