IDF No: 63104
Benjamin Zeev Hirschberg, the son of Joseph and Chana, was born in Antwerp, Belgium on 10th July 1925. After completing Junior High School he was apprenticed to learn the diamond cutting and polishing trade.
At the age of 15 he succeeded in escaping the Nazi occupation by crossing the English Channel with a group of others in a small open boat. At military age he was mobilized into the British Army, transferring to the Independent Jewish Brigade when it was formed in Mandated Palestine in 1944 when allowed by the British Authorities.
While serving in the British Occupation Army in defeated Germany, he was discharged in early 1948. By July 1948, he was already in the 72nd Infantry Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade which was being re-organized in the Galilee.
He was killed in action on 7th September on Mount Kabul in the Western Galilee, during a clash with the Arab Liberation Forces. He was buried in the new military section of the Nahariya cemetery.
His death was incorrectly recorded in the very short personal story in the early “Sefer Yizkor” which indicated that he was killed at Nebi-Yusha. Nebi-Yusha was already in Israeli hands since 6th June after a failed attack with heavy Palmach losses on 15th April. Nebi-Yusha is also some 30 kms east of the Kabul Mountain.
He was buried in the military section of the Nahariya Cemetery.
Additional Information by Joe Woolf, Machal Chief Researcher:
Having arrived in Israel by sea during the latter part of August, I ended up in the complete English-speaking infantry “B” Company of the 72nd Battalion. After a few days of training I was posted to Hirschberg’s No. 1 Platoon, into his No. 2 section which already consisted of 6 Canadians, 2 British, one of whom was the Section Commander, and an Indian from Bombay. I must record that I was already acquainted with the infantry weapons of those days as well as platoon and company movements via the post-World War II South African Army compulsory part-time service. Commanding our platoon was Israeli Lieutenant Aharoni Landman. This platoon was only one of the two platoons of the under-strength company.
Having spent some 24 hours in the same tent in the bed next to Hirschberg, it is amazing how much information can be exchanged. I learned much about Hirschberg’s history which was not included in the Yizkor story.
Except for some isolated Arab fire well above our heads, after an uneventful advance in open formation, our company reached the Kabul peak. Our section, with Hirschberg as my partner, dug in as best as we could in the rocky terrain, on the far right flank of the company position, relatively safe from the severe Arab counter-attack fire at daybreak on 7th September, 1948.
Suddenly Sergeant David Susman (SA) appeared standing above us, ignoring the enemy’s heavy machine gun fire flying all around him. He ordered one of us to assist in carrying a severely wounded British medic down to the company headquarters medical post at the village of Tamra. I must have been the closest to him as I got up first and only then felt the intensive enemy fire. I should mention that a little while later, Susman himself was wounded.
On returning to my section I heard that Hirschberg had been killed. They had withdrawn to an old roofless shepherd’s hut consisting of local stones. A bren gun burst had pierced the stone wall and hit Hirschberg. Had I still been with him, the same burst could have hit me as well.
For many years I have wondered why it had been my fate to survive.
Source: Yizkor website and reminiscences by Joe Woolf.