“With All Their Heart and Soul (A Warrior’s Discourse Beyond Time)” – Diary of Moshe Matri, a Haganah fighter – Handwritten notes on the actions of the Haganah fighters defending Haifa from Arab terrorism during the height of the battles in the War of Independence – April 1948.
A vivid description of the battles fought by Haganah fighters in the War of Independence on the Haifa front, in the handwriting of Moshe Matri, who participated in the battles. Moshe Matri, a member of the Haganah, provides a first-hand, detailed account of the Haganah’s fight against the Arab sniper unit positioned near Haifa on the eve of Passover as part of the “Breakthrough Unit” (“In our consciousness, a few things: here is that decisive moment our commanders promised would come, the moment when we will destroy the sniper positions and the fighters who indiscriminately killed women, elderly, and children…”). He also describes the Haganah’s collaboration on the battlefield with “Task Force B” and with the Carmel Hish forces, the Arab shell that wounded the Rear Command officer, the conquest of the “Hadrat Kodesh” synagogue area, the battle for the capture of “Beit Kuri” (“Those who did not know this house will not understand how we fought the snipers for many hours as they changed positions on the upper floor”), transporting the wounded during the battles (“According to the Haganah’s tradition, no wounded should be left behind in the field”), the clearing of the “Beit Hadassah” clinic of the last Arabs found there, the search for the body of a fighter killed by an Iraqi patrol under fire, the Haganah’s struggle against the “hellfire” brought upon them by the Iraqis, and a stirring description of the heroic rescue of a Haganah fighter trapped in barbed wire set by the British near the police station under Iraqi sniper fire, and more. Matri also reflects on his heavy feelings regarding “the battlefront that demanded such a heavy toll in human lives” and more.
Moshe Matri was a senior commander in the Haganah and one of the commanders in the defensive battles against the Arabs in the War of Independence in 1948. After the establishment of the state, he served as the head of the Civil Division in the IDF Planning Directorate and spent much of his life documenting the struggle for the independence of the Jewish people in their land. Among the books he authored is “Twenty Years of Shield and Sword in Haifa” – 1988, and others.
24 handwritten pages by Matri. Light stains. Good condition.
