A tribute to reservists

A former battalion commander in the Harel Armored Brigade, Nachum Baruchi says that ‘while most who recall the heroism of the IDF soldiers in the Six Day War tend to only focus on the paratroopers who liberated the Old City, people shouldn’t forget about the Harel Brigade’s contributions’

By JOSH HASTEN
Yoni Yuval (photo credit: Courtesy: The Jewish Woman Entrepreneur)
Yoni Yuval
(photo credit: Courtesy: The Jewish Woman Entrepreneur)
Standing atop a windswept hilltop monument on the outskirts of Mevaseret Zion commemorating the lives of 15 soldiers who fell in battle during the 1967 Six Day War, 76-year-old Lt.-Col. (res.) Nachum Baruchi gazes quietly eastward towards the ever-expanding city of Jerusalem.
Baruchi was a battalion commander during the war, serving in the IDF’s Harel Armored Brigade, composed exclusively of reserve soldiers spread out over three battalions. After all these years, he is still able to recall every precise detail of the battles that took place in that area over a 24-hour period beginning on June 5, 1967, as his troops were called into duty from the Ramle area to assist in breaking the Jordanian siege of the city – ultimately leading to the reunification of Jerusalem.
Baruchi shared his stories of war – and courage and bravery – in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post, organized by the IDF Spokesman. According to the spokesman present, who is also hearing Baruchi’s story for the first time, the IDF annually designates May “Reservists’ Month,” to pay homage and recognize the important contributions of IDF reservists who have proudly served as soldiers in the line of duty throughout Israel’s many wars, battles and other military operations.
“On June 5, 1967, our units had the day off,” begins Baruchi. “We decided to have a day of playing football and other sports in the Ben-Shemen Forest. The radio didn’t yet report anything about war breaking out.”
But by mid-morning, Harel’s four divisions, including Baruchi’s brigade of 120 soldiers, were instructed to quickly board their half-track vehicles and make their way to the Jerusalem area to prepare for battle.
Their ultimate mission, says Baruchi, was to reach the Mount Scopus area, including strategic positions on surrounding hills, with the hope of securing the passages to Ramallah and Jericho in order to neutralize any counterattack resistance from the Jordanian armored forces.
Pointing out the narrow passageway along Highway 1 down below, Baruchi explains that his force couldn’t just enter the city along the main route, as they would be sitting ducks for the Jordanian snipers and other enemy forces controlling the mountainous high ground leading towards the city.
THE DECISION was made to make a complete circle around the city starting from the western outskirts and heading north, before heading east and looping around towards Mount Scopus via Nebi Samwil and then Tel el-Ful, the site of King Hussein’s never-completed royal summer palace, near Beit Hanina.
But this path, explains Baruchi, was extremely dangerous, as Jordanian Legionnaires lay in wait for Israeli forces within protected bunkers. Another obstacle on their path, says Baruchi, were the various minefields, making the paths for both foot soldiers and their accompanying tanks potentially treacherous.
“We arrived in this area, at the base of this hill known as Mount Ahiram, at around 2 p.m.,” he says. “Another Harel battalion led by Maj. Assa Yaguri was the first sent into action. They started by clearing a field of mines. Because our engineering corps was not with us and remained in the Tel Aviv area, the soldiers had to use their poles normally used to clear out their guns, and crawl on all fours carefully feeling for mines. When they found a mine, they would encircle it with rocks so that the troops would know where not to step.”
“When Yaguri and his men reached the top of the hill, they came under heavy enemy fire. Fifteen soldiers including Yaguri himself were killed in the battle. This is the reason this memorial [monument] is named ‘Yad Assa,’ in his memory.”
“Next it was our turn to make our way through the minefield and up the hill.
Thanks to Yaguri’s men we were able to navigate around the mines, but then our group of about 85 men came under attack.”
Baruchi describes the ensuing very difficult and gruesome battle that lasted nearly seven hours. He details the screams of the wounded, the blood, also personally having to tend to a soldier, his next-in-command, who was gravely wounded and missing part of his head, which was blown off in the fighting.
Eventually Baruchi and his men succeeded in taking over the hill. Throughout the night, Baruchi and his troops continued towards Nebi Samwil and then Tel el- Ful. He recalls that forward progress throughout the night was difficult, not only having to proceed with caution due to potential encounters with further Jordanian troops, but also because visibility was near zero. “It was the end of the Hebrew month of Iyar, and there was only a sliver of moon in the sky. Therefore it was pitch black, and extremely difficult to see,” he says.
By 4 a.m. the battalion succeeded in joining with another tank battalion and by 7 a.m., the combined group was able to repel the Jordanian troops and tanks and assume full control over Tel el-Ful. After that it was on to what are now Givat Hamivtar and French Hill.
WHILE SUCCESSFUL, Baruchi’s unit paid a heavy price. Forty-three soldiers were killed in the battles over that 24-hour period. “You have to remember,” says Baruchi, “my soldiers were reservists, not part of the regular army.” He describes his troops as a ragtag group thrown together and unprepared for an all-out war.
“We had a soldier who was a Torah scholar with terrible vision, who couldn’t see at night, a professor of geology, a vegetable salesman, a bread deliveryman, several Chabadniks, a butcher and others,” he says.
While expressing his frustration at the lack of fighting experience, Baruchi nevertheless stresses repeatedly that he is most proud and honored that he was a part of Harel, which he says represents until today a true cross section of the people of Israel. “We were Am Yisrael, the amha [regular people],” he says.
He adds that while most who recall the heroism of the IDF soldiers in the Six Day War tend to focus on the paratroopers who liberated the Old City, people shouldn’t forget about the Harel Brigade’s contributions. “Kol hakavod [kudos] to the paratroopers and what they accomplished,” he says. “But people need to remember that they were not alone.”
Lt.-Col. Yoni Yuval, who serves as the current Harel Brigade chief of staff for reservists, is also present and listening to Baruchi’s stories of heroism. He says that he is “proud to be carrying on the Harel legacy,” explaining that while today Harel is mainly a combat Merkava tank brigade serving in the North and South, “that feeling of diversity and of the amha all serving together still exists today.”
Yuval says that while the security situation is different at present, and the IDF is “no longer fighting classical-style wars, Harel will always be prepared to do what’s necessary to obtain victory over our enemies.” He adds that today the number of IDF reservists is shrinking, as people have reasons why they can’t contribute their time to duty.
“But those who do come and serve as reservists,” he concludes, “are a very special group of people.” ■