Joonas Sipilä & Tommi Koivula Joonas Sipilä & Tommi National Defence College Department of War History Publication series 1 Tänä päivänä strategian käsitettä käytetään monin eri tavoin niin siviili- kuin sotilasyhteyk- sissäkin. Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulussa stra- tegia katsotaan yhdessä sotahistorian sekä operaatiotaidon ja taktiikan kanssa sotataidon keskeiseksi osa-alueeksi. Oppiaineena strategi- alle on ominaista korkea yleisyyden aste sekä teoreettinen ja menetelmällinen moninaisuus. Tässä teoksessa pitkäaikaiset strategian tutki- jat ja opettajat, professori Joonas Sipilä ja YTT KUINKA STRATEGIAA TUTKITAAN KUINKA STRATEGIAA Kalle Kirjailija Tommi Koivula, valottavat kokonaisvaltaisesti strategian tutkielman kirjoittamiseen liittyviä In Pursuit of Mobility ulottuvuuksia edeten alan tieteenfilosofiasta aina tutkimusasetelman rakentamiseen, tutki- musmenetelmiin sekä konkreettiseen kirjoitta- The Birth and Development of Israeli mistekniikkaan ja tutkielman viimeistelyohjei- siin. Operational Art. Julkaisu on tarkoitettu avuksi erityisesti pro From Theory to Practice. gradun tai diplomityön kirjoittamisessa vas- (2. uud. painos) taan tuleviin haasteisiin, mutta teoksesta on hyötyä myös muille strategian tutkimuksesta Pasi Kesseli kiinnostuneille. Julkaisusarja 2 No 52, 2014 Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu Tel. +358 299 800 ISBN: 978-951-25-2614-7 (nid.) Strategian laitos www.mpkk.fi ISBN: 978-951-25-2615-4 (PDF) PL 7, 00861 HELSINKI ISSN: 1455-2108 Suomi Finland Pasi Kesseli IN PURSUIT OF MOBILITY The Birth and Development of Israeli Operational Art. From Theory to Practice. Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in lecture room 13, on the 25th of January, 2002 at 12 o'clock. Pasi Kesseli IN PURSUIT OF MOBILITY The Birth and Development of Israeli Operational Art. From Theory to Practice. National Defence College of Finland, Publication series 1 N:o 6 Cover: Israeli tanks ready for action during the May crisis before the Six Day War. © Author and Department of War History, National Defence College of Finland ISBN 951-25-1271-8 ISSN 1456-5196 Edita Oyj, Helsinki 2001 To my daughters Katariina and Marianna ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My superior and colleague at the Department of Military History at the National Defence College of Finland, Lieutenant Colonel Ari Raunio M.PoI.Sc., provided the first impetus to examine the foundations and origins of Israeli military thinking in 1995. Since then he has selflessly supported me in many different ways for which I owe him a great debt. He made me believe that it is worth trying to explain the conduct of war through historical analysis even with the limited quantity of detailed written primary documents available. This is in spite of the fact that there is no absolute truth on the battlefield. This work would not have been possible without the willing co-operation and assistance of dozens of men and women, both in Finland and abroad. It is impossible to mention all of them. Nevertheless, I will mention some people and institutions. In August 1997, Rear Admiral Esko Illi, commander of the National Defence College of Finland, and Professor Pekka Sivonen, who was responsible for research activities at the Defence College, made it possible for me to begin doctoral studies at the University of Helsinki. To them — as well as to Professor Mikko Viitasalo, predecessor and also successor of Professor Sivonen — I would like to express my sincere thanks. Without their trust in my abilities to reach the objective and their efforts to support my research trips abroad financially, this work would have been out of the question. My colleague and dear friend at the National Defence College of Finland, Docent Eero Elfvengren Ph.D., has been my moral support at all times. To him I owe a special debt. In difficulties and at academic crossroads he was always able to spur me to struggle ahead. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Professor Yrjö Kaukiainen at the University of Helsinki for his instructions and guidance during my studies as well as to Professor Ohto Manninen at the Department of Military History in the National Defence College of Finland. I have also greatly profited from the personal accounts of a number of Israeli scholars and former military men. Their memoirs and answers provide a deeper perspective on other sources. I owe respectful thanks to Lieutenant General Dan Shomron, Major General Avraham Adan, Major General Uri Simhoni, Professor, Colonel Yehuda Wallach, Professor, Lieutenant Colonel Yoav Gelber, Professor Alon Kadish, Doctor, Colonel Hanan Shai, Doctor, Colonel Meir Pa'il and to Doctor, Colonel Shai Shaul. In addition, I am especially grateful to Hanan Shai for his help in organising all those practical details that made my interviews and archive research in Israel possible. I would also like to tender my sincere