Anu Anu HaPalmach - Former Members of the Palmach פלמ"ח

The Palmach (Hebrew: פלמ"ח, acronym for Plugot Maḥatz (Hebrew: פלוגות מחץ), "strike force") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach was established on 15 May 1941. By the outbreak of the Israeli War of Independence it consisted of over 2,000 men and women in the "regular units" and ca 1000 in the "reserve units" in three fighting brigades and auxiliary aerial, naval and intelligence units. With the creation of Israel's army, the three Palmach Brigades were disbanded. This and political reasons compelled many of the senior Palmach officers to resign in 1950.

The Palmach contributed significantly to Israeli culture and ethos, well beyond its military contribution. Its members formed the backbone of the Israel Defense Forces high command for many years, and were prominent in Israeli politics, literature and culture.

Palmach Museum

Notable Palmachniks:

Palmach High command

• Eliyahu Golomb – General Commander of Haganah
• Yitzhak Sadeh, Major General IDF – first General Commander of Palmach (1941–1945).
  • Giora Shanan – Deputy Commander of the Palmach
  • David (Davidka) Nameri – Deputy Commander of the Palmach
• Yigal Allon, Major General IDF – second General Commander of Palmach (1945–1948).
  • Uri Brenner – Deputy Commander of the Palmach
  • Yitzhak Rabin, 5th Prime Minister of Israel; Leut. General - 7th Chief of the General Staff, IDF – Allon's second in command.

Special Units commanders

• "German Department Commander" – Shimon Avidan (Zigbert Koch), Yehuda Ben Chorin, Yosef Hafner.
• "Arab Department Commanders" – Yitzchak Henkin, Yerucham Cohen, Yochanan Zariz, Shmarya Gutman, Israel Ben-Yehuda (Abdu)
• "Syrian Department Commander" – Yigal Allon
• "Training Officer" – Moshe (Mondek) Bar-Tikva (Pasternak)
• "Aviation Company Commanders" – Shlomo Miller, Yithak Yavne.
• "PALYAM (Maritime Company) Commanders" – Zalman Perach, Avraham Zakai, Yoske Rivkin-Yariv, Yosef Gidron, Shmuel Yanai, Shmuel Tankus, Rear Admiral - 5th commander of the IDF Navy

Company commanders (as of 1943)

• Pluga Aleph (Company 1) commanders – Yigal Allon (1941-1942), Zalman Mart (1942-1944), Nachum Sarig (1944-1945), Nechemya Shain (1946)
• Pluga Beth (Company 2) commanders – Moshe Dayan, Leut. General - 4th Chief of the General Staff, IDF, Meir Davidson, Uri Brenner
• Pluga Gimel (Company 3) commander – Uri Yafeh (1941-1944), Moshe Netzer (1944-1946), Nethanel Khitron (1946-1947)
• Pluga Dalet (Company 4) commander Benjamin Goldstein Tzur (1942-1944), ? (194?-1947)
• Pluga Hey (Company 5) commander – Abraham Negev (Erenburg) (1942-1945), Daniel (Dani) Mass (1946-1947)
• Pluga Vav (Company 6) commanders – Israel Libertovski, Shimon Avidan (Zigbert Koch), Eldad Ben Zion (Kliman) (הג'ינג'י), Shaul Yoffe, Amos Horev (Sochaczewer), Baruch Axelrod ("Buza") (1947), Jonathan (Johnny) Dotan (Dolinsky) (1947-1948).
• Pluga Zain (Company 8) (1944-1947) served as an umbrella company - headquarter of the Special Units
• Pluga Het (Company 8) (1944-1948) near Jerusalem; was situated in Kiryat Anavim, Ramat Rachel and Beit HaArava, and later on also in Maale HaHamisha & Kfar Etzion.
• Pluga Tet (Company 9) (1944-1948) was situated in the Eastern Upper Gallilee - in Ramot Naftaly, Birya, Khukuk, and HaKhoshlim (later Amiad)
• Pluga Yod (Company 10) (1945-1948) PALYAM - Maritime Company Special Unit (see above).
• Pluga Yod Aleph (Company 11) (1945-1948) - was split off from Company 9 and re-enforced by new recruits. Stationed in settlements in the Northern Jordan Valley and Ginosar Valley
• Pluga Yod Bet (Company 12) (1947) Established as a temporary command framework for small forces that were grouped for a defined security mission. Its main mission was to secure the water pipes to the Negev and the workers of the water pump system.

Battalion Commanders (as of 1945/6 - 1948/1950)

• 1st Battalion – Nachum Sarig, Uri Yafeh , Dan Laner. Major General, IDF, Itiel Amichai, Assaf Simchoni, Major General, IDF, Isaiah Gavish, Major General, IDF .
• 2nd Battalion – companies: 2, 5, 8. Commanders: Pinchas Weinstein, Uri Brenner , Zeev Gal, Yitzhak Rabin, Moshe Netzer.
• 3rd Battalion – companies: 3, 4, 7, 9, 11. Commanders: Uri Yafeh (founder), Shalom Havlin, Shmuel-Mula Cohen, Moshe Kelman, Gidi Eilat.
• 4th Battalion – Commanders: Shimon Avidan, Yaaov Solomon (Yanka'le), Nachum Sarig, Uri Yafeh, Yossef Tabenkin, David Elazar (Dudu) Leut. General - 9th Chief of the General Staff, IDF.
  • Rafael Eitan (Raful) Leut. General - 11th Chief of the General Staff, IDF – 4th Battalion, Company A. 1948
• 5th Battalion – Commanders: Shaul Yoffe, Menachem Rusak, Issachar Shadmi (Yashka), Brig. General, IDF, Moshe Ben Dror.
• 6th Battalion – Commanders: Tzvika Zamir, Major General, IDF.
• 7th Battalion – Commanders: Yochanan Zariz, Uzi Narkis, Major General, IDF, Issachar Shadmi.
• 8th Battalion – Commanders: Chaim Bar Lev (Hans Broclawski) Leut. General, 8th Chief of the General Staff, IDF, Yoske Rivkin-Yariv
• 9th Battalion – Commanders: Yisrael Carmi, Chaim Bar Lev
• 10th Battalion – Commanders: Shlomo Shiloach

Brigades Commanders (during War of Independence 1947-1948 till 1950)

• Harel Brigade - (10) - חטיבת הראל – Yitzhak Rabin
• Yiftah Brigade - (11) - חטיבת יפתח – Yigal Allon
• Negev Brigade - חטיבת הנגב - (12) – Nachum Sarig

Notable Palmach cultural figures:

• Yehuda Amichai – poet
• Dan Ben-Amotz – writer, journalist
• Netiva Ben-Yehuda – journalist, writer, radio host
• Haim Hefer – poet, writer
• Haim Gouri – poet, writer
• Shaike Ophir – actor
• Moshe Shamir – writer, playwright
• Hannah Szenes (Senesh) – poet
• Vidal Sassoon CBE – British hairdresser
• Moshe Kelman – 3rd Battalion commander

Others

• Arye Leib Eliav (Lifshitz) Israeli socialist statesman & writer. PALYAM officer.
• Bracha Fuld (1926–1946), Palmach squad commander
• Arie Gill-Glick (1930-2016), Israeli Olympic runner (not included in the Palmach website)
• Amitai Etzioni, (Born 1929) Professor of International Affairs George Washington University and author e.g. Diary of a Commando Soldier (1952)
• Amos Horev (Sochaczewer) (born 1924), IDF Major-General, nuclear scientist, and President of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
• Eliezer Rafaeli (1926–2018), Founding President of Haifa University.