Irgun bombing of police headquarters in Haifa

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Irgun bombing of Haifa police headquarters
Part of Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine
LocationHaifa police headquarters
DateSeptember 29, 1947 (1947-09-29)

The Irgun bombed the district police headquarters in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine on September 29, 1947.[1][2][3][4][5] The attack killed ten[1] or twelve[2] people, including civilians and British and Arab policemen, in addition to injuring 53[1] or 54 others.[2]

According to Caoimhe Nic Dháibhéid, the barrel bomb, which was used in this attack, was an innovation of Amichai Paglin.[2] It was used extensively in the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine and the 1948 Palestine War.[6]: 57–65 

History[edit]

Background[edit]

In August 1947, the packet steamship SS Exodus, loaded with Zionist Jewish migrants from France, most of whom were Holocaust survivors without legal immigration certificates for Palestine, attempted to partake in Aliyah Bet.[7] The Royal Navy boarded her in international waters and took her to Haifa, where ships were waiting to return the migrants to refugee camps in Europe.[8] The refugees were barred from entering Palestine and the ship was deported to Hamburg.[9]

Bombing[edit]

The Irgun was Zionist a paramilitary group active in the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine. Along with Lehi, which had already bombed a police station in Haifa earlier in the year,[10]: 299 [11][12] they represented the "first postmodern terrorist movement", according to terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman.[13]

According to Caoimhe Nic Dháibhéid, the barrel bomb, which was used in the Irgun attack on the Haifa police quarters on September 29, 1947, was an innovation of Amichai Paglin,[2] the Irgun's chief operations officer and bomb designer.[14] Police characterized it as a "brand new method."[15]

The northern police HQ in Haifa came to their attention, but it was surrounded by sand-filled barrels and a mesh fence of barbed-wire.[14] Paglin set to work designing a bomb that could penetrate the fence and blow up the building. He hit on the idea of using an oil barrel.[14] Haifa was one of the great oil ports in the 1940s[16] and standard 55-gallon steel oil drums came into common usage only a few years earlier during WWII; they were first developed by the Axis powers (Germany and Italy) but were quickly adopted by Allies and widely available.[17]

Paglin's bomb design consisted of an oil barrel with tires mounted on the ends allowing it to roll.[14] It was filled with 500 pounds of explosives.[15] The bomb was hoisted onto the top of a lorry under a canvas tarp to keep it hidden.[14] The height of the lorry was higher than the top of the fence surrounding the police station.[14] A cord inside the lorry released the barrel which sent it down a short ramp, also mounted on the lorry roof, launching it over the fence onto the police grounds.[14] Momentum carried the barrel bomb towards the police building. The bomb had an automatic "lock" that stopped the wheels spinning when it hit an obstacle such as the building, so that it would not roll backwards.[14] There up against the wall, a pre-lit fuse ran out and the bomb exploded.[14] In the attack 10 people were killed and 54 injured,[18] of which 33 were British.[15] Four British policemen, four Arab policemen, an Arab women and 16-year old were killed.[19] The 10 story building was so heavily damaged that it was later demolished.[15]

