All,
It is 0415 on 30 March 1948, and the Jordanians have returned to the northern edge village of Mar Gush. Two days ago they approached further east and were treated rather roughly by Baruch Eitan's 1st Platoon. The Company commander, Captain Avi Peled, had been switching out the platoons on watch at the roadblock east of the village, on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Road. As of 0415, 3rd Platoon was manning the roadblock, 1st Platoon was manning outposts in a 360 degree perimeter around the village, and 2nd Platoon was located in the center of the village, acting as a quick reaction force, able to move against threats at all points of the compass. At 0405, member of 1st Platoon manning the outpost to the northeast, across the shallow (fictional) Nelani River, came in to report movement to Avi, the Company commander, and he immediately summoned the 2nd Platoon commander, Lt Danny Tzur. Danny was a 29-year old, American born Jew was drafted into the US Army in May 1942. In boot camp he was recognized as having leadership potential and so upon the completion of boot camp he was sent to Officer Candidate School, minting a new 2nd Lieutenant in time to drop into France on 6 June 1944. Danny served as a platoon commander, company executive officer, company commander, and battalion operations officer throughout the campaigns in Normandy, Holland, and Belgium, returning to civilian life in mid-1946. Back home in Toledo, it was his parents that first pointed out the plight of the Jews in Palestine, and with a steadily deteriorating situation in 1947, Danny crossed the ocean and arrived in Tel Aviv just after the New Year, 1948.
Avi quickly explained the situation and what needed to happen; Danny immediately gathered his men and began moving towards the enemy. Avi stated: "Danny, I'm not sure what exactly is out there, so I'm coming with."
Overview, north is up, looking at the north edge of the village of Mar Gush. At top right is a portion of the Nelani River, at center right is a citrus orchard, at center left is what is now known as Cemetery Hill (and it will be referred to as such here). Spread from left to right across the bottom of the photo are various homes and shops of the villagers of Mar Gush.
At top left (northwest) and top right (northeast) you can see Jordanian Army elements approaching Mar Gush from the north. At bottom left (southwest) you have Danny leading half of 2nd Platoon forward towards Cemetery Hill, and at bottom right (southeast) you have Avi leading the other half towards The Orchard.
Bodies are stacking up atop Cemetery Hill, as Ephraim (bottom left), a former Palmach commando returned home to defend his village, turns his Sten on several Jordanians (top right) moving across the fields into The Orchard. To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link
And this is such a long fight that I've decided to split the batrep into two parts. Sorry, but we'll pick up again soon, the situation very much in doubt, things not going overly well for either side, the Jews about to make another push on the far right, skirting The Orchard. Coming right up, so stay tuned!
If you're willing and able, please leave a comment on the blog.
finds bridges to match the river sets.