thanks to the reviewers of my manuscript, Professor, Lieutenant Colonel Yoav Gelber and to Colonel (National Defence College, Finnish Defence Forces), Doctor Vesa Tynkkynen. I owe a great debt to many institutions; the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King's College London, the IDF & Defense Establishment Archive in Tel Aviv and the Library of the National Defence College of Finland, among others. The personnel of these institutions were able to answer my endless requests tirelessly and in a friendly manner. I owe special thanks to Professor Brian Bond, who made my visit to the Liddell Hart Archive possible; to the Director of the IDF & Defense Establishment Archive, Doctor Mrs. Michal Tsur and her subordinates Doron, Sheila and Noga; to Mr. Ehud Eilam, who helped me with translations, and to Matti Hongisto M Sc. and his whole staff at the Library of the National Defence College of Finland in Helsinki. Several funds also supported my research trips. In this context I wish to specially acknowledge the Military Scientific Fund of Marshal Mannerheim of Finland, the Eevi and Emil Tanninen Fund, Fortum Ltd. and Tampella Ltd. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to use the residence of the Finnish Jaeger Tradition Association as my working place during my studies. All those who made this possible deserve the warmest praise. Susanna Jyrkinen at the Military Museum of Finland drew my maps. I also owe special thanks to her and her superiors for supporting me. The final version of my work required a proper process of language inspection and proofreading. However, I was happy that my friends, Nicholas Hill M.A. and Brendan Humphreys, were able to do that job. Without sparing themselves, on a very tight timetable they both read my manuscript and made corrections to my text several times during the writing process. I owe my sincere thanks to Nick and Brendan. I am proud that my former workplace, the Department of War History at the National Defence College of Finland, promised to publish my work. I wish to express my warmest thanks to its chief, Colonel Pekka Uutaniemi M.Pol.Sc., and also to all my former colleagues for their encouraging attitude towards my work. In this context, I would like to thank Edita Oyj for their pleasant co- operation during the home stretch when I was finishing my book. Finally, the long time that I spent studying would, on the whole, not have been possible without both the moral and physical support of my closest relatives. My parents, Aili and Osmo Kesseli, believed in my intentions the entire time, which greatly assisted me mentally in avoiding the pitfalls of the working process. I also wish to express my warmest thanks to my fiancée, Erja Wasenius, who greatly helped me in the final phase of my work by assisting in organising practical details and also by giving moral support in many ways. But most of all, I owe my dearest praise to my young daughters Katariina and Marianna. Although they were too young to understand their role in this work during the working process, and continue to be so today, their sweet and natural everyday presence gave me strength to believe in the future. Kuopio 25 September 2001 Pasi Kesseli Contents Page List of appendixes Abbreviations and terms PREFACE xvii Background xvii Research problem xviii Previous research; situation of sources on the development of the xix Israeli Defence Forces and Arab-Israeli Wars Previous research of the theory of mobile and mechanised warfare xxiii Central definitions xxv Other definitions xxxv Methods xxxvii Sources xlii 1. THE 20TH CENTURY CONCEPT AND PRACTICE OF MOBILE 1 WARFARE 1.1. Early 20th century thinking on mobility 2 1.2. The German Blitzkrieg doctrine 6 1.3. Manoeuvre warfare theory 15 2. THE ROLE OF THE ART OF WAR IN THE ISRAELI DEFENCE 21 FORCES 3. THE ORIGINS OF JEWISH DEFENCE 28 4. THE ERA OF BRITISH INFLUENCE 35 4.1. Nodedet, the first step toward mobility 35 4.2. The Jewish Settlement Police — the start of regular 36 training 4.3. Special Night Squads — the roots of unconventional 38 thinking 4.4. The Liddell Hart connection 46 4.5. PALMACH — a dual role strike force 48 4.6. The role of the Jewish Brigade Group and veterans 52 of WW II in the birth of the operational framework 4.7. Towards the War of Independence 54 5. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 57 5.1. War strategies and organisational preparations 59 5.2. From tactical defence to operational offensive 62 5.3. The Air Force and Navy 66 5.4. Operational art 67 5.5. The seed of mechanised manoeuvre 72 6. THE BIRTH OF DOCTRINE 77 6.1. Defence Service Law 78 6.2. The infrastructure of national service 82 6.2.1. NAHAL — territorial defence 84 6.2.2. GADNA — youth organisation 86 6.2.3. CHEN — women's army 87 6.3. The birth of doctrine — synthesis of the past and the present 88 6.4. Organisational and operational changes 100 6.5. The birth of the Armoured Corps 103 6.6.