Roll of the Dice

On the eve of the 70th anniversary of D Day, it is worth noting that today marks the 47th anniversary of the 1967 war between Israel and the Arab states. Israel determined the outcome early with a pre-emptive massive air strike against the Egyptian air force, partly due to a difference in time zones. For more on this, see Michael C. Dunn's entry in the Editor's Blog, Middle East Institute.

"We Don't Need No Stinking Airpower!"

In an early post, I mentioned the fact that both then Air Commodore Arthur Harris and Major General Bernard Montgomery were posted to Palestine during 1938-1939, in the midst of the Arab Revolt. In his memoir, "Bomber Offensive," Harris recounts his first meeting with "Monty" to discuss military strategy for dealing with the rebels. "Aircraft, aircraft? This is no job for aircraft. It's a job for policemen," he decreed to Harris. Conceding that it was a task more suited to police, Harris averred that owing to the will and fierceness of the rebels, and the insufficient numbers and arms of the police, the situation called for the use of all assets, including aircraft. He proposed that any aircraft Monty did not want for his operations be diverted to those British officers who did, realizing that they saved the lives of ground forces.

Fairly speedily, Monty came around to the utility of aircraft in joint operations against the rebels, and Harris noted, "I always pride myself that Monty, who is only too willing to learn anything new and learns at speed, got his first real understanding of air co-operation from me, during his ...term of office in Palestine in 1939." In true Monty fashion, this little vignette does not appear in his own autobiography, "The Memoirs of Field-Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, K.G."