British Forces
in Palestine


Palestine: events in 1947

As 1947 began to draw to a close tension mounted. The camp was swathed in barbed wire; mines laid which were sometimes set off by animals, with the occasional sniping at night. The squadron armoury was moved to the brick cookhouse and surrounded by more barbed wire. The water tower was modified into an observation and gun platform all under the charge of Ray Barlow, the West Bromwich and England Centre Half. 'Confined to camp' was the order of the day apart from call outs and other necessities such as trips to the bank in Haifa. Creully Club Newsletter

After the the UN Partition plan was announced in November 1947 violence escalated and the Zionist battle to takeover Palestine with the establishment of 'facts on the ground' began in earnest. Even though in February 1947 the British had announced their intention to leave Palestine the following Spring, attacks on British service personnel intensified although nothing would be gained.

This list below mostly records the deaths of British troops and Palestine Policemen but other significant incidents are also included. Detail sometimes conflicts and the same places were repeatedly attacked so an informed guess has occasionally been necessary. Please let me know of any inaccuracies. A detailed and referenced account of all incidents can be found in the Palestine Encyclopaedia by Nissa Nakhleh.

Month	Day	Event
Jan	2	Lt Anthony Elliott (21) from London, 2/East Surrey Regiment killed by vehicle mine when traveling in bren gun carrier, Haifa.
Jan	12	Photo: IWM BCs (British Constables) John Ballantyne (19) from Northumberland, and Gordon Morgan (25) killed when "a truck entered the compound of Headquarters District Police, Haifa. The guard checked the identity of the driver who parked the truck outside the canteen. The guard became suspicious and the truck was searched. On discovering a bomb in the back of the vehicle, orders were given to evacuate the building. A few minutes later the bomb exploded, killing two British constables and two Arab TACs, and injuring a considerable number of Police personnel and civilians." MOD.
Feb	2	Operation Polly, the evacuation of families, begins.
Mar	1	Many killed in terrorist attack on Goldsmith's Officers' Club in Jerusalem. Cpl Arthur Fleming (23) of Penrith, and Trooper Thomas Hutchinson (20) from Kirkcaldy, Fife; 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards; killed when their scout car was blown up by a landmine on the Haifa-Jaffa road while escorting the Commanding Officer to a conference. Pte Maurice Lee (18) from Derby, 2/Sherwood Foresters killed by vehicle mine, Tel Aviv. BC GA Beynon (29) killed on duty.
Mar	2	L/Cpl Albert Wedge (20), from Yorkshire, L/Cpl Robert Ogilvie (23) from Northumberland, and L/Cpl Frederick Bond (20) from Wellington, Somerset, 6 Abn Provo RMP; killed by a landmine disguised as a kilo stone detonated as their vehicle was passing, Mount Carmel. Guardsman Donald Roberts (20) from Belgrave, Leicester; 3/Grenadier Guards, killed by vehicle mine, Hadera.
Mar	8	Guardsman Donald Stocker (20) from Hull, 3/Coldstream Guards, killed in attack on Citrus House.
Mar	10	Pte Harry E Froud of 1/HLI, killed by terrorist attack in Jerusalem.
Mar	11	Gunner Ronald Fletcher (20) of 19 Fld Reg RA, killed in terrorist attack, Hadera.
Mar	12	Pte Harold E France (Pay Corps) killed in terrorist attack on Schneller Barracks (Syrian Orphanage), Harry Devey's account; 9 soldiers badly injured. Eyewitness account by Edward Worley
Mar	19	BC JA Stranachan (21) killed on duty.
Mar	20	Capt S E Whitfield (34) from Richmond, Surrey; RASC, TJFF and Police killed in terrorist attack, Ramleh.
Mar	23	Pte Michael Hogan (20) from Winchester; 2/Roy Hampshires; killed in mine explosion on Caifo-Haifa train, Rehovoth.
Mar	30	BI (British Inspector) LG Board (34), killed on duty.
Mar	31	BC EI Dwyer (19) killed on duty.
Apr	8	BC B Forth (20) killed on duty.
Apr	18	Pte Alan Tomlinson from Meadows, Nottingham; 61 Fld Dressing Station, RAMC; killed in terrorist attack on British Military Hospital Nathanya.
Apr	20	Red Cross depot bombed and many British soldiers injured.
Apr	22	Five troops killed in attack on Cairo/Haifa train at Rehovoth; 23 injured and 7 civilian casualties. After the explosion the survivors were machine-gunned.
Apr	22	L/Cpl W Minto; 2/East Surreys; killed in terrorist attack, Jerusalem.
Apr	25	BCs S Barnes (18), A Casey (19), R Davies (19) and BI A Trutwein (31) killed on duty.
Apr	26	ASP (Assistant Superintendent of Police) Albert Conquest, BEM, KPM, CPM, was murdered in Haifa. "Two Jews opened fire from a passing taxi at his car which was then stationary, and mortally wounded him. Fire was returned from another passing vehicle, and the taxi crashed but the two Jews escaped." Source: Nissa Nakhleh
May	4	Terrorist attack on Acre jail. 251 Jewish and Arab prisoners escape.
May	12	BCs AW Christie (26) and DM Easton (20) killed on duty.
May	15	Lt Gordon J Graham and Lt Michael HH Holdway (21), Royal Engineers, killed while dismantling a mine on railway line, Qiryat Moskin.
May	16	BC Norman Winsor (23) blown up while driving the Haifa CID car.
May	31	Photo: Charlie Powell Haifa oil refinery blown up turning day into night for more than a week.
Jun	4	BC PM Clancy (18) killed on duty in Sharon, Haifa.
Jun	18	5 British Officers kidnapped and later released in Jerusalem. This was not unusual. Sometimes men would be flogged.
Jun	21	Pte Leslie Hilliard of 2/Sherwood Foresters killed by terrorist attack in Nathanya.
Jun	28	L/Cpl Cecil D Clarke (32) of Stanway, Essex, and Sapper Vivian M Culling (19), 199 Railway Workshop REs; killed by terrorist attack Tel Aviv. Attack on the Astoria restaurant, Haifa. Two Jewish terrorists in a taxi drew up opposite the restaurant and fired machine guns at the Officers dining inside killing Captain Matthew Kissane, 9th Parachute Battalion, and injuring two other officers. The terrorists withdrew when the surviving officers opened fire. Official report.
Jun	29	Sgt Alfredo Coia (20) of Glasgow, RASC; Pte EA Pierre (28) of Mauritius, Pioneer Corps; and Sapper E C W Summers (19) of Southchurch, REs; killed by terrorist sniper, Tel Aviv. Driver Henning Andersen (28) from Aarhus, Denmark; RASC; "Shot at close range while walking in one of the main streets of Tel Aviv." MOD
Jul	15	Terrorists attempt to destroy RAF radar on Mount Carmel.
Jul	16	Pte William K Murray, 1/King's Own Scottish Borderers; killed by vehicle mine Petah Tiqva.
Jul	18	Sapper Charles Beck (21) from Walworth, London, 55 Fld Sq, REs, killed by terrorists in Jerusalem. Cpl George Downie (21) from Dunbartonshire, 15th/19th Hussars; killed by vehicle mine. His friend, Dvr/Mechanic Ernie Carver was with him and suffered permanent hearing damage.
Jul	19	BC RW Hughes (19) killed by terrorists when 4 locations in Haifa are attacked; 12 men injured.
Jul	21	Trooper JF O'Brien (20), 'C' Sqn 17/21 Lancers; killed in terrorist attack.
Jul	23	Sapper Matthew Oliver (24) from Armagh; REs; killed when 31 Plant Troop RE jeep was blown up by terrorists.
Jul	26	Signalman FWG Gatehouse from Southampton and Signalman Leonard AL King of 7 HQ Signals; killed by vehicle mine Jerusalem.
Jul	29	BC Albert Dean (22) from Blackpool; killed on duty in Sharon, Haifa. Guardsman Anthony Ruddy (21) from Belmullet, Co Mayo, Irish Guards; killed on ambulance duty.
Jul	30	Kidnap, torture and murder of Sgt Clifford Martin and Sgt Mervyn Paice (21) of I Corps. The murders were authorised by Amihai Paglin, later made Israeli government terrorist adviser. Gnr J Cunliffe and Bdr D G Mitchell (25) from Brixton, 80 Lt AA Reg, RA; killed by vehicle mine Hadera. BC J McIntyre (22) killed on duty.
Aug	5	BCs GA Hayes (26) and RJ Watts (20) killed on duty, Mount Zion; BC AB Middleton (24), killed on duty in Jerusalem.
Aug	18	Police Cadet Officer E Morris (24) killed on duty Mount Zion.
Sep	3	Letter bomb attributed to Jewish terrorists exploded in PO sorting office, London, injuring two workers.
Sep	15	Col V H Rivers, Pioneer Corps; killed in terrorist attack Hebron.
Sep	22	BC RE Goodwin (19) killed on duty, Mount Zion.
Sep	23	BC G Mallalieu (19) killed on duty Ramleh.
Sep	26	BCs P Bould (26), AJ Ford (18), AD Mitchell (19), JJ Murray (20); killed in terrorist bank robbery, Ramleh.
Sep	28	BC JE Evans (23) killed on duty in Sharon, Haifa.
Sep	29	BCs Reg Bonfield (21), Anton Bowen (19), Fred Newton (21), William Nunn (19); killed in terrorist attack on Police HQ, Haifa. One person had a lucky escape: "His bedroom overlooked Kingsway through a very large window. CD, lying naked, covered only by a sheet, was almost directly above the bomb; he took most of the glass in his body. When the rescue party reached him, his internal organs were hanging out as a result of one huge sliver of glass. No one gave him any chance of survival, but two days later I was talking to him in hospital. He had somewhere in the region of 130 stitches in his body and resembled the Chinese torture of a thousand cuts. Some of the injuries measuring three to four inches were held only by one, possibly two stitches. He looked amazingly well considering, and six weeks after was convalescing with King Abdullah of Transjordan, owing to his father's influence as an executive of the Iranian Petroleum Company." My Trinity, Eric Howard
Oct	7	Killed: Lt A M Elliott (25), RAMC.
Oct	25/26	Privates E Alexander, P Darbyshire, G Leatherland, R Matthews, A Milton, W Odey, N Stanford, F Wood, Aubrey Woodward, J Duncan, F Millard and Lance Corporals N Davies, D Inwood, D Preston were all killed near depot when lorry collided with another military vehicle on the Haifa/Jenin road. Palestine Post report BC WE Thomas (20) killed on duty, Ramleh.
Nov	10	Gnr P Christoffersen (19) of Svendborg, 87 Fld Reg, RA, killed by terrorists.
Nov	12	Police Sgt EA Haubner (34) killed on duty in Sharon, Haifa.
Nov	13	BC FN O'Rourke (24) killed on duty.
Nov	14	Pte Jack Nicholson, 1/King's Own Scottish Borderers; killed in terrorist attack Tel Aviv. BCs G Hopkins (21) and RW Sexton (20) killed on duty.
Nov	14	Pte George E Thomas (19) from Truro, Cornwall, and L/Cpl Charles T Tovey (20) from St Johns, Worcester; Cold Storage Unit, RASC; killed in terrorist attack, Tel Aviv.
Nov	15	Pte Peter Brown (19) of Glasgow, 1/HLI; killed in terrorist attack Ritz Café Jerusalem.
Nov	16	Pte Archibald N Bremner of Glasgow, 1/HLI; killed in terrorist attack, Ritz Café Jerusalem.
Nov	21	Pte K Wilkins, Royal Warwickshire Regt, killed by sniper Latrun. Police Sergeant CE Vince (25) killed on duty.
Nov	25	BC R Fletcher (23) killed on duty.
Dec	2	Pte Alexander Clifford (20) from Sunderland; 1/Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders; killed on train escort duty.
Dec	8	Pte John Kane (22) from Glasgow; 1/Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, killed in terrorist attack Jaffa/Tel Aviv. BC George C Shipley (23) killed on duty, Sharon/Haifa.
Dec	9	L/Cpl Ronald Barton (23) from Leicester; Prov Coy; killed by terrorists, Pine Road, Haifa.
Dec	10	Cpl Thomas Bastick (20), RASC; killed in terrorist attack (colleague wounded), Herzl Str, Haifa.
Dec	11	Cpl Stuart Mayland (20) from Kings Lynn; REs; killed in terrorist attack, Herzl Str, Haifa. Six Arabs killed, 30 wounded when bombs thrown from trucks at Arab buses in Haifa. 18 Arab prisoners escape from Acre Gaol; 2/Bttn Middlesex Reg prevent mass escape.
Dec	12	Pte Charles R Marshall (21), 1/King's Own Scottish Borderers; killed by sniper Jaffa. 20 people killed, 5 wounded by barrel bomb at Damascus Gate. Al-Tira: raided by terrorists, 13 villagers killed and many wounded. British troops bus out a number of women and children.
Dec	13	Gunner Gerald A Taylor (19) from New Maldon, 1st RHA; killed by sniper (3 colleagues wounded), Herzl Str, Haifa. 6 killed, 25 wounded by bombs outside Alhambra Cinema. 5 killed, 47 wounded by two bombs at Damascus Gate. Yehida: attacked by terrorists dressed as British troops; many villagers killed or injured. British troops arrive and prevent further murder.
Dec	14	BC PK Cornaby killed on duty.
Dec	16	Sgt Hammond's funeral Police Sgt Reginald T Hammond (31) from Hackney: "fatally wounded when, at 19:29 hours, he, and another Counter Intelligence Division Sergeant, were shot at junction of King George V Avenue- Jaffa Road, Jerusalem. He died in hospital." MOD. 10 killed by bomb at Noga Cinema in Jaffa.
Dec	18	Al-Khisas: 12 villagers killed by Zionist troops driving through and firing machine guns and lobbing grenades. Some villagers fled and the remainder were forcibly evicted in June 1949.
Dec	19	Qazaza: Terrorists blow up the Mukhtar's house; many killed.
Dec	20	Cpl George Morroll (20) from Walsall, 2/Royal Lincolnshire Regt; killed by sniper when on patrol at Salameh, Tel Aviv. BC AH Hunt (19) killed on duty. 6 Arabs killed, dozens wounded by bomb at Haifa refinery. This attack led to a massacre of Jews working at the refinery on 30 December.
Dec	25	Pte Danny Gallagher (21), RAOC; and Craftsman Dennis H Pickering (20) from Birmingham; REME; killed and Ptes C and VR Birch seriously injured; in terrorist attack Café Galina, Tel Aviv. Herbert Samuel Esplanade, Tel Aviv. Danny Gallagher had been looking forward to demob in January.
Dec	26	Craftsman Ian Holden (21) from Sussex, REME; killed by terrorists on Herbert Samuel Esplanade, Tel Aviv. (Possibly belongs to above group.)
Dec	28	Sgt James Matthew (20) from Stockton-on-Tees; 2/Middlesex Regt; murdered in Acre Gaol.
Dec	29	Pte Richard F Patterson (21), 2/Royal Lincolns; shot dead in his bed during terrorist attack on Tel Litwinsky camp. Others also shot in bed. BCs J Foster (20) and S Hirst (21) killed on duty. 14 Arabs killed by bomb in Jerusalem.
Dec	30	Grenades thrown at Arab labourers outside the Haifa refinery killing 6 and injuring many. Arab workers in the refinery almost immediately then killed Jewish refinery workers resulting in 39 deaths and many injuries. Haganah later retaliated by attacking two nearby Arab villages (see below),
Dec	30	BCs P Foster (20) and AD Marriott (21) killed on duty.
Dec	31	BC CD Dore (25) killed on duty. Balad al Sheikh and Hawassa attacked by Haganah. An estimated 60 villagers killed.