What Happened?

04 May 1947: A company of Irgun militants (including women) arrived outside the Acre prison, wearing British military uniforms at roughly 4 AM, in jeeps and lorries. This raiding party attacked the prison gates. Irgun used the nearby Basha Bath House base for this raid, and a bomb was thrown from the bathhouse to destroy the prison wall that started the prison break.

Simultaneously, diversionary attacks happened across Acre. The raiders attacked the Acre police station and other civilian infrastructure to create mass confusion. At least 251 prisoners escaped (131 Arabs and 120 Jews). The escapees filed into the lorries, which left a trail of land mines on civilian roads to deter pursuit from the police.

Explosions were heard till late in the morning as the authorities disarmed the land mines to prevent civilian and military casualties.

A week earlier, the Irgun had assassinated the CID head in Haifa.

Diversionary attacks during this raid: Failed hijacking of a truck, destruction of a local bridge, a bomb found in a school playground, mine ambush of a British military truck.

References

Bell, J. B. (1977). Terror out of Zion: The fight for Israeli Independence. St. Martin’s Press.

Pictorial and Evidence

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