NORMAN SCHUTZMAN’S excerpt from his autobiography
“MY PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL”
Company “B” 7th Brigade, 72nd Battalion: L-R: Sidney Halperin, “Buffalo Bill” Shapiro, “Ahem” Lou Avni
Back row: L-5 “Tough Luck” Tuffler, Norman Schutzman, Derek Bowden (aka David Appel), Jack Lichtenstein, Ben Ezer
Several months ago, Toni Young called me and asked me to give a talk to the Historical Society on my personal involvement with Israel. I’d known about Eretz Yisrael all my life, but my personal involvement didn’t start until 29th November 1947. On that day, the United Nations passed a resolution that Palestine would be divided into two countries, one Arab and one Jewish. The Jews were ecstatic and the Arabs said, “NO.” As the weeks rolled by, the realization grew on me that now, after 2,000 years of living without a homeland, the Jews would be going back to the land that God promised them. The news became threatening: 600,000 Jews would be facing 50 million Arabs from six countries. Each of these countries had trained, well-equipped armies, while England wouldn’t allow the Jews to buy or own arms of any kind. The Jews had their Haganah, Palmach, Etzel, and Lechi which were essentially underground organizations.
The more I kept thinking about re-establishing the State of Israel after 2,000 years of homelessness as well as the Holocaust and the death of 6 million Jewish people, I knew that I would have to do everything possible to help. As the news became worse and 15th May drew closer, I realized that as a committed Jew, what I had to do was to volunteer and join the Haganah. When I told my parents of this decision, they were aghast. We had great arguments. They couldn’t understand how anyone who had been in the US army for four years, had served in the Pacific and Europe and still came out alive, would now willingly tempt fate and put his life on the line. I remember vividly telling them that if I didn’t go, I would never be able to live with myself.
I spoke with Mr. Coder, executive director of the Federation, and asked him to help me contact the right people so that I could volunteer. He gave me two names to contact in New York. One of them was able to set up an appointment for me in a small hotel in New York on 19th Street. That night I met three people, filled out an application form, and spent several hours sharing with them my background and experiences in World War II. They were very interested in my three years’ experience with anti-aircraft. They finally told me that Israel was expecting to receive some anti-aircraft guns from Czechoslovakia, and that my knowledge and experience would be of tremendous help. They asked me how quickly I would be able to go. I told them that I owned a business for which I would have to make arrangements, and I felt that it would take three to four weeks. They told me that they would get me a ticket for Paris as soon as I could give them a definite date. I was instructed to make arrangements so that my flight would seem to be a business trip.
The next day I contacted Sol Zallea. As many of you know, Sol and Jim owned Zallea Brothers, manufacturers of flexible pipe joints, and did business all over the world. I told Sol of my plans, and he was delighted to make me a sales representative of his company and gave me all kinds of his business brochures. I made arrangements to lease my company for a one-year period and applied for my passport. Three weeks later, I was ready to go. I flew to Paris and checked in at the new office of the Government of Israel. They made arrangements for me to fly Air France to Israel within three days. This gave me some time to enjoy the city I had last seen during the war. Our plane had some problems, and we spent a night in Nice. This gave me the opportunity for the first time to see and enjoy the casino in Nice. The next day we flew, and stopped at Athens, and then on to the airport at Haifa. When I first saw the bay at Haifa and Mount Carmel rising behind, there are no words I can find to describe my feelings. I was coming to the land that was promised by God to my people some 3,500 years earlier.
Two men met me as I got off the plane, and en route to Haifa I had quite a shock. At one check-point, a guard looked exactly like my “Zaida” (grandfather). He must have been over 60-years-old, with a long white beard and a rifle slung over his shoulder. That night I slept in the basement of the Technion, and the next morning I was taken to Camp Tel Litwinsky; they had a copy of my records there, and told me that the anti-aircraft guns had still not arrived from Czechoslovakia. I could either wait or join the infantry. What a question! They filled out some papers and now I was officially inducted as a captain in the infantry of the Israel army. I was given orders to report to the 72nd Battalion stationed just north of Haifa.
