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Photo: Assaf Kamar
Laskov's second in command, Yigal Milo
Photo: Assaf Kamar

The story of the Laskov squad in the Six Day War

During the Six Day War, the fighting on the Jordanian fortifications, along the border line between residential buildings inside the city, was imposed by the IDF on a small team of engineers and soldiers who later became responsible for the development of weapons; 50 years later, Laskov's deputy reveals some of the squad's secrets.

On the eve of the Six-Day War, the city of Jerusalem was divided in two, through a massive line of fortifications and outposts controlled by the Jordanian Legion.

 

 

In preparation for the attack on the liberation of the Old City, engineer and inventor, Lt. Col. David Laskov of the Engineering Corps, was responsible for planning and producing secret means to break enemy lines.

 

It was a covert unit consisting of a small number of engineers and soldiers that was responsible for many combat developments such as Roller Bridges (Gesher HaGlilim), which was used in The Yom Kippur War.

 

Cpt. Yigal Milo (Photo: Assaf Kamar)
Cpt. Yigal Milo (Photo: Assaf Kamar)

 

Over the years, it became the Yiftah unit of the Engineering Corps, which develops weapons.

 

Laskov's deputy, Cpt. Yigal Milo, was in charge of implementing the secret plan to break through the Jordanian posts along the seam line in the heart of Jerusalem. In preparation for the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War, he told Ynet about the order he received on the eve of the war.

 

The two stage hollow charger rocket (Photo: Yigal Milo)
The two stage hollow charger rocket (Photo: Yigal Milo)

 

Fifty years after that fateful morning, Milo returned to what is now known as the Engineering Corps Street. The route of the light rail is the only evidence on the ground to the seam line that used to divide the Holy City in two.

 

Milo points to the location of the Mandelbaum Gate, the infamous fortified outpost under Jordanian control, through which IDF convoys traveled to the demilitarized Israeli enclave on Mount Scopus.

 

Charger ready for launch (Photo: Yigal Milo)
Charger ready for launch (Photo: Yigal Milo)

 

"Because of the cease-fire agreements, we couldn’t approach the Jordanian posts with the explosive devices, so all the equipment was secretly transferred to the third floor of a shared building on the Israeli side of the city, which overlooks the Mandelbaum Gate, 100 meters away,” he recalled.

 

The perfect technical solution by the Laskov squad's engineers to detonate all of the enemy positions at the touch of a button was a two-stage rocket with a hollow charge dubbed the secret code—Charger L. and Charger 90.

 

The Jewish family living on the third floor, and the intelligence officers of the Jordanian Legion, were completely unaware that the secret weapon that would demolish the Mandelbaum Gate was stashed in one of the rooms, and that in the same manner the rest of the fortified Jordanian outposts would be destroyed along the municipal border.

 

For the first time in fifty years, Milo is climbing up the stairs to the third floor of the apartment building where he hid the hollow rocket and his excitement rings clear in his voice.

 

(Translated and edited by N. Elias)

 


פרסום ראשון: 04.12.17, 18:16
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