07 Feb 1936 - Tel Aviv

[Diarist]

I had a fine dinner with General Howard yesterday evening. We discussed Germany most of the time and he was surprised that I headed not only the delegation in Luxembourg but will also chair the Defence Planning Council in London. He commented that it's a lot of responsibility for a major. I reminded him that the minister has these positions not the major and that the whole idea was my suggestion in the first place. We also discussed our options in Palestine and he agreed that we need to negotiate from a position of strength. We have the forces available and the Syrians are busy with the French at the moment.
I was not at all surprised to find Irvine and George waiting for us at RAF Ramleh, Tel Aviv, but Ignaz was also there so the greetings were brief.
"Avraham wants to meet you alone before we all sit together with Ben Gurion," he informed us.
"That's no problem at all," I replied. "I've been hoping to talk to him alone."
We are in a small restaurant but without any guests except for Avraham and a couple more who were not introduced to us. After we had greeted each other he asked if there will be more operations like Mukhamas.
"There will be if the anti-Zionists don't turn in their weapons. The same will happen to a Kibbutz if you don't dissolve the Irgun, join the Haganah and give them all your weapons. Avraham, a Jewish state is on the horizon so you Jews have to show unity and the willingness to cooperate with the British forces here. The Grand Mufti will not cooperate with us and he will pay the price. Don't make the same mistake, Avraham."
"I sense a concealed threat and I don't like threats."
"I'm not threatening you but I am warning you not to go down the same road as the Arabs. It would be a foolish mistake. There will be only ONE Jewish state with the Haganah in charge. Do you intend being an armed opposition group to them?"
"Of course not."
"Then reunite today because the Haganah is authorized to have weapons. Avraham, we don't want to find illegal weapons at a Kibbutz so if the Irgun doesn't exist any more they must be Haganah weapons. Do you understand that?"
"I do but everything is moving too fast."
"You've had two months to consider. The time is ripe, Avraham. Can you at least name a kibbutz or two where you know there are no weapons?"
He wrote down some names. "Here are six names."
"Thank you. I recommend you do a thorough search yourself to make sure. Do you have people prepared to occupy any "liberated" Arab settlements?"
"There are more than enough. Your government is approving this?"
"My government knows nothing about this and that is why we have to move quickly and present them with a fait accompli. Let's meet David Ben Gurion."

[Diarist]

We met David Ben Gurion and a few colleagues in a garden behind a residence used by the Jewish community. Orde Wingate and Thomas (Lawrence) Shaw are with me plus Avraham and Ignaz from the Irgun. After a warm reception we repeated our earlier conversation with Avraham. The key requirement being that the Irgun is dissolved and becomes part of the Haganah again while the Haganah becomes the official Jewish Defence force. That way there will be no "illegal" Jewish weapons in Mandatory Palestine.
"Are you suggesting that we immediately proclaim an independent Jewish state, Sir Robert?" David asked me.
"No, not at all. It is much too early for that. You need to have a sizeable Jewish controlled territory first and that has to be done under the British mandate. If the Haganah were to do what the British armed forces are doing all Arabs in the world would turn against you. It would be a short-lived Jewish state. That brings me to the next point. Here is the evidence we have against the Grand Mufti and his friends. Please show him, Orde. Who is your Sharia Law expert?"
"Ariel and myself," he replied and started to review our evidence. "What exactly are you hoping for?" He asked.
"Anything that carries the death penalty."
"You will need more than this."
"But there is enough to justify raiding their offices and homes in order to obtain more evidence?"
"You can use British Mandate laws to do that and there is enough suspicious material here to satisfy obtaining a search warrant."
"We know that but it is important that we convict him under Sharia Law."
"I understand your desire to do that. How long can you stay here in Palestine?"
"I shall be here for at least a week. I'll be meeting the French commander in Syria here tomorrow and I have an arrangement with the French PM to transfer the Golan Heights and a Circassian battalion in the French Army to the British Mandate. The Circassians aren't Arabs and want nothing to do with Damascus. I'm hoping to convince General Huntziger to at least station the Circassians in the Golan until the transfer is made formal. The weapons cache which we secured last weekend probably came through the Golan. The French aren't doing enough to prevent it so I want to make it a British responsibility. You'd have to grant the Circassians considerable autonomy within a Jewish state. They would be a valuable ally just like the Druse and the Christians."
"The Christians would be encourage to move to Lebanon not Palestine?" David asked.
"I'm hoping that the policies of the Arab governments in Damascus and Baghdad would help them make that decision. There are over a million Christians in Syria and Iraq."
"A large group indeed."
"I have another topic for you. There is a large Jewish community in Abyssinia/Ethiopia. Would they be welcome in a future Jewish state? I'm thinking about asking Emperor Selassie for a brigade-strength force then allowing their families to join them here later."
"I personally would welcome them here but all these topics need to be discussed first within our Council."
"The Irgun must have priority. You need a united Jewish front in order to proceed to the next phase."
"I agree. Do you have anything planned this evening? I would like to invite you to dinner."
"Maybe another time, David. I'm meeting friends and colleagues this evening. Also I need to prepare for tomorrow's meeting with the French. Then I need to visit Emir Abdullah in Amman. No rest for the wicked."
"Then I wish you good fortune and I look forward to our next meeting."
"Thank you. I'm glad that we agree on key issues. Until next time, David."
Next stop is the HQ of 5th Armoured Brigade.

