'Military Lessons of the Arab Rebellion in Palestine 1936' [‎14v] (33/294)

8th - 11th June
During the next four days the new reinforcements from Egypt arrived..
They comprised the Headquarters of the 15th Infantry Brigade with the
1st Bn. The York and Lancaster Regt., the 2 nd Bn. The Cheshire Regt., the
2nd Bn. The Dorsetshire Regt., and the 2nd Field Coy. K.E. ±his increase
necessitated a complete re-organisation oi the garrison, and the former
four battalion areas became two brigade areas. The loth Inf. Bde», with
the Loyals, Y. and L.R., and Seaforth, was allotted to the North with HQ
at Haifa; while a Southern Brigade was improvised with HQ at Jerusalem
and comprised R.S. Fus. , Dorsets, and Camerons. j-ne Bedfs. and Herts.
R., with the R.A.F. Lifting Coy., and the tanks were retained as HQ Troops;
while the Cheshires, the two field companies and the R.H.A. trolley
detachment "were formed into a special railway troops organization under
HQ, Lines of Communication, at Haifa. Simultaneously the personnel of
Air HQ and HQ British Troops amalgamated to form a Combined Force Head
quarters Staff, which approximated to that of a Division.
Meanwhile the daily crime sheet had become a regular feature
rarely varying in length or severity, and only some particularly dastardlj
outrage or sanguinary encounter between troops and armed bands marked the
normal toll of murder, sabotage, shooting and bombing. On the 3th
June the explosion of a Mills bomb in a crowded market at the Jaffa gate
of Jerusalem claimed 26 victims; and on the 10th and 11th Jewish
settlers in the Valley of Jezreel, aided by military and police rein
forcements, were compelled to beat off serious Arab attacks. Amoushing
of convoys was now of frequent occurrence, and on the 11 th tanks were in
action with a Seaforth striking force near Tulkarm.
12th - 17th June
The new Government Defence Regulations, which have already been
referred to, came into effect on the 12th. They prescribed the death
penalty for a long list of the more serious offences, but on no
occasion was this ever carried out and in fact there was no noticeable
improvement in the punishment of wrong-doers. The effect of this new
legislation was entirely negative, and its introduction v/as greeted by
a bomb outrage in the Haifa-Lydda train, which injured 18 passengers,
and the attempted murder of a British Police officer in Jerusalem by a
Government school teacher.
It was now plain that the armed bands had become the outstanding
military problem: where they had numbered 15-20 before they were now
being encountered in parties of 50-70, while their enterprise and effici
ency was clearly improving, especially in the Jenin-Nablus-Tulkarm
triangle. To meet this menace a new system of co-operation between
aircraft and troops was devised, and met with marked success. From
the 15th June onwards wireless vehicles accompanied all convoys and
patrols, providing direct communication to air striking forces at
Ramleh and Jisr Al Mejami. Immediately on locating enemy resistance
the W/T vehicle (which was later known as a M R0DEX M ) sent out an M XX M
call which could summon aircraft of the striking force to any part of
the country within half-an-hour. The 5 r XX ! ' system developed to a very
high state of efficiency and became one of the most prominent features
of the rebellion. It is described in detail in Chapter 12. Its
introduction in June solved to a great extent the difficult problem of
the moment, which was that of bringing armed bands to action; and
during the ensuing months it was the means of inflicting upon them the
heav;y casualties from which their superior mobility and knowledge of
the country had hitherto kept them immune. By the end of June aircraft
had answered fourteen M XX M calls.
44816-1
14