Acre Prison break

The Acre Prison break ( _he. הפריצה לכלא עכו) was an operation executed by the Irgun on 4 May 1947 in the British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke into the Acre prison wall and a liberated several of their incarcerated comrades.

Background

In the time of the British Mandate the citadel in the old city of Acre was used as a prison, In which many Arabs were imprisoned as criminals or for participating in the Arab revolt.

On April the 19th 1947 Dov Gruner and the three men (Yehiel Dresner, Mordechai Alkahi and Eliezer Kashani) captured by the British 6th Airborne Division were hanged in Acre Prison to become the first post war ‘martyrs’ of the Irgun, Dov Gruner in a broadcast declared the British Army and Administration to be ‘criminal organizations’.

The prison also contained Jewish prisoners, members of the Hagana, Lehi, and Irgun. One of those prisoners was Eitan Livni (father of Tzipi Livni), the Irgun operations officer.Cite web
last = Lapidot
first = Yehuda
title = The Acre Prison Break
work = Jewish Virtual Library
accessdate = 2008-01-15
url = http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Acre.html] In total, the prison contained 700 Arab prisoners and 90 Jewish prisoners.

The Lehi and Irgun prisoners considered an escape but concluded that would be impossible without an outside assistance, so they contacted the Irgun headquarters with a plan.

Preparations

The Irgun's reconnaissance efforts discovered a weak spot in the citadel: the southern wall right above a Turkish bath.

The break-in was originally planned for April, but was eventually planned for Sunday, May 4, 1947, at 4 p.m., the day the United Nations General Assembly convened to discuss the Palestine issue.

The logistic preparations were complicated: The Irgun purchased a truck, a jeep, two military pickup trucks and civil vehicles, all disguised as British. British army uniforms were also acquired. a stock of civil clothings was also arranged in order to help the escapees assimilate into the population.

The Irgun smuggled into the prison TNT which was used to make 30 hand grenades and 2 bombs, each weighing one kilogram, to blast the prison walls open.

The Operation

On Sunday 4 May 1947, at 14:00 a Military Engineering unit of the Irgun, under the command of Dov Salomon and Yehuda Apiryon, was on its way to the nearby Turkish bath, disguised as telephone technicians and carrying ladders, TNT, ropes and other necessary incursion equipment. Meanwhile, other Irgun strike and escape forces were spread around the prison, disguised as British military convoys.

The incursion occurred at 16:22 with a massive explosion that shocked the prison. One of the prisoners, Michael Eshbal, blew up grille at the corridor, while another group of prisoners delayed the British jailors with hand grenades and burning barricades.

34 Fighters attacked the prison. In the course of the retreat, the operation commander and two other fighters from the attacking forces were killed.Cite web
last = Robinson
first = James
title = Acre Jail Break
accessdate = 2008-01-15
url = http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Palestine/Acre.htm] Another five fighters from the attacking forces were captured by the British along with eight escapees. 28 Lehi and Irgun prisoners escaped, and 182 Arab prisoners used this opportunity to escape as well.

Aftermath

The "New York Herald Tribune" wrote that the underground had carried out "an ambitious mission, their most challenging so far, in perfect fashion", while in the House of Commons, Oliver Stanley asked what action His Majesty's Government was planning to take "in light of the events at Acre prison which had reduced British prestige to a nadir."

The Jewish Agency called the break "an irresponsible suicidal act", while the Irgun commander Menachem Begin as an act of heroism.

Three out of the five men captured were sentenced to death.Cite news
last = Aisenberg
first = Lydia
title = Heroism reflected in stone
work = Jerusalem Post
accessdate = 2008-01-15
date = 2006-06-08
url = http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1149572640271] The Irgun kidnapped two British sergeants and threatened to execute them if the British followed this judgment. The British did not give up and executed them, and in response the Irgun hanged the two sergeants.Cite web
title = Kidnappings, Beatings, Murders and Hangings
accessdate = 2008-01-15
url = http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Palestine/kidnap.htm]

The Acre Prison break, with other operations had a strong moral effect on the Yishuv and on the fight for foundation of Israel. These operation is considered to have seriously damaged the British prestige and sped up to the foundation of the UNSCOP committe. [http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/fb6dd3f0e9535815852572dd006cc607!OpenDocument UN Doc A/364 Add. 1 of 3 September 1947] See Annex 10 Letter; dated 17 June 1947 from relatives of the men sentenced to death by the Jerusalem Military Court on 16 Juno 1947]

The operation has later been commemorated by a monument on the Acre promenade.

References