Pacifica Military History Free Sample Chapters.pmd

402 Pacifica Military History
on and around the runway of the Ramat David air base, the IAF’s largest
installation north of Tel Aviv. Even if Zahal had no plans to go to war
with Jordan, it did intend to push the Syrian Army back from the Golan
Heights, and the air support that was to be provided out of Ramat David
was vital to that attack and, indeed, to the defense of northern Israel.
The Israelis will not say what event or events caused them to decide
to go to war against Jordan, but the worst thing the Jordanians did to
Israel on the morning of June 5 was the shelling of Ramat David.
Certainly, the Israelis had been thinking long and hard about a war with
Jordan, but they did not issue their orders nor even complete final troop
commitments until after Ramat David was struck, between 1000 and
1015. It was only then that the 10th “Harel” Armored-Infantry Brigade
was transferred to Central Command from the GHQ Reserve, and
responsibility for northern Samaria was transferred from Central
Command to Northern Command.
The Harel Armored-Infantry Brigade was the only Israeli unit that
even approximated a strategic reserve in central Israel. Its only purpose
up until about 1030 on June 5 was to stand ready to cut off a thrust
toward the Mediterranean by whatever force the Arabs launched out of
northwestern Samaria or the Golan Heights. Until Zahal GHQ confirmed
its attachment to Central Command at 1030, the Harel Armored-Infantry
Brigade had no place in Zahal’s or Central Command’s contingency
plans regarding an Israeli invasion of the West Bank And, realistically,
there could have been no invasion of the West Bank without the Harel
Brigade tanks and halftracks.
Likewise, the Northern Command armored ugdah commanded by
Brig-adier General Elad Peled was oriented entirely toward Syria until
it was alerted at around 1030 on June 5 for a possible thrust to shut off
the Jordanian artillery fire that was being directed at Ramat David It is
unclear if General Peled even had tactical maps of northern Samaria
when the alert was issued.
*
The Jordanians acted first. From all appearances, the Jordanian plan
was improvised, but it did stem from a sort of wish-fulfillment on the
part of the Jordanian monarch. Though Hussein had done little to prepare