[Diarist]

George and Irvine were not at the 5th Armoured Brigade HQ when we arrived but his XO, MAJ Charles Witterby showed us around and introduced the other members of the staff. I also had the opportunity to inspect the Italian mortars they had received. They are larger than I expected and I made a mental note that a larger carrier would also be desirable. We later went to the Officer's Mess which doubled as a club in the evening. I was at the bar when George walked in.
"Why am I not surprised to find you at the bar?" He greeted me.
"I guessed that you would be here sooner or later. Let's move to a table. We have a lot to talk about." We sat down and I asked, "so how are you doing? You are looking good."
"I've been kept busy but I'm missing all the action in Europe."
"Action? There is no action. George, there's been nothing but an endless chain of meetings and discussions. OK, I've travelled a lot and have met many interesting people."
"Brief me on what has been happening." So I told him about the Rhineland crisis with Germany moving much earlier than expected then how the French responded with Charles de Gaulle's division spearheading the counter. I described the conflict in Germany and my visit to Berlin. Then the meetings in Luxembourg City, Hamburg, London, Paris and finally Spain.
"Things are moving rapidly, George. I've been chosen to head the Defence Planning Council with LG Gort as my deputy. The Council's German and French personnel will also move to London. Our mission is coordinate the defence of Europe against the inevitable onslaught from the East. TRADOC is also setting up a staff to draw up battle plans. A secret operation like the Italian and German operations earlier."

"What kind of battle plans?"

"Our response to a Soviet attack in Poland, Finland or Romania. This is all Top Secret so don't mention it to anyone here."
"Can you arrange for me to be transferred to the that planning group, Bob?"
"Eventually but you have a mission to complete here first and you also need to seriously consider formally joining the British or Canadian Army. It would simplify things, George and you would probably keep your rank of full colonel."
"That is a very difficult decision, Bob."
"Well, the United States is in no hurry to join a European conflict and I can't imagine them getting involved in the Pacific unless Japan attacks them. There are already many Americans travelling to Canada to sign up."
"It's a big decision but I'll seriously consider it, Bob. I can imagine that recent changes affect our business plans too."
"They do indeed. There are plans for joint projects including the next tank design for the next generation, i.e. the one before our tank. I'm suggesting we submit a design for that tank too. We use the converted Merlin engine with a 3" gun as it's main armament. We have little competition from Europe. I wont even mention the French designs but Germans like to design pillboxes on tracks. No sloping armour at all. I have a sketch here based upon our previous discussions. What do you think?"
"That does look good, Bob. We're not using the 17-pdr that's being developed?"
"It's not being developed yet. The 6-pdr has priority. There is however an existing 3" anti-aircraft gun that also fires AT ammunition. We could upgrade that to a 76.2mm tank and anti-tank gun. Also Basil Liddle-Hart has promised to allow our prototypes to built at a Vickers facility. Don't forget that we will only be designing a tank not producing it ourselves."
"Then there will be a competition against French and German designs sometime in the future?"
"Still to be determined because there is also talk of joint-designs. I'm toying with the idea of a joint-venture with the Germans because no matter which design wins British firms, (hopefully Vickers), will build the tank for the British Army and maybe more."
"The Germans have a larger production capacity, correct?"
"They will have because the Army in Britain is at the end of the queue in the defence budget."
"Then talk to Basil about the project and arrange for work on the 3" tank gun. Agreed?"
"Agreed. One more thing, George. Thanks for your letters but don't mention our methods here. The wrong people might read what you write and cause difficulties. Also, here is a list of Jewish settlements which supposedly have no weapons. We have to show impartiality."
"I understand. What are you doing tomorrow? It's the weekend."
"No rest for the wicked. I'm meeting the French here in Tel Aviv. Why don't you join me, mon général?"
"I would love to and it's an opportunity to wear my French decorations," he replied laughing.