'Military Lessons of the Arab Rebellion in Palestine 1936' [‎21r] (46/294)

In order to leave the more seasoned troops in the most troublesome
districts, General Dill had allotted the 5th Division to the Northern
Area* The 1st Division moved without incident into Southern Palestine
from Haifa by means of the coast railway and the main Nablus road: there
was no interference, although while the move was in progress several
actions with bands were fought by the 5th Division in the neighbourhood
of the road. The final deployment and Order of Battle of the emergency
Force is shown in Appendix II.
By this time operations against armed bands were being carried ou^
on pre-arranged plans based on information, and were no longer dependent
upon chance encounters. The first took place at Jab T *-, to the ^orth of
Nablus, with a large force under Fauzi’s command which included a number
of mounted men: detachments of two battalions of the 16th Brigade with
a section of guns took part, together with five aircraft which accounted
for most of the casualties. The action started at 3.10 p.m. on the 24th
and, after being interrupted about 6.30, was resumed the following morning.
As a result troops occupied the rebel villages of Jab* a and Tubas and
inflicted 57 casualties on the enemy. One Fusilier of the R.S. Fus. was
killed, and an. R.A.F. officer was wounded in the leg and compelled to make a
forced landing. The same night a patrol of the Camerons had a sharp
engagement near Hebron and an officer was wounded.
On the 27th South Wales Borderers with tanks dispersed a band near
the railway, causing several casualties, and on the 29th there was another
engagement with Fauzi. Acting on information regarding his preoence in
a village between Jab*a and Tubas, striking forces of three battalions
of the 16th Brigade, eventually reinforced by a fourth, moved on the
village about 11 a.m. accompanied by guns and tanks.^ A portion of the
band was encountered near Beit Umrin and engaged until 7 p.m. Four air
craft co-operated with conspicuous success and 22 casualties were inf ic ed,
while an officer and private of the Dorsets and a private of the Lincolns
were wounded. On the 30th the newly-arrived troops suffered their^
casualty when a Fusilier of the R. North’d Fus. //as severely woun e^ m
an ambush on the Jerusalem-Jaffa road. These actions brought the known
casualty list of the rebellion to 1630, 315 of which v/ere o 1 ^ en ^ lf 1 ® d ^® ad *
British fighting forces and British police had suffered 28 dead a^d 136
v/ounded, while Arab dead were now estimated to be in the region of luuu.
5th - 12th Octob er
Shortly after arrival General Dill had stated that he would be
ready to impose martial law on the 4th October and by that date null ary
preparations had been completed, while the Martial Law Order-in-Counci
had been signed by King Edward on the 26th September and proclaimed on
the 30th. Briefly it authorised the High Commissioner to delegate to
the G-. 0 .C. at his discretion any or all of his powers. ^ did however
introduce an element which came as a surprise to General bill: it cua
not authorise martial law in the wide unfettered sense in which yj-S
normally interpreted, but introduced instead a form of Statutory .urtia
Law" in v/hich the powers conferred were meticulously defined. i-.is
created an entirely new situation and led inevitably_to furtner discus
sions regarding the powers which were to be delegated to ohe 3-i
the relations between the civil and military authorities shou 3 ^ u ory
martial law be applied. The effect of all this was to postpone the ^
possible date of application to the 10 th. When the 10th Octoter Vtf 6
however a further postponement was made by the High Comnussioner
the 14th in the hopes that the Higher Committee would call off rhe
rebellion before that date. This hope was realised when the higher
Committee, acting on the advice of the Arab Kings and Princes cohtaaney
in identical messages which arrived on the 9 th, issued orders
tance to cease on the 12th October. This was instantly obeyed and the
strike came to an end.