CATEGORY: PERSONAL STORIES – ARMY
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DRUKER, Lionel – 82nd Tanks, 8th Brigade, instructor and fighter
LIONEL DRUKER
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After a Zionist Convention, and as a result of meeting with Ben Dunkelman, a decision was made to form a group of Canadian volunteers and to raise 1,000,000 Canadian dollars to equip them. During the months of January and February 1948, we met often in Toronto, and I was sent on a very fast and successful fundraising tour of the Maritime Provinces.
As soon as we formed the first group of about 30 volunteers, the problem arose of what to do with them. A decision was made to take this group to Palestine under my command. I met them in Toronto and together we traveled to New York by train where we received visas from the French Embassy. The purpose of the visit was usually designated as a visit to family or for a holiday.
We sailed from New York in early March on a Liberty ship of the “Marine” line, and at Le Havre we were met and transferred to a displaced persons camp near Marseilles, first to Grand Arénas and finally to Tretz. After some time at Tretz, it was decided to send the Canadians to Palestine. We were given false passports and visas, and sent by ship to Haifa, arriving at the end of March to be met by British and Arabs, by immigration officials and by the Jewish Agency. We were then taken by armored bus to a hotel on Mount Carmel, where we spent our first night in Palestine.
We became members of the Haganah the following day, and traveled by bus to the camp at Tel-Litwinsky, near Tel Aviv. We celebrated our first Pesach there, and were then sent as a group to the 52nd Battalion of the Givati Brigade, where we were welcomed and accepted as the “Canadian Platoon” under my command. To the best of my knowledge it was the first and only group to fight as “a national unit” in the Israeli forces.
As the Canadian Platoon, we were involved in some difficult battles, such as the May 11th attack on Bash-Shit where we suffered our first casualties: Syd Cadloff who eventually had his left leg amputated, while another Canadian was wounded in the head. Other battles included Latrun, and helping to open the road to Jerusalem so that supplies could reach the besieged city.
Shortly afterwards, the I.D.F. decided to set up an armored brigade under the command of Colonel Yitzhak Sadeh, the founder of the Palmach. Sadeh somehow heard that I had experience in tanks, and as he had none, he sent for me to come to the 8th Brigade headquarters. Here he told me of his plans and asked me to join him. At this time he had just one Sherman tank without a cannon or ammunition. It was equipped only with heavy machine guns. It had been acquired by bribing British soldiers who had orders to dump a number of scrapped Shermans into a ravine near Kibbutz Oren. This was the first tank of the Israeli army.
Some days later, I was told that Ben-Gurion had decided not to allow more than 300 volunteers to come from Canada and not to have them serve as a national unit, so our platoon was broken up.
I reported to Yitzhak Sadeh that I would be able to join his brigade and I was moved to Jamosin, given a room to live in, and tank no. 1 – the gunless Sherman – to start with. I soon met fellow Canadian, Morris “Mo” Schwartz from Toronto, and with a little instruction was able to teach him to drive the tank, which appeared to be in running condition. Mo seemed to understand something of the mechanics of the tank engine. However, after a few days, he injured his hand while working on the Sherman and had to be replaced. A few days before Mo left, Sadeh called me and told me he has a very nice surprise for me. He gave me his car (an Oldsmobile), and told me to drive to the old exhibition grounds at the end of Ben Yehuda Street and ask for “Mayer,” who was waiting for me. Near him, there was a huge and mysterious mound covered by tarpaulin. “Mayer” lifted the tarpaulin coverings off and exposed two tanks that had been “borrowed” from the British just prior to their leaving; both tanks had cannons and were in first-class condition.
I was very excited, and as I returned the “Olds” to Sadeh he told me the exciting story of how we got the two Cromwell tanks. Naturally, I was interested in finding the drivers. Sadeh told me they were in Ramat Gan at the Hotel Eden, very near army headquarters. I went there without delay, found the hotel easily, and knowing what floor and room they were in, made my way to the second floor. When I knocked on the door it slowly opened and a very concerned MacDonald and Flanagan holding revolvers greeted me. They told me of the story of how they and two Haganah drivers tried to steal four tanks, but they succeeded in removing only two Cromwells from the British camp. After a long talk, I got them to join Israel’s first tank company which now had one Sherman and two Cromwells. The Sherman then got a 75mm gun, and the Cromwells had a 75mm gun in one tank, and a six-pounder in the other. My first job was to find and train crews. Very shortly we moved the search to Tel- Litwinsky, and I started finding volunteer crews. Surprisingly, without difficulty I found some non-Jews who had left the Mandate British army for whatever reasons – John Dawson, Bill Brown and Dennis Rutledge (Zvi Rimmer), married to a beautiful Yemenite girl from Rishon-le-Zion – Miriam, who became the company clerk. Rimmer was an RSM in the British army and I made him my sergeant major.