When I went to Israel, by definition I was a member of Machal. Machal is the Hebrew acronym for foreign volunteers. In 1948 there were over 4,500 volunteers from 59 countries worldwide. Most of these volunteers had experienced World War II. There were volunteers in the army, navy, and air force, both men and women. The air force was predominately made up of volunteers from English-speaking countries. There were quite a few non-Jewish volunteers, most of them in the air force. The Honorable Derek Bowden, known in Israel as David Appel, a close friend of mine, was a company commander with us in the 72nd Battalion. A non-Jew, he had four years of experience with English paratroopers. He remained in the Israel army until 1950, and trained the first Israeli paratroop battalion.
Now back to my first day in the Israeli army: I met Jack Lichtenstein after my first day in the army in about mid-July. He was Commander of the 72nd Battalion and had made Aliyah some years before World War II, and had also served in the Jewish Brigade during that war. In the battles for Latrun in late May, almost half of his men were killed.
Whilst sharing our experiences in World War II, he received a call from Group Brigade Headquarters. The 79th Armored Battalion was going to attack Nazareth and he told me that they needed one of his companies to dig in close to Nazareth and be ready to stop any potential Arab counter-attack, and that my depleted “B” Company, still in the process of being reorganized and retrained, would be his best choice for the job.
The morning after the capture at Nazareth on 16th July, we drove into Nazareth and met our Brigade Commander, Canadian Ben Dunkelman, who had participated with the Canadian Forces in the landing at Normandy on 6th June 1944. He had also been awarded the Distinguished Service Order shortly afterwards.
On 14th August the ship “Pan York” arrived in Haifa from Marseilles with thousands of Displaced Persons. Included in this boatload were also about 100 English-speaking volunteers from England, Canada, and the USA, most of whom joined the 72nd Battalion. The original plan was to make the 72nd completely English-speaking but there were not enough men. My “B: Company comprised two platoons with only English-speaking volunteers, the majority from England. The others, with a few exceptions, were from South Africa, Canada, and the USA. We then proceeded with normal infantry training. Having a number of experienced World War II veterans as instructors amongst us, from the UK, South Africa, and Canada, and including me from the USA, in some ways it reminded me of my training program at Fort Benning. There they were switching many officers from anti-aircraft and other services to where there was a greater need for them in Europe. My two platoon commanders were English-speaking Sabras. Number One platoon Lt. Aharoni Landman, and Number Two Lt. Zacharia (Aya) Feldman, who in particular is one of the finest people I had ever met. The two of them had been lifelong friends.
On 6th September, during the UN imposed second truce, I was given the order to remove a troublesome group of observers and snipers of the Arab Liberation Army from the Kabul mountain peak, overlooking the village of Tamra. That day I drove up to the village with my two platoon commanders and set up a battle plan. On the afternoon of the 7th, three Egged buses took us to the village at the base of the hill. Soon after midnight the two platoons started advancing in open extended formation with no resistance except some small-arms fire above their heads. They reached the top, spread out and dug in on the difficult rocky terrain.
As first-light broke, the Arabs started their counter-attack with well-placed “Bren” light machine guns while creeping closer to our positions. We started taking casualties mainly from ricocheting bullets striking the rocks. Eventually it was noticed that No. 1 Platoon was in danger of being surrounded. Lt. Landman ran under fire to his friend Lt. Feldman to advise him of this. Feldman and his South African Platoon Sergeant, Jeff Perlman, led a wild charge of part of their platoon which forced the Arab attackers to withdraw.
Three men were killed – Canadian Sydney Leisure from Toronto, and British Shlomo Bornstein who was Polish-born and had reached England in 1938 when his father had taken up a position as Rabbi with an English-Jewish congregation. The third to be killed was Belgian Benjamin Zeev Hershberg. He had escaped the German occupation by crossing the English Channel with a small group. From the English Army he had transferred to the Jewish Brigade. About ten of our men had been wounded.
A few days later I read a small paragraph about our action on the front page of the “Palestine Post.” Since then, whenever I read an item in the paper or a book about any incident, I could appreciate the difference between reading about it, and actually being there.
On 18th September, ten days later, we received orders to move to Safed to clear the rest of the Galilee as far as the Lebanese border. It was to be called the “Hiram Operation.” From Safed I could see our company’s objective, the twin mountain of Meron, just above the village of Meron where the grave of Shimon ben Yochai is situated – a massive building which was used as a fortress by the Arabs. This religious shrine at Meron commemorates Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, one of the leaders of the revolt against the Romans in AD 135.