The exact details of the bomb, including photographs and diagrams, were mailed by Paglin to British authorities and newspapers a few days after the attack.[14] Irgun named the attack "Operation Hambaf", a contraction of the words Hamburg, the city where the SS Exodus returned to, and Afalpi, the name of another refugee ship redirected by the British to Cyprus.[20] The press initially reported on the bomb as simply a bomb in a tar barrel,[19][21] but later reports dubbed it a 'Barrel Bomb' (with quotes)[15] or the "barrel bomb technique of the Jewish underground".[22][23] The police called it "a brand new method".[15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "BLAST SET BY IRGUN TO SPEED ARMY EXIT; Palestine Terrorism Flares Again -- Death Toll in Haifa Is 10 Britons and Arabs". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e Nic Dháibhéid, Caoimhe (2017). Terrorist histories: individuals and political violence since the 19th century. Political violence. London New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-1-315-56069-4. Weaponry remained a preoccupation of Paglin's throughout the period of the insurgency, and it was in this area that he really proved his worth to the Irgun. As well as commanding multiple arms seizures, Paglin also focused intently on the home production of weaponry and explosives, displaying considerable innovation in their design and manufacture. Among the explosives he developed were contact- mines for trains, lorry bombs and remote- controlled heavy mortars, which the British dubbed V3s (after the V1 and V2 German mortars) and which featured extensively in the sabotage and bombing operations of the Irgun after the summer of 1945. Another innovation was the 'barrel- bomb', a barrel on wheels which was catapulted from the back of an armoured car on 29 September 1947, severely damaging the central police station in Haifa, killing 12 and injuring 54.
  3. ^ "Ruins of the British Police Station in Haifa After an Attack by the Irgun". ארכיון הסרטים הישראלי - סינמטק ירושלים. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  4. ^ "TERRORISTS STRIKE IN PALESTINE AGAIN; One Is Hurt as Mine Derails Train -- Bomb Hurled at Arab Shop -- Cunningham Back". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  5. ^ Bell, Bowyer J.: Terror out of Zion (1976), ISBN 978-1-56000-870-5
  6. ^ Quigley, John (2005-02-08). "Sten Guns and Barrel Bombs: The Realization of the Zionist Dream". The Case for Palestine: An International Law Perspective. Duke University Press. doi:10.1515/9780822386766-009. ISBN 978-0-8223-8676-6.
  7. ^ Stewart, Ninian, ed. (2013-11-05). "The Royal Navy and the Palestine Patrol". doi:10.4324/9781315038995. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Nozick, Daniel (January 25, 2017). "Hebrews on the High Seas". Baltimore Jewish Times.
  9. ^ "10 Killed and 77 Injured in Haifa Reprisal Blast". The Day. United Press. September 29, 1947. Archived from the original on 2018-05-29. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  10. ^ DiPrizio, Robert C., ed. (2020). Conflict in the Holy Land: from ancient times to the Arab-Israeli conflicts. Santa Barbara, California Denver, Colorado: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-4408-6747-7.
  11. ^ "HAIFA BLAST ENDS PALESTINE TRUCE; KILLS 4, INJURES 142; Explosive-Laden Truck, Parked by Terrorists, Wrecks Police Station and Rocks City". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  12. ^ "Outrage Stuns Country". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  13. ^ JP O'Malley (April 25, 2015). "After studying pre-state Jewish terrorists, author asks: Does terrorism work?". Times of Israel. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j John Bowyer Bell (1976). Terror Out of Zion. Transaction Publishers. p. 245. ISBN 9781412835725. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  15. ^ a b c d e f "'Barrel Bomb' in Haifa Kills 10, Injures 54", Los Angeles Times, September 30, 1947 – via ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Police described it as 'a brand new method'
  16. ^ "Enraged Arabs Kill 41 Jews After Bombing". St. Petersburg Times. United Press. December 31, 1947. Archived from the original on 2018-05-29. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  17. ^ Lindsay, N.R (1991). Equal to the Task - The Royal Australian Service Corps. Historia Productions. pp. Chapter 17. ISBN 978-0-9808415-0-3. Archived from the original on 2013-08-19. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
  18. ^ Henry E. Mattox (2004). Chronology of World Terrorism, 1901-2001. McFarland. p. 54. ISBN 9781476609652. Archived from the original on 2018-05-29. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  19. ^ a b "10 Killed and 77 Injured in Haifa Reprisal Blast". The Day. United Press. September 29, 1947. Archived from the original on 2018-05-29. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  20. ^ "Nine Killed in Explosion Set By Jews". Prescott Evening Courious. Associated Press. September 29, 1947. Archived from the original on 2018-05-29. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  21. ^ "Page 393". The Illustrated London News, Volume 211, Issues 5659-5671. 1947. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  22. ^ "Late News Bulletin". The Tuscaloosa News. United Press. January 14, 1948. Archived from the original on 2018-05-29. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  23. ^ "Palestine Post Home Destroyed". The Bulletin. United Press. February 2, 1948. Archived from the original on 2018-05-29. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
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