Anonymous Soldiers

by Bruce Hoffman

  ill.38 Mortars seized: Courtesy of the National Archives of the United Kingdom; (bottom) Vast quantity of arms and ammunition: Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

  ill.40 Package containing a bomb: Courtesy of the National Archives of the United Kingdom; (top right) Address label: Courtesy of the National Archives of the United Kingdom; (bottom) Letter bomb: Courtesy of the National Archives of the United Kingdom

  ill.43 Headstones: Courtesy of the author; (bottom) Jerusalem British War Cemetery: Courtesy of the author

  ill.44 Flag-lowering ceremony and honor guard: Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

  A Note About the Author

  Bruce Hoffman is the director of the Center for Security Studies and director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He is also a senior fellow at the U.S. Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center. His previous books include Inside Terrorism (2006, 2nd ed.) and The Failure of British Military Strategy Within Palestine, 1939–1947 (1983).

  General Sir Edmund Allenby entering Jerusalem’s Old City on foot through the Jaffa Gate, December 1917 (illustration credit ill.1)

  Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill with Colonel T. E. Lawrence, the famed “Lawrence of Arabia,” and Emir Abdullah, Jerusalem, March 1921 (illustration credit ill.2)

  Government House, the official residence of the high commissioner of Palestine and Trans-Jordan, in 2006 (illustration credit ill.3)

  British troops manning a checkpoint in an unidentified Jewish neighborhood, circa 1947

  The Jewish Agency headquarters office building in Jerusalem surrounded by British troops during Operation Agatha, June 1946 (illustration credit ill.5)

  British constable serving in the Palestine Police Force’s Camel Corps, date unknown

  Certificate issued by the Polish army discharging Menachem Begin, November 1944 (illustration credit ill.7)

  Irgun commander Menachem Begin reviewing Irgun forces, circa 1948

  Polish passport issued to Menachem Begin, date unknown (illustration credit ill.9)

  Portrait of Major Roy Farran from the painting by Denis Fildes, Special Forces Club, London, in 2013

  Lieutenant General Sir Evelyn Barker, GOC, Palestine and Trans-Jordan, greeted by Major Richard Gale, GOC First Infantry (left to right), with an unidentified staff officer standing between them, at Qalandia Airfield, Jerusalem, November 1946

  General Sir Alan Cunningham, high commissioner for Palestine and Trans-Jordan, 1945–48, photographed with General Sir Miles Dempsey, C-in-C, Middle East Land Forces, in the gardens of Government House, Jerusalem, November 1946 (illustration credit ill.12)

  Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery of Alamein arrives in Cairo en route to Palestine, June 1946.

  Lord Moyne (Walter Edward Guinness), minister resident in the Middle East, January–November 1944 (illustration credit ill.14)

  Sir Harold MacMichael, high commissioner for Palestine and Trans-Jordan, 1938–44

  A British soldier and a Palestine policeman stand guard following the Irgun’s bombing of the Ramle train station, May 1947 (illustration credit ill.16)

  Damage caused to the façade of the British embassy in Rome by two Irgun suitcase bombs, October 1946

  The Yarmuk Bridge in the Jezreel Valley, northern Palestine, destroyed by the Haganah, June 1946 (illustration credit ill.18)

  Damage caused to the Farran family home in Codsall, Wolverhampton, by a Lehi bomb concealed in a package that killed Roy Farran’s brother Rex, May 1948

  Wreckage is hurled through the air by the explosion at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel as police and civilians flee the blast scene, July 1946 (illustration credit ill.20)

  A wounded soldier on a stretcher is carried from the rubble of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, July 1946

  A British army officer and troops outside the destroyed southwest corner of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, July 1946 (illustration credit ill.22)

  Plaque affixed to the wrought-iron fence outside the King David Hotel commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the bombing, in July 2006 (illustration credit ill.23)

  Palestine police examining the identity papers of Jewish males being screened during Operation Shark, Tel Aviv, August 1946

  Jewish males awaiting interrogation by the Palestine police during Operation Shark, Tel Aviv, August 1946 (illustration credit ill.25)

  British soldiers search an unidentified Jewish settlement for the two sergeants kidnapped by the Irgun, July 1947.

  Wanted poster of Irgun and Lehi terrorists sought by the Palestine police, date unknown (illustration credit ill.27)

  Brigadier Johnson, commander of Operation Polly (the evacuation of all nonessential personnel from Palestine), speaking with one of the wives at the Lydda railway station as the evacuees begin their long trip back to the United Kingdom via Egypt, February 1947 (illustration credit ill.28)

  Damage done to the Palestine Police Criminal Investigation Department’s offices in Jaffa after an Irgun assault, December 1945

  The exercise yard at Acre prison in 2006 (illustration credit ill.30)

  Acre prison in 2006

  Exercise yard at the central prison, Russian Compound, Jerusalem, 2006 (illustration credit ill.32)

  Restored communal cell, central prison, Russian Compound, Jerusalem, 2006

  Gallows, central prison, Russian Compound, Jerusalem, 2006 (illustration credit ill.34)

  Restored warden’s office, central prison, Russian Compound, Jerusalem, 2006

  A 1930s-era Tegart fort–cum–police station, built for the Palestine police. Many, like this one, are still used by the Israeli National Police (date unknown). (illustration credit ill.36)

  A soldier of the Sixth Airborne Division hands a Bren machine gun found in an underground arms cache at the Jewish settlement of Dorot to fellow troops, September 1946.

  Mortars seized by British troops during the search of the Jewish settlement of Yagur, June 1946 (illustration credit ill.38)

  The vast quantity of arms and ammunition, including a mortar and machine guns, discovered during a search of the Jewish settlement of Dorot by troops of the Sixth Airborne Division, September 1946

  Package containing a bomb wrapped in magazines sent by the Irgun to the home of Lieutenant General Sir Evelyn Barker, Cobham, Surrey, May 1948 (illustration credit ill.40)

  Address label of a package containing the bomb sent by the Irgun to the home of Lieutenant General Sir Evelyn Barker, Cobham, Surrey, May 1948

  Letter bomb invented by Ya’acov Eliav, a.k.a. Ya’acov Levstein, Lehi’s master bomb maker, known to his comrades as the Dynamite Man because of his expertise with explosives, April 1947

  Headstones of fallen World War I servicemen who served in British Commonwealth forces, Jerusalem British War Cemetery, Mount Scopus, 2006 (illustration credit ill.43)

  Jerusalem British War Cemetery, for fallen servicemen of the British Commonwealth from World War I, overlooking the city, Mount Scopus, 2006

  Flag-lowering ceremony and honor guard, British troops, Palestine, circa 1948 (illustration credit ill.44)

  Also by Bruce Hoffman

  The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat:

  From 9/11 to Osama bin Laden’s Death (coeditor)

  Inside Terrorism

  The Failure of British Military Strategy

  Within Palestine, 1939–1947