There was a bridge over a stream, known as Nachal Amud, at the base of the mountain which would be blown up by sappers to prevent any potential counterattack by the Arab Liberation Army from the West.
Everything was set, but that afternoon orders were received to cancel the entire operation. Count Felke Bernadotte, the chief negotiator for the UN, had been assassinated on 17th September. This forced Ben- Gurion to stop the operation.
After a number of weeks in Safed, which included maintaining positions, patrols, and other military activities, we returned to our base camp of Samaria. After more training came 15th October, and another attempt to complete the Hiram Operation, this time operating from Kibbutz Eilon in the Western Galilee. It required a long night’s march to reach the kibbutz, the men settling down in the adjoining forest.
But again it was postponed, partly due to our successes in the Negev region, and partly because of political considerations. I had to go down into the forest to tell this to my disappointed men. We then marched back a few kilometers, and boarded some waiting buses which once again brought us back to Samaria.
On 22nd October my company was again alerted. With one of my platoons we were to make a deep penetration raid on an Arab Liberation Army headquarters
situated in the village of Ikrit, again using Kibbutz Eilon as our starting point. On the way, our second platoon took up positions to cover the other platoon in case it got into trouble, as it was behind enemy lines. I had also received orders that we had to return before dawn, as the UN truce was still in place.
On reaching a point on a mountain close to our target, I realized that we wouldn’t manage to return by dawn. I contacted battalion headquarters at the kibbutz by radio, and reported. I received orders to get my platoon to open fire for a short period in the general direction of enemy headquarters.
We then started our return, marching silently in single file. Suddenly a stray bullet pierced the night and hit one of my soldiers just below his heart, South African Louis Hack. Having no stretchers with us, our medic, South African Locky Fainman, improvised a stretcher by using rifles thrust through the sleeves of two battle dress jackets, and we set off on our return, again reaching the kibbutz where the battalion ambulance and South African Dr. Harry Bank, the medical officer, were waiting for us. We all returned by buses for a few hours of sleep. On awakening, we were shocked to hear that Lou Hack had died in the ambulance on the way to Nahariya. He was buried that afternoon on Kabul Mountain with a military ceremony which included pall bearers and a firing party. His grave was alongside my three men who were killed before him.
On 27th October we were again back in Safed, this time to attack the Meron village itself, not the twin mountain peak. One night in Safed, led by a Haganah guide just before nightfall, we were on our way through the Nachal Amud wadi to attack Meron from the rear. During our long night march and getting closer to Meron, a burst of a machine gun was fired at our column and hit a Kenyan volunteer, Jack Banin, who was treated by our medic, Locky Fainman.
This burst delayed our attack and by the time we had captured Meron, Ben Dunkelman had got his armored vehicles to bypass us and had already attacked the armored Christian village of Jish (Gush Halav in biblical times). No. 1 Platoon, commanded by another Kenyan, Stanley Medicks, engaged the Arabs along the long wall of the tomb, shooting at us from its many windows. Some members of the 2nd platoon, under “Aya” Feldman, entered the tomb and cleared it, room by room. In this action No. 2 platoon lost one man, Vienna-born British volunteer, Shmuel Daks. He had reached England with the Kindertransports in the last month before World War II which had begun on 1st September 1939.
Three men had been slightly wounded – two South Africans and a Canadian sniper attached to the second platoon. Resting at Jish, I then led my men in open formation on foot through sparse olive groves on the way to support the 79th Battalion attacking Sasa. Whilst moving through those groves we were shelled, probably by a single 75mm cannon later captured by our No. 2 platoon.
