Hadassah Medical Convoy Massacre - The Attack

The Attack

On April 13, the convoy, comprising 10 vehicles: and consisting of two ambulances, three buses of medical staff, and three logistical trucks, escorted by two Haganah armoured cars, set off for the hospital at 9.30 am. They carried 105 passengers.It was commanded by the Jerusalem Haganah officer lieutenant, Asher Rahav, who escorted convoys in an armoured Ford truck.. The line was ordered so that Rahav's vehicle headed the column, followed by the two ambulances, then the buses and the three supply trucks, with another escort car taking up the rear.. The Sheikh Jarrah Quarter provided an ideal position for an ambush in a small stretch of the road between Nashashibi Bend and Antonius House, where a small unit of twelve men from the Scots' Highland infantry armed with a heavy machine gun and bazookas were stationed. It stood some 200 yards from the eventual site of the ambush. The local British inspector Robert J.Webb, head of the Mea Shearim police station, usually travelled the road beforehand to ascertain if the route was safe. On this particular day, he said over the phone that the route was secure but did not make his customary excursion to the Nashashibi bend where he could confirm that the passage was safe.

Rahav noticed several odd circumstances along the road: little traffic, closed shops, and Arabs in Iraqi uniform with bandoliers. At approximately 9:45 A.M., a mine was electrically detonated five feet in front of Rahav's Ford, which contained a contingent of 10 soldiers and 2 hitchhiking Haganah members. The truck tilted into a ditch. At the same time the convoy came under raking fire from Arab forces. Five vehicles managed to back out and return to base, while the rear Haganah escort car inexplicably wheeled about and returned to Jerusalem. Abdel Najar's ambush unit numberd around 40, and were later joined by men commanded by Mohammed Gharbieh, and many other fighters alerted to the battle.

British and Palmach forces were slow to come to the convoy's assistance.The Jewish liaison officer with the British army asked for permission to send in a Haganah relief force, which was denied on the grounds it might interfere with a cease-fire negotiation. British forces in the area did not intervene initially, the reason, according to Meron Benvenisti, being to "let the Arabs take revenge for Deir Yassin, so as to calm somewhat the rage of the Arab world." Martin Levin suggests that the Arabs had an understanding whereby their operation would not be blocked if they refrained from firing on British units. One of the first men on the scene was Major Jack Churchill, who arrived on the scene at 11.15 am. and banged on a bus, offering to evacuate members of the convoy in an APC. His offer was refused in the belief that the Haganah would come to their aid in an organized rescue. When no relief arrived, Churchill and his 12 men provided what cover fire they could against hundreds of Arabs. The Army unit tried to arrange a cease fire between '11 and noon'. Shortly after 1 pm, two British armoured cars, one occupied by the commander of British forces in Palestine, General Gordon Holmes MacMillan approached the area from the Nablus road, observed the firefight, but refrained from risking British lives by intervening, preferring to let the Jews and Arabs fight it out themselves. As they passed Nashashibi bend, according to one testimony, the blocked the retreat, and Rahav ordered his men to fire at them in order to have them get out of the way. They left the scene at 2 pm, returning at 3 pm with heavier weapons. Negotiations were conducted between one of the leaders of the Arab ambush, Adil Latif, two Haganah men and a British officer, the Arabs proposing that all Jewish arms be surrendered, and all Jewish men capable of combat taken prisoner. The talks were suddenly interrupted when Latif was shot down.

At around 2 pm the first of the buses was set on fire, and shortly after the second was enveloped in flames, both from Molotov cocktails. Only one man from each bus was to survive, Shalom Nissan and Nathan Sandowsky, the latter testifying that passing British convoys refused to tender help despite their pleas. Arab shouts of "Minshan Deir Yassin" (For Deir Yassin) could he heard.Dr. Chaim Yassky was mortally wounded by a ricocheting bullet in the white ambulance, which had the thickest armour of all,at around 2.30 pm. The Haganah made one further attempt to mount a rescue by towing out vehicles with an armoured car, but failed. Throughout the day pleas had been made for British intervention without result. Brigadier Jones eventually received permission at 4 pm, reached the British outpost behind the convoy with three armoured cars, and their fire raked Arab forces, shooting 15 Arabs, while bazookas were also employed as half-tracks were despatched to collect the survivors. At 5 pm the Army 'laid down smoke', and began retrieving the 28 who had survived, by which time one bus was burnt out and a second on fire. Following the massacre, Churchill oversaw the evacuation of 700 patients and staff from the hospital.

Two Irgun militants injured at Deir Yassin were among the patients being transported in the convoy.