The battalion came together surprisingly quickly and a group of Russian-speakers with Hotchkiss tanks joined us and became “A” company, and those under my command became “B” company in the 82nd Battalion of the 8th Brigade. The Russian officer, Felix Beatus, became battalion commander; most of the time we trained independently. Soon we had crews of Czech, Canadian, South African, Chilean and so on. I appointed a South African, Clive Selby, as my second in command.
Our three tanks and some of the Hotchkiss tanks were used in the capture of Lod Airport from the Jordanian forces. This was the first time tanks were used in battles in the Israeli army. Afterwards we were sent to Quala on the road to Ramallah to prevent a Jordanian counterattack.
I was then sent to Army headquarters to meet Haim Laskov (senior officer in command of training). He advised me that he was about to open a school for tank officers at Sarafand, and had picked Canadian Joe Weiner to command the school. I was to be chief instructor. This was to be the first armored school for Israeli Hebrew-speaking officers. The school was set up very quickly and we managed to put the first two classes through their courses. I lectured in all subjects for about eight hours a day, and each sentence was repeated by a translator.
In December 1948, Sadeh sent Rimmer to me at Sarafand and explained that there was a plan for a big operation in Sinai, Gaza, Asluj and El Arish. He asked if I could join his unit for the operation. I agreed, and went to join the 82nd. The company had now grown by a few more Shermans. I commanded the unit but used my own Sherman as my personal vehicle. The non-Jewish ex-British soldiers were still with us.
After the capture of Gaza, and on the way to El Arish, my Sherman was hit by enemy fire, and we had to leave it behind. I called one of our Cromwell tanks on the radio and the driver came as close as possible, allowing my five-man crew to climb onto the back of the Cromwell, bringing us to safety. The following day I was sent to Tel-Litwinsky to get another Sherman, and returned to El Arish. I stayed with my company at our Lod Airport base until the war ended, and I returned to Canada in May 1949.
Machal/lioneldruker181109finaljoe301109
After a Zionist Convention, and as a result of meeting with Ben Dunkelman, a decision was made to form a group of Canadian volunteers and to raise 1,000,000 Canadian dollars to equip them. During the months of January and February 1948, we met often in Toronto, and I was sent on a very fast and successful fundraising tour of the Maritime Provinces. As soon as we formed the first group of about 30 volunteers, the problem arose of what to do with them. A decision was made to take this group to Palestine under my command. I met them in Toronto and together we traveled to New York by train where we received visas from the French Embassy. The purpose of the visit was usually designated as a visit to family or for a holiday.
We sailed from New York in early March on a Liberty ship of the “Marine” line, and at Le Havre we were met and transferred to a displaced persons camp near Marseilles, first to Grand Arénas and finally to Tretz. After some time at Tretz, it was decided to send the Canadians to Palestine. We were given false passports and visas, and sent by ship to Haifa, arriving at the end of March to be met by British and Arabs, by immigration officials and by the Jewish Agency. We were then taken by armored bus to a hotel on Mount Carmel, where we spent our first night in Palestine.
We became members of the Haganah the following day, and traveled by bus to the camp at Tel-Litwinsky, near Tel Aviv. We celebrated our first Pesach there, and were then sent as a group to the 52nd Battalion of the Givati Brigade, where we were welcomed and accepted as the “Canadian Platoon” under my command. To the best of my knowledge it was the first and only group to fight as “a national unit” in the Israeli forces.
As the Canadian Platoon, we were involved in some difficult battles, such as the May 11th attack on Bash-Shit where we suffered our first casualties: Syd Cadloff who eventually had his left leg amputated, while another Canadian was wounded in the head. Other battles included Latrun, and helping to open the road to Jerusalem so that supplies could reach the besieged city.
Shortly afterwards, the I.D.F. decided to set up an armored brigade under the command of Colonel Yitzhak Sadeh, the founder of the Palmach. Sadeh somehow heard that I had experience in tanks, and as he had none, he sent for me to come to the 8th Brigade headquarters. Here he told me of his plans and asked me to join him. At this time he had just one Sherman tank without a cannon or ammunition. It was equipped only with heavy machine guns. It had been acquired by bribing British soldiers who had orders to dump a number of scrapped Shermans into a ravine near Kibbutz Oren. This was the first tank of the Israeli army.