After Sasa when moving along the Lebanese border, No. 1 platoon had taken up a position at one of the old British concrete border posts. No. 2 platoon passed them, carrying onto a Lebanese hill opposite Malkiya, including my “B” Company’s headquarters group and Derek Bowden’s single platoon of “D” Company, plus one BESA medium machine gun group for support. I had joined Feldman on a ridge to observe Arab movements. Suddenly there was a tremendous amount of firing. Apparently a group of Arabs had crept closer during the night, firing a machine gun burst killing Feldman; one bullet grazed my lip. Luckily, Canadian Irving Matlow, a battalion signaler attached to No. 2 platoon, quickly alerted the other groups on the hill, who returned the fire, killing one Arab and wounding others, causing them to flee. I had drawn my pistol as well as Aya’s pistol, and joined in the return fire. I was concerned that the enemy would overrun us and that my body would be mutilated. Earlier, around 12th October, whilst at Samaria, we heard a rumor that a small Israeli patrol had been ambushed and killed. Their headless, mutilated bodies were found by a search party the next day.
Aya’s death was a terrible shock to all of us. He was a fine man and an excellent leader. I visited the Feldmans while they were sitting “shiva” and gave them Aya’s pistol and my maps. After that, with pressure from my parents, I returned home. Derek Bowden took command of the combined “B” and “D” Companies to form one full-strength “B” Company.
Fifty years later, I learned the name of the signaler, Canadian Irving Matlow, who probably had saved my life with his quick response, rallying the groups on that hill. On reflection, a thought often crosses my mind: if I had flopped to the left of “Aya” rather than to the right, I could have been the one that would have been killed. Fate often deals out strange cards.
But I am sure of one thing ‒ Israel gave me more than I gave to Israel, and set the tone for the rest of my life. I became active in the Israel Bonds group and often visited Israel as a delegate.
In 1968 I visited Israel to present a sizeable amount on behalf of the Federation, Beth Shalom, and the Jewish Community Center of Delaware, at an opening at a community center for Emek Hefer. Arrangements were made for two cars to pick us up on the day of the presentation. Sitting in the front seat of one of the car, I started a conversation. When he heard that I had been in the army in 1948 as Commander of “B” Company in the 72nd Infantry Battalion, he said, “Then you were at Safed and Meron when the Hiram Operation started for clearing the Galilee?” I answered, “Yes.” “Then you met a guide after leaving Safed who took you through the Nachal Amud to attack Meron from the rear?” I said “Yes”, and then he said, “I was that guide.” What are the chances after twenty years of a meeting like that? Then I found out that he was a fifth- generation Sabra who was born and brought up in Safed.
In another trip in 1987, I wanted to see what had happened to the 72nd Battalion which had by then converted to tanks. I know that the 7th was considered the leading Armored Brigade of the IDF. I was met by a major who drove me to the 7th, stationed on the Golan Heights. Meeting the present commander of “B” Company, spending the day together, driving along the Syrian and Lebanese borders, was extraordinary. He showed me the inside of a “Merkava” tank which was then considered the best tank in the world. It was a day I will never forget.
In 1998 Helen and I went to Israel to join in celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Machal, the organization of volunteers who came to Israel to fight for their country in 1948. 250 members from all over the world came to join in the celebration. There were 13 men from my company. My feelings to meet, share, talk and visit the sites of our battles with men I hadn’t seen in 50 years cannot be described. We had a beautiful service that was held at the Machal Memorial on the Burma Road, commemorating the 123 volunteers who died in 1948. Yitzhak Rabin’s words are etched on the memorial. “They came to us when we needed them most during those hard and uncertain days of the War of Independence.”
When I got back from Israel in 1998 there was a letter from Irv Matlow from Toronto, Canada. It gave me the answer to how my life was saved on the Lebanese border. The Toronto community was publishing a book of people’s experiences in Israel. He wanted to know if his recollection of events on that day were correct. He was attached to my company from battalion headquarters for the battle of the Galilee. He got a call from battalion communication headquarters that Colonel Lichtenstein wanted to talk to me. When he tried to find me he was told that I had gone beyond the ridge with Lt. Feldman. He went to find me and when he got over the ridge he saw me and the advancing Arabs. He radioed back to No. 2 Platoon to come to my rescue.
What do you say, 50 years later, to the man who saved your life? We have since met, are the best of friends, and meet each year at Niagara on the Lake.
Source: Bibliography of Norman Schutzman “My personal relationship with Israel” – Jewish Historical Society of Delaware Program, 4th March, 2003.
Adapted by World Machal researcher Joe Woolf, who had been a member of Schutzman’s “B” Company.