Operation Nachshon
Part of the1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine and thePlan Dalet
Telegraph dated 5 April 1948, confirming the beginning of Operation Nachshon that same night.
Location	Tel Aviv – Jerusalem Road,Mandatory Palestine
Date	5–16 April 1948

Operation Nachshon (Hebrew:מבצע נחשון,Mivtza Nahshon; 5–16 April 1948) was a military operation of theHaganah during the1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine and part ofPlan Dalet.^[1] Its objective was to open theTel Aviv – Jerusalem road blockaded by PalestinianArabs, and furnish arms and supplies to thebesieged Jewish community of Jerusalem.^[1] The operation was also known as "The operation to take control of the Jerusalem road," following which participating units later broke off to form theHarel Brigade.^[2] Following attempts to take control of the road to Jerusalem were unsuccessful and led to the construction of a makeshift bypass—Burma Road.

Nachshon was the first majorHaganah operation and the first step ofPlan Dalet.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} TheDeir Yassin massacre was conducted as a part of the operation.^[8] Operation Nachshon was carried out by theHaganah'sGivati and what was later to be known as theHarel Brigade of thePalmach.

By the end of March 1948,Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni's troops were preventing supply convoys from reachingJerusalem. The city was besieged and the Jewish population was forced to adhere to a rationing system. On 31 March a 60 vehicle Jewish convoy was ambushed atKhulda and forced to turn back with the loss of five vehicles and 17 dead.^[9][10] Yishuv leaderDavid Ben-Gurion decided to launch Nachshon in order to open up the city and provide supplies to the Jewish residents.^[11] Although initially intended as a one-shot affair, Nachshon later proved to be the first operation in the implementation ofPlan Dalet.^[12]

According to historianIlan Pappé, "Operation Nachshon [...] was the first operation in which all the various Jewish military organisations endeavoured to act together as a single army – providing the basis for the futureIsraeli Defence Forces (IDF)."^[13]

The operation was named after theBiblical figureNachshon Ben Aminadav, who was the first to wade into theRed Sea when the Hebrews escaped from slavery inEgypt. The operation was commanded byShimon Avidan.^[12]

The first orders were given on 2 April 1948.^[14] A telegraph confirming the beginning of the operation was released on 5 April, with the operation starting that same night. It lasted until 20 April.^[15] 1,500 men from the Givati and Harel brigades took control of the road to Jerusalem,^[16] allowing three of four convoys to get to the city.^[17]

The operation was a military success. All the Arab villages that blocked the route were either taken or destroyed, and the Jewish forces were victorious in all their engagements. Nonetheless, not all the objectives of the operation were achieved, as only 1,800 tonnes of the 3,000 envisaged were transported to the town, and two months of severe rationing had to be assumed.^[18]

Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni was killed during the night of 7–8 April, in the middle of the battles taking place inAl-Qastal. The loss of the charismatic Palestinian leader 'disrupted the Arab strategy and organisation in the area of Jerusalem.'^[19] His successor,Emil Ghuri, changed tactics: instead of provoking a series of ambushes throughout the route, he had a huge road block erected atBab-el-Oued, and Jerusalem was once again isolated as a consequence.^[20]

During Operation Nachshon the Haganah wanted to attack the strategic village ofAbu Gosh but this was opposed by theStern Gang whose local commanders were on good terms with themukhtar.^[21]

Operation Nachshon exposed the poor military organisation of the Palestinian paramilitary groups. Due to lack of logistics, particularly food and ammunition, they were incapable of maintaining engagements that were more than a few hours away from their permanent bases.^[22]

Faced with these events, theArab Higher Committee askedAlan Cunningham to allow the return of the Mufti, the only person capable of redressing the situation. Despite obtaining permission, the Mufti did not get to Jerusalem. His declining prestige cleared the way for the expansion of the influence of theArab Liberation Army and ofFawzi al-Qawuqji in the Jerusalem area.^[22]

Between 15 and 20 April, three convoys, totalling over 700 lorries were able to reach Jewish Jerusalem.^[23] The Arabs, however, managed to block the road immediately thereafter.^[24] Operation Nachshon was therefore followed byOperation Harel, and immediately thereafterOperation Yevusi. Further operations in the Jerusalem region,Operation Maccabi andOperation Kilshon, took place in May.

Sources:

• Walid Khalidi, All That Remains,ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
• Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian refugee problem, 1947–1949,ISBN 0-521-33028-9.

• 1948 Arab-Israeli War
• Burma Road (Israel)
• Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel

• Yoav Gelber,Palestine 1948, Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, 2006,ISBN 1-84519-075-0
• Efraïm Karsh,The Arab-Israeli Conflict – The Palestine War 1948, Osprey Publishing, 2002,ISBN 1-84176-372-1
• Dominique Lapierre andLarry Collins,O Jérusalem, Robert Laffont, 1971,ISBN 2-266-10698-8
• Benny Morris,The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, 2003,ISBN 0-521-00967-7
• Benny Morris,1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009
• Morris, Benny (2008).1948: a history of the first Arab-Israeli war. Yale University Press.ISBN 9780300126969.

• 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine
• April 1948 in Asia
• 1948 in Mandatory Palestine
• Plan Dalet

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Wikipedia extended-confirmed-protected pages
• Use dmy dates from August 2017
• Articles containing Hebrew-language text
• Israel articles missing geocoordinate data
• All articles needing coordinates
• Articles missing coordinates without coordinates on Wikidata