'Military Lessons of the Arab Rebellion in Palestine 1936' [‎99v] (203/294)

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The area covered by the drive and the progress of the operc-tion ’
shown in Llap No* 3.
is
yh
M Operation X
On the 27th. June the first definite information as to the str
location and headquarters of the rebel bands reached Force HQ. Th * ^
were reported to be in the triangle of hill country between Nablus ^
Ramallah and Qalqilya, an area which had already proved to be the cent
of most trouble. Being inaccessible to any sort of M.T. except in the 6
region of a few well-defined tracks, the villages had never been visit d
by troops and had seldom seen either police or administrative officers
They were by now thoroughly out of hand and offered a most suitable
harbourage for the armed bands who operated against the railway to the
South of Qalqilya and the main road between Ramallah and Nablus. It
was clear that the time had come to beard the rebels in their den and to
prove to the inhabitants of the area that their natural inaccessibility
could no longer keep them beyond the arm of the Law. It was clear
from the start that the size of the area was such as to require the
greater part of the whole Force, the infantry strength of which was then
seven battalions. Unfortunately however the Southern Brigade was
already committed to the fourth phase of the operations in the Old City
of Jaffa, which took place on the 29th. and 30th. June, so that there was
little chance of starting the drive much before the 2nd. July. Even
then a^ further delay of 48 hours occurred, which is referred to below, so
that the evening of the 5th.July was eventually chosen for the start*of
Operation X”. At this time the armed bands had not yet reached the
stage at which they would fight if they could possibly avoid it, and
the A.0.0. fully realised that the chances of bringing them to action
were^small - especially after a week's delay. Nevertheless it still
remained essential to restore order and the prestige of Government in
^- rea > so that plans were drawn up for a thorough search to be made
bj- iour battalions over a period of two or three days.
S<jcrec^^ //as plainly essential if there was to be any chance of
surprising the bands; and secrecy proved to be extremely difficult to
obtain m spite of every effort to secure it. It was realised that the
scalo^of troop movements v/ould preclude any possibility of keeping
t * iG lCaGt that some considerable military project v/as afoot, and
e or.s were concentrated on concealing only the area in which it was
aoout to take place. ^ A Warning Order was issued by Force KQ. on the
e uii. aune giving notice of an imaginary search operation in the
1 G ^r TU ° aS area ’ and copies were sent to the Secretariat, the Police,
Lji e osts and relegraphs Department. Reconnaissance of this area
^- 1 °^ era ^ carried out by both troops and aircraft, while the
0f °P eration s remained known only to the High Ccmissioner
and the General Staff of Force H.Q.
■f ; 3 a G0ver for certain reconnaissances and essential preliminaries
a p la coon of the Cameron Highlanders was stationed for some days before-
v ^ a ’ f T te ^ibly for purposes of road protection, in a small camp at
al " ubban wnicn was later to accormodate the A.O.C's. operational
S Gr °* • L ^ was hoped to keep the secret of the area of operations
,.°„ a v ° r ‘ y sma H circle until the last possible moment, but as
48 hnn-p<? * u PP^cacned the nigh Commissioner found it necessary to give
1Ge t0 / lls strict Officers, and this not only led to a
knnwn^i^ onemen of^Zero Day but resulted in the secret becoming
surryHdP ^ mLLG wider field. It v/as soon clear that any chance of
before even 4- 1 Oo ^ aere wa s a general disappearance of aimed ban s
discnvenrrT uroo± ° lri0v cments began, and several press correspondents
Finall on S 1 r + 1 en °T S ? t0 2111(16 them to suitable centres in good time,
of th^nneiw ’ y the M £alesMpe_Post w published a full account
whole' C -ffair*onn r ^ S ^° f t ? 8 operation ^ na ^iug even the locality. The
obtainin' anv f-r 1 ^ a .^ trik i a g illustration of the difficulties of
1 h ^ rm of military secrecy under the conditions which