Moshe Dayan - Military

Military

At the age of 14, he joined the newly formed Jewish militia known as the Haganah. In 1938 he joined the Palestine Supernumerary Police and became a motorized patrol ("MAN") commander. One of his military heroes was the British pro-Zionist officer Orde Wingate, under whom he served in several Special Night Squads operations.

On 3 October 1939 he was the commanding instructor for Haganah Leader's courses held at Yavniel when two British Palestine Police Officers discovered a quantity of illegal rifles. Haganah HQ ordered the camp to be evacuated. Leading a group of 43 men through Wadi Bira, early the following morning, they were arrested by 12 to 15 Arab members of the Transjordan Frontier Force. Questions were asked about why such a large force were arrested by a much smaller one. Moshe Carmel, the group's deputy commander, was also critical of Dayan's willingness to talk to his interrogators in Acre prison. On 30 October 1939, most of the group were sentenced to ten years in prison. Seven months later Dayan was replaced as the prisoner's representative after it was discovered that moves were being made to get him an individual pardon. On 16 February 1941, after Chaim Weizmann's intervention in London, they were all released.

Dayan was assigned to a small Australian-Palmach-Arab reconnaissance task force, formed in preparation for the Allied invasion of Syria and Lebanon and attached to the Australian 7th Division. Using his home kibbutz of Hanita as a forward base, the unit frequently infiltrated Vichy French Lebanon, wearing traditional Arab dress, on covert surveillance missions.