Latrun sits at the gateway between the coastal plain and the hills of Jerusalem, a strategic crossroads that has been fought over for 3,000 years. In 1948, this crossroads became the most blood-soaked battlefield of the War of Independence: the place where the fate of Jerusalem was decided, where newly arrived immigrants were sent into battle hours after stepping off the boat, and where the improvised Burma Road saved a city from starvation. Today, Latrun is home to the Tegart fortress, the Yad LaShiryon armored corps museum, the Trappist monastery, and the Burma Road memorial trail.
Tegart Fortress
The fortress at Latrun is one of approximately 60 “Tegart forts” built across the Land of Israel by the British Mandatory authorities in the late 1930s. The forts were designed by Sir Charles Tegart, a British police officer who had served in India, and they were built to suppress the Arab Revolt (1936-1939). The Latrun fortress, a massive concrete structure with thick walls, observation towers, and commanding fields of fire, was strategically placed to control the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem at the point where the road enters the narrow Ayalon Valley and begins its ascent into the Judean hills. When the British left in May 1948, the Jordanian Arab Legion occupied the fortress.
Siege of Jerusalem
By May 1948, Jerusalem was under siege. The road from Tel Aviv was the only supply route to the 100,000 Jewish residents of the city, and the Arab Legion’s control of the Latrun fortress meant that nothing could get through. The city was running out of food, water, and ammunition. Children were fainting from hunger. The water rationing was severe. If the road could not be opened, Jerusalem would fall.
Operation Bin Nun (Aleph) – May 25, 1948
The first attempt to capture Latrun, Operation Bin Nun Aleph, was launched on May 25, 1948, just 11 days after the declaration of independence. The 7th Brigade, commanded by Shlomo Shamir, attacked the fortress with a force that included many newly arrived immigrants who had been in the country for only days or weeks. Some were Holocaust survivors who had arrived on immigrant ships and were handed rifles they had never fired. Many did not speak Hebrew. The attack was launched at night across open ground, uphill, against a well-fortified position held by the Arab Legion, one of the best-trained armies in the Middle East (trained and led by British officers, including Glubb Pasha).
The attack failed with heavy casualties. The immigrants, exhausted, untrained, and unfamiliar with the terrain, were cut down by Legion fire. The survivors retreated in the morning heat. Sharon would recover and go on to become one of the most consequential military and political figures in Israeli history, but his baptism of fire was in the fields below the Latrun fortress.
Operation Bin Nun (Bet) – May 30-31, 1948
A second attack, Operation Bin Nun Bet, was launched five days later. This time the force included Palmach fighters alongside the immigrants, and the plan was more sophisticated. But the result was the same: the Arab Legion held the fortress, and the Israeli forces were repulsed with significant casualties. The Givati Brigade’s attack from the south also failed. A third attempt on June 9 (Operation Yoram) also ended in failure.
Human Cost
The battles of Latrun cost over 160 Israeli lives. Many of the dead were immigrants who had survived the Holocaust only to die in battle within days of arriving in the Land of Israel. The controversy over sending untrained immigrants into frontal assaults against fortified positions has never been fully resolved. The military necessity was real (Jerusalem was starving), but the human cost was devastating. David Ben-Gurion, who ordered the attacks over the objections of his military commanders, bore the weight of that decision for the rest of his life.
Ariel Sharon at Latrun
Ariel Sharon was 20 years old during the battles of Latrun. As a platoon commander in the 32nd Battalion of the 7th Brigade, he led his men in the assault on the fortified village of Latrun. During the attack, Sharon was hit by machine gun fire and badly wounded. He lay in the field for hours before being evacuated. The wounds were serious enough that his military career might have ended. Instead, he recovered and went on to command Unit 101 (the special forces unit that carried out retaliatory raids in the 1950s), lead the paratroopers, command a division in the Sinai in 1967 and the canal crossing in 1973, serve as Defense Minister during the Lebanon War, and ultimately become Prime Minister. Sharon’s story at Latrun is the story of a young soldier who could have died in his first battle and instead lived to shape the next 50 years of Israeli history.
Trappist Monastery
On the hilltop opposite the fortress, the Trappist Monastery of Latrun has watched over the valley since 1890. The French Trappist monks who built it maintain a vow of silence and a life of prayer, agriculture, and winemaking. The monastery produces wines, olive oil, and honey from its own vineyards and groves, and the wines are among the most respected in Israel. The monastery’s courtyard, with its gardens and the scent of the winery, is an oasis of calm that contrasts sharply with the military history just across the road. The monks remained in the monