Palyam
The palyam ( Hebrew פלי״םas an abbreviation for Plugat HaYam , Hebrew פלוגת הים, dt. about: 'Marine Company ') was the naval company of the Palmach and the nucleus of the Israeli Navy . It officially existed from late 1943 to March 1948.
The main task of the Palyam was the rescue of Jewish displaced persons and Holocaust survivors, their secret immigration to Palestine and the development of the core of the later Israeli Navy. The palyam directed the large refugee ships past the British patrol ships to the coast and organized small boats to bring the immigrants to shore. Here the immigrants were taken over by other units of the Hagana , brought to kibbutzim and hidden there from the organs of the mandate power.
Another area of activity of the Palyam was the sabotage of British ships and coastal infrastructure, which hindered secret immigration. When the British Mandate Government began to deport captured refugees to Cyprus or back to Europe , the Palyam's acts of sabotage were also directed against the deportation ships.
In addition, the Palyam maintained a small independent fleet that brought ammunition and equipment to Palestine.
history
In late 1934, Yermiyahu Halperin founded a naval academy in Civitavecchia, Italy . From 1934 to 1938 the Sara Primo served as a training ship . Graduates of the first three officer courses of this academy later took on important functions in the formation and management of the Palyam.
Palyam itself began in 1939 when the Hagana organized the Aliyah Bet . Seafarers have been trained to command the Alijah Bet ships. These sailors served as special forces in sabotage squads of the British Army during World War II . The Hagana's preparations for the Aliyah Bet were suspended during the war. However, long before the end of the war, preparations were made to resume immigration against the restrictive British restrictions.
At the end of 1943, the Palmach Marine Group was founded in Sdot Jam , and towards the end of the war the 10th Palmach Company , officially called Palyam, was formed. When the Palmach was organized into battalions , the Palyam was incorporated into the fourth battalion.
Already at the end of the war ships were bought up by various Jewish organizations and converted by the Palyam for the mass transport of people. For this purpose, the cargo holds of the ships were equipped with bunk beds , sanitary rooms , toilets and ventilation systems. At the same time, the immigrants were prepared for the journey to and arrival in Palestine .
Between August 1945 and May 1948 around 70 Palyamniks served as commanders on the Palyam's immigrant ships. Over 70,000 immigrants were brought to Palestine in 66 trips. The ports of departure were all over Europe and North Africa , from Sweden to Algeria , from the French Atlantic coast to the Romanian Black Sea coast . The Palyam was supported by numerous volunteers from the USA , Canada , Italy, Greece , Turkey and other countries on these trips .
Only 12 ships were able to break the British blockade and bring 2,108 immigrants into the country. The other 54 ships, with an average of 1,000 immigrants per ship, were captured by the British, some of them using heavy weapons. The immigrants were collected in internment camps , first in Atlit and later in Cyprus . The exodus immigrants were even returned to Germany due to the overcrowding in the British internment camps .
In October 1945, the Palyam joined the armed resistance against the British. Thirteen operations of the palyam are known:
- Liberation of 208 Jewish immigrants from the Atlit internment camp on October 10, 1945
- Three British patrol boats sabotaged in Haifa and Jaffa on November 1, 1945
- Attacks on the police station of Giv'at-Olga and Sidni Ali On 25 November 1945
- Repeated attack on the Giv'at-Olga police station on January 20, 1946
- Three British landing craft and a patrol boat sabotaged on February 13, 1946
- Attack on the radar station in Haifa on February 21, 1946
- Attack on the mobile police in Kfar Vitkin on February 22, 1946
- Sabotage of the British deportation ship Empire Haywood on August 18, 1946
- Sabotage of the British deportation ship Empire Rival on August 22, 1946
- Sabotage of the British deportation ship Ocean Vigor on April 3, 1947
- Another sabotage of the British deportation ship Empire Rival on April 4, 1947
- Attack on two radar stations in Haifa on July 21, 1947
- Sabotage of the British deportation ship Empire Life Guard on July 23, 1947
The acts of sabotage on ships were carried out by a special unit of the Palyam, the Ha'Chulya . In 1950, the Schajetet 13 emerged indirectly from this special unit .
The Palestinian attacks on Jewish settlements as a result of the UN partition resolution of November 29, 1947 led to increased recruitment for the Palyam. More seafarers as well as sport and leisure captains were recruited, civilian ships and private yachts were converted into combat units with modest means. The palyam saw coastal protection as one of its core tasks. After severe attacks by Palestinian dock workers against their Jewish colleagues in Haifa, the Palyam formed the Plogat Hanamal , a protection group for Jewish dock workers. The aim of the Palmach was to turn the Palyam into an independent battalion. But David Ben Gurion as supreme commander pushed through the removal of the Palmach from naval operations.
On March 17, 1948, the Naval Service, the predecessor organization of the Israeli Navy, was founded. The Palyam has been instructed to integrate into the Naval Service, so this date is considered the official end of the Palyam. However, the implementation was hampered by the preparation and execution of Operation Nakhon , which was organized by the 4th Battalion of the Palmach and thus also by the Palyam. More than half of the Palyam was directly involved in Operation Nakhon. After this operation was completed, the Palyamniks were gradually incorporated into the Israeli Navy. The integration of the Palyam was officially completed on April 23, 1948, when the Palyam Port Company of Haifa integrated into the Navy and formed the Navy's new naval base.
Some of the Palyamniks continued their previous activities, such as the escorting of immigrant ships and, from April 1948, the bringing in of weapons and equipment by ship. They continued to call themselves Palyamniks and saw themselves as the Palyam until the Israeli Navy was formed from the Naval Service after the Israeli declaration of independence .
The majority of the Israeli Navy consisted of ex-palyamniks. They also provided most of the Navy's commanders in the 1950s, as well as the vast majority of commanders-in-chief well into the 1970s.
Today there are annual meetings of the former Palyam members.
See also
Web links
- Palyam website (English)