“Dear friends! On the sea, on land, in the air, during war and peace, we have but one goal. Each and every one of us must stand his ground – regardless of our specific roles. I will remember you always because that is what will give me strength.” Paratrooper Hannah Senesh wrote these words to members of Kibbutz Sdot Yam on her flight from Italy to Yugoslavia, while on a mission from which she’d never return. Her heroism earned her a place of honor in the pantheon of Israeli national heroes. Israel’s history overflows with stories of heroism about paratrooping fighters – both men and women – from before the State of Israel was even born and right up to this very day.
Senesh was part of the first group of paratroopers of the Hebrew Yishuv (the Jewish community in pre-state Israel) who bravely took on an almost impossible task – to help their brothers and sisters in Nazi Europe. In the early 1940s, the Jews in the Land of Israel were gripped with terror and worry for their families and all of European Jewry. Rumors about the systematic extermination of Jews had become proven facts by 1942, and many residents of what was still Mandatory Palestine lost contact with their loved ones.
In response to the actions of the Nazis and those assisting them, global and local Zionist leadership as well as the Jews of the Yishuv sought to establish military forces that could be sent to help their fellow Jews caught in the European inferno. This was the background for the formation of the Palmach organization – discussed in detail in our article on the Nahal Brigade – as well as the Jewish paratroopers’ unit, the “Yishuv paratroopers”. Over 200 young men and women came to apply, but less than half made it past the initial tests. Ultimately, about 37 Zionist, Jewish paratroopers were trained by the British Army and sent on a variety of missions such as gathering intelligence and information about Nazi forces and their allies.
Twelve of the Yishuv‘s paratroopers who were sent into Europe were captured by enemy forces, and of those twelve, seven were murdered. The fallen paratroopers became symbols of the Zionist struggle and were commemorated in different ways. The most famous among them is of course Hannah Senesh, along with other heroes such as Enzo Sereni and Haviva Reik.
In the early days of Israeli statehood, in the middle of the War of Independence, a new paratrooper force was once again established in the Land of Israel. This time, however, it was within the framework of the Israel Defense Forces. In those years, the paratroopers had a reputation for being the most experienced soldiers in the army and were sent on the most daring combat missions, equipped with the exciting new Israeli weapon known as the “Uzi” and led by the legendary brigade commander, Ariel Sharon.
It may surprise you to read that despite their name, despite the fact that the IDF parachuting school was established back in 1949, and despite the parachuting course that all paratroopers (and even some parachute packers in the early 1950s) were required to complete – despite all of this – the paratroopers have only engaged in two operational parachute jump missions to this day, and both were part of the Sinai Campaign back in the 1950s.
On October 29, 1956, 16 Dakota aircraft appeared in the skies over Sinai, out of which jumped 395 Israeli paratroopers. This was their first operational jump – it was the first operational parachute jump in the history of the IDF, for that matter – and with that the Sinai Campaign was launched. Only a few days after they landed near the area of the Mitla Pass, additional paratroopers took part in another operational parachute mission in the Al-Tur area. “While still in the air,” said Uri Getz, a commando soldier who had participated in the parachute mission at Al-Tur, “we saw the Egyptian forces fleeing from us. After we landed, no battle unfolded there, and the next day we got back on the IDF Dakota planes that had landed in At-Tur and finished our mission without casualties.”
But even when it’s soldiers weren’t jumping out of planes, the Paratroopers Brigade has always held a central and important role in the defense of Israel, one which it continues to hold to this day.
Ammunition Hill and the Old City
At two, two thirty in the morning
We entered through the rubble
To the field of fire and mines
At Ammunition Hill.
Opposite fortified bunkers
One hundred and twenty mortars
A hundred and something men
At Ammunition Hill.
Yoram Tehar-Lev
The book The Paratroopers in Jerusalem [Hebrew], which tells the story of the Six-Day War in Jerusalem and which was written in collaboration with Mota Gur, commander of the 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade, includes the following passage: “During the Independence Day celebrations of 1967, the first reports arrived of Egyptian armies entering Sinai. Slowly but surely, the home front was emptied. The only ones left at home were women, children and… paratroopers! Irritated phone calls from the unit’s soldiers, ‘Nu, when do we go in?’ But everyone knew: if they hadn’t called up the paratroopers, they weren’t thinking it was serious.”
Frustration mounted among the paratroopers for weeks, before the outbreak of war, a time known in Israel as “the waiting period”. The young country, which had enjoyed a decade of relative quiet without major conflict, watched with bated breath as the huge armies of its neighboring enemies were deployed along its borders. While the public and the army felt an increasing need to take preventive action, Levi Eshkol’s government hesitated to give the order for a preemptive attack. After sustained public pressure and continued provocations and aggression on the part of the Egyptian and Syrian militaries, on June 5, 1967, the government announced the outbreak of the war that would change Israel forever.
On that day, the paratroopers no longer sat at home in nerve-racking anticipation. They fought fiercely against the Arab armies on three fronts. The most famous arena was the city of Jerusalem; following a series of difficult battles, the eastern half of the city was liberated from the Jordanians and reunited with the western half as one city under Israeli sovereignty.
“On June 5, the big day arrived. The war had begun. The excitement was great, take a moment to write home. Will it be my last letter? The hours pass, great news comes from the battlefield. At 14:30 the order comes. We are going to Jerusalem!!!” read Aharai (“follow my lead”), the paratrooper magazine edited by Shimon Gra. “Jerusalem is a city at war; civil defense personnel are running all over and ambulances are evacuating the wounded. The residents welcome us; they’ve opened their homes, delicacies have been served, a sense of joy and relief burst forth when they saw the paratroopers.”
On the eve of the war, King Hussein of Jordan was still hesitating about whether to order his army to attack Israel. However, after being deceived into thinking that the Egyptians were winning their battles in Sinai, he decided to order his army to take over the UN building in the southern part of the city (The Armon HaNatziv or “Commissioner’s Palace”, near the neighborhood of the same name) and join the war against the Jewish State. Taken by surprise, Israel initially took a cautious approach – designating Ammunition Hill in the northern part of the city as one of the first objectives to conquer, rather than going straight for the Old City. The hill, which overlooks Mount Scopus, was transformed into a military bunker during the British Mandate period and served as the ammunition depot for the police training school. During the War of Independence, the hill was conquered by the Jordanians and remained under their control until 1967. The Jordanians fortified Ammunition Hill and turned it into an observation post that cut Mount Scopus off from western Jerusalem.
The Paratroopers’ 55th Reserve Brigade, under the command of Mota Gur, was called up to go to Jerusalem. The hill was well-fortified and booby-trapped, surrounded by three large communication trenches that were protected with concrete, Jerusalem stone and other fortifications. Mota Gur’s paratroopers were tasked with conquering the hill. The plan to penetrate the fort was to enter through the communication trenches, with each platoon entering from a different trench.
However, in practice, under cover of darkness and with the prevailing chaos on the battlefield, the soldiers were unable to act according to the original plan. The communication trenches were very narrow and the soldiers – laden with equipment and weapons – were unable to move freely inside. They certainly couldn’t watch each other’s backs and cover each other effectively. As a result, the squad commanders decided to position soldiers with machine guns outside the trenches who would provide backup and cover the soldiers inside the trenches.
The first to get out of the trenches was Eitan Naveh, from Moshav Moledet, a member of the Nahal settlement outpost in Almagor and a paratrooper. He met his wife Shalva in the Nahal outpost, and their first son Doron was born in Moshav Moledet. On June 5, Eitan was still being hosted in the home of Jerusalem residents in the Beit HaKerem neighborhood. He spent time playing with their son, who was the same age as his own son, Doron.
In his final letter, he wrote to his wife: “We are about to leave. We paratroopers are ready for any order given to us and are waiting for the decisive moment,” before adding a common Israeli phrase – “We will not embarrass the firm.”
On the night of the battle, it was Eitan who rushed out of the trenches. He provided cover for his fellow fighters while running through the battle zone clearing the way in front of him, until he was shot and killed. It was a few days after his 23rd birthday. Eitan was posthumously granted the Medal of Valor, the highest of the IDF’s commendations, for his fierce bravery in battle.
When the paratroopers reached the central bunker, they discovered that it was difficult to penetrate its fortified walls. Hours later, with the remaining IDF force numbering only seven soldiers in total, they finally managed to blow up the bunker and end the battle with a decisive victory for Israel.
36 paratroopers were killed in the battles at Ammunition Hill and 15 soldiers received commendations.
The heroic battle of Ammunition Hill, and the many casualties suffered by the paratroopers in the city, are combined in Israeli national memory with the moment when the Western Wall was returned to the Jewish People. On June 7, the paratroopers conquered the Mount of Olives. From there, the capture of the Old City and its various quarters happened relatively quickly. The military campaign to take all of Jerusalem, which wasn’t even pre-planned, became one of the most intense and deadliest fronts of the Six-Day War, with over 180 Israeli soldiers killed and many more injured. The 28th of Iyar (June 7, 1967), the day the paratroopers conquered the Western Wall, would become a national holiday, “Jerusalem Day”, marking the reunification of the city.
Of course, no article about the paratroopers during the Six-Day War can be complete without this picture:
The photo, taken by David Rubinger, features three Israeli soldiers: Zion Karasenti (left), Yitzhak Yifat (center), and Haim Oshri (right), and in the back, Haim Cohen. “The Crying Paratroopers” became one of the most famous photos of the era. It was published in The New York Times a few days after the end of the war, as well as in Life magazine, among other publications.
The legacy of the paratroopers is entwined with the history of the IDF and its senior leadership. Ten Israeli Chiefs of Staff came up through the ranks of the Paratroopers Brigade, including Mota Gor, Moshe Levy, Dan Shomron, Moshe ‘Bogi’ Ya’alon, Benny Gantz, Aviv Kochavi and Hertzi Halevi. The paratroopers have long been perceived as the elite fighters of the IDF, from the moment the brigade was founded. The Efea, Pathan and Tsefa battalions (named after types of snakes), as well as the elite paratrooper commando unit, all set a standard of combat and command that has inspired the best of the IDF’s commanders for decades.
During Hamas’ surprise attack and massacre on October 7, the paratrooper commandos and the 890th battalion fought to liberate Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza. During the battles that lasted for about two days, the soldiers cleared the kibbutzim of terrorists and freed families who had been holed up in shelters for many long hours. During these battles, the brigade lost 16 of its soldiers.
The legacy of Israel’s paratroopers, which has its roots in the pre-state era, lives on and remains as relevant as ever. Their contribution to Israel’s security continues to make a difference, even as we write these words.