Some days later, I was told that Ben-Gurion had decided not to allow more than 300 volunteers to come from Canada and not to have them serve as a national unit, so our platoon was broken up.
I reported to Yitzhak Sadeh that I would be able to join his brigade and I was moved to Jamosin, given a room to live in, and tank no. 1 – the gunless Sherman – to start with. I soon met fellow Canadian, Morris “Mo” Schwartz from Toronto, and with a little instruction was able to teach him to drive the tank, which appeared to be in running condition. Mo seemed to understand something of the mechanics of the tank engine. However, after a few days, he injured his hand while working on the Sherman and had to be replaced. A few days before Mo left, Sadeh called me and told me he has a very nice surprise for me. He gave me his car (an Oldsmobile), and told me to drive to the old exhibition grounds at the end of Ben Yehuda Street and ask for “Mayer,” who was waiting for me. Near him, there was a huge and mysterious mound covered by tarpaulin. “Mayer” lifted the tarpaulin coverings off and exposed two tanks that had been “borrowed” from the British just prior to their leaving; both tanks had cannons and were in first-class condition.
I was very excited, and as I returned the “Olds” to Sadeh he told me the exciting story of how we got the two Cromwell tanks. Naturally, I was interested in finding the drivers. Sadeh told me they were in Ramat Gan at the Hotel Eden, very near army headquarters. I went there without delay, found the hotel easily, and knowing what floor and room they were in, made my way to the second floor. When I knocked on the door it slowly opened and a very concerned MacDonald and Flanagan holding revolvers greeted me. They told me of the story of how they and two Haganah drivers tried to steal four tanks, but they succeeded in removing only two Cromwells from the British camp. After a long talk, I got them to join Israel’s first tank company which now had one Sherman and two Cromwells. The Sherman then got a 75mm gun, and the Cromwells had a 75mm gun in one tank, and a six-pounder in the other. My first job was to find and train crews. Very shortly we moved the search to Tel- Litwinsky, and I started finding volunteer crews. Surprisingly, without difficulty I found some non-Jews who had left the Mandate British army for whatever reasons – John Dawson, Bill Brown and Dennis Rutledge (Zvi Rimmer), married to a beautiful Yemenite girl from Rishon-le-Zion – Miriam, who became the company clerk. Rimmer was an RSM in the British army and I made him my sergeant major.
The battalion came together surprisingly quickly and a group of Russian-speakers with Hotchkiss tanks joined us and became “A” company, and those under my command became “B” company in the 82nd Battalion of the 8th Brigade. The Russian officer, Felix Beatus, became battalion commander; most of the time we trained independently. Soon we had crews of Czech, Canadian, South African, Chilean and so on. I appointed a South African, Clive Selby, as my second in command.
Our three tanks and some of the Hotchkiss tanks were used in the capture of Lod Airport from the Jordanian forces. This was the first time tanks were used in battles in the Israeli army. Afterwards we were sent to Quala on the road to Ramallah to prevent a Jordanian counterattack.
I was then sent to Army headquarters to meet Haim Laskov (senior officer in command of training). He advised me that he was about to open a school for tank officers at Sarafand, and had picked Canadian Joe Weiner to command the school. I was to be chief instructor. This was to be the first armored school for Israeli Hebrew-speaking officers. The school was set up very quickly and we managed to put the first two classes through their courses. I lectured in all subjects for about eight hours a day, and each sentence was repeated by a translator.
In December 1948, Sadeh sent Rimmer to me at Sarafand and explained that there was a plan for a big operation in Sinai, Gaza, Asluj and El Arish. He asked if I could join his unit for the operation. I agreed, and went to join the 82nd. The company had now grown by a few more Shermans. I commanded the unit but used my own Sherman as my personal vehicle. The non-Jewish ex-British soldiers were still with us.
After the capture of Gaza, and on the way to El Arish, my Sherman was hit by enemy fire, and we had to leave it behind. I called one of our Cromwell tanks on the radio and the driver came as close as possible, allowing my five-man crew to climb onto the back of the Cromwell, bringing us to safety. The following day I was sent to Tel-Litwinsky to get another Sherman, and returned to El Arish. I stayed with my company at our Lod Airport base until the war ended, and I returned to Canada in May 1949.