Night of the Trains

The Night of the Trains (or Operation Party) was a sabotage operation of the British railroads in Palestine on November 1, 1945. The operation was one of the first carried out by the Jewish Resistance Movement, before its official establishment, and symbolized its founding. During the operation Palmach units sabotaged a network of railroads around the country and blew up three British guard boats in Jaffa port and in Haifa, and a combined Irgun-Lehi unit attacked the train station in Lod.

Approximately fifty Palmach units, which included sappers and guard, severely damaged 153 points along the railroad system in Palestine, primarily at railroad junctions and bridges above them. The operations took place around 11:00 p.m., with maximum synchronism, in order to prevent a British response. In only two places did shootings occur, and they both ended with no casualties.

At the same time, the Palmach's marine unit sunk three British guard boats; two in Haifa and one in Jaffa. These boats were part of the closure imposed on the shores in order to prevent Jewish immigration. In Haifa Yohai Ben-Nun led the operation and in Jaffa Yosef Harel and Zalman Cohen did, after a briefing by Yitzhak Sadeh. In both cases the sappers arrived in boats, dived under the British boats and attached explosives with a delay mechanism to the boats.

That same night an Irgun unit, led by Eitan Livni, raided a train station in Lod. While exchanges of fire were going on the fighters blew up three train engines and a number of buildings. During the raid an Irgun fighter, two British and four Arabs were killed. The operation took relatively heavy toll, most likely because the raiding team was late in arriving at the target, meaning the British were already on high alert. A Lehi unit tried to sabotage the refinery in Haifa, but did not succeed because of faulty explosives.

The operation raised morale in the Yishuv, after the heavy restrictions by the British on Aliyah and settlement. The operation mostly created satisfaction within the Yishuv leadership and Palmach and Haganah members that saw that they were able to simultaneously operate a large number of units in a large number of locations. David Ben Gurion wrote to the leadership of the Haganah that this operation has its rewards - though they may not be immediate. The response in Britain was great as well. Government officials condemned the operation and the press published detailed articles about the sabotage actions.

References

• In the Beginning, There Was Terror, Ronald Bleier, Americans for Middle East Understanding