On This Day in Jewish History: October 15, 1948

#onthisday, 1948, during the War of Independence, the Egyptians ignored 2nd truce, denying Israeli convoys passage through the Hatta-Karatiya gap. As a response, the IDF took the offensive and launched Operation Yoav (or Operation 10 Plagues) that ultimately opened the road to Beersheva and gave the IDF to control of the entire Negev region.

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The goal of this operation was to open a corridor to the Negev, cut the Egyptian lines of communication along the coast and on the Beersheva-Hebron-Jerusalem road, isolate and defeat the Egyptian forces, and ultimately to drive them out of the country.

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#onthisday, Gaza, Majdal, and Beith Hanun were bombed, and part of the Egyptain Force at El-Arish was put out of action. Giving the IDF air superiority.

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The next day, on October 16th, a tank battalion of the 8th Armored Brigade, along with an infantry battalion, launched a major attack against El-Manshiyeh in an attempt to open the corridor to the south-east.

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This attempt unfortunately failed, and the force suffered heavily.

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The following night, the Givati units made great strides, fighting their key battles at Hill 113 and nearby Egyptian strongholds known as the junction positions dominating the crossroads between Majdal and Faluja.

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After a fierce hand-to-hand battle, Hills 113 and 100 were captured, and a day later the junction positions and Kaukaba were taken.

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Knowing that he had very little time to open the Negev road, Yigal Allon tasked the Givati Brigade to attack the Huleiqat defense system south on October 19-20, which was successful; the road to Negev was opened.

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Then, at 4:00 on the morning of October 21, the IDF moved to capture Beersheba. After fierce fighting, the 500-strong Egyptian garrison broke and, by 09:00 hrs that morning, Beersheva – capital of the Negev had surrendered to Israeli forces.

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The Israel Navy also took part in southern actions, shelling enemy coastal installations, preventing supplies from reaching Gaza and Majdal by sea, and scoring an outstanding victory by the 22nd.

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#judaism#jewish#jewishhistory#israel#warofindependence#1948#beersheva#negev#zionism

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Image Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Yoav#/media/File:Negev_Brigade_Horev.jpg

Text Source:

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/operation-ldquo-yoav-rdquo-october-1948