Everything about The Acre Prison Break totally explained
The
Acre Prison break was an operation executed by the
Irgun on
4 May 1947 in the
British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke into the
Acre prison wall and a liberated several of their incarcerated comrades.
Background
In the time of the British Mandate the citadel in the old city of Acre was used as a prison, In which many Arabs were imprisoned as criminals or for participating in the
Arab revolt.
On April the 19th 1947
Dov Gruner and the three men (Yehiel Dresner, Mordechai Alkahi and Eliezer Kashani) captured by the British 6th Airborne Division were hanged in Acre Prison to become the first post war ‘martyrs’ of the Irgun, Dov Gruner in a broadcast declared the British Army and Administration to be ‘criminal organizations’.
The prison also contained Jewish prisoners, members of the
Hagana,
Lehi, and
Irgun. One of those prisoners was
Eitan Livni (father of
Tzipi Livni), the Irgun operations officer. In total, the prison contained 700 Arab prisoners and 90 Jewish prisoners.
The Lehi and Irgun prisoners considered an escape but concluded that would be impossible without an outside assistance, so they contacted the Irgun headquarters with a plan.
Preparations
The Irgun's reconnaissance efforts discovered a weak spot in the citadel: the southern wall right above a
Turkish bath.
The break-in was originally planned for April, but was eventually planned for Sunday, May 4, 1947, at 4 p.m., the day the
United Nations General Assembly convened to discuss the Palestine issue.
The logistic preparations were complicated: The Irgun purchased a truck, a jeep, two military pickup trucks and civil vehicles, all disguised as British. British army uniforms were also acquired. Another five fighters from the attacking forces were captured by the British along with eight escapees. 28 Lehi and Irgun prisoners escaped, and 182 Arab prisoners used this opportunity and to escape as well.
Aftermath
The
New York Herald Tribune wrote that the underground had carried out "an ambitious mission, their most challenging so far, in perfect fashion", while in the
House of Commons,
Oliver Stanley asked what action His Majesty's Government was planning to take "in light of the events at Acre prison which had reduced British prestige to a nadir." The Irgun
kidnapped two British sergeants and threatened to execute them if the British followed this judgment. The British didn't give up and executed them, and in response the Irgun hanged the two sergeants.
The Acre Prison break, with other operations had a strong moral effect on the
Yishuv and on the fight for foundation of
Israel. These operation is considered to have seriously damaged the British prestige and sped up to the foundation of the
UNSCOP committe.
The operation has later been commemorated by a monument on the Acre promenade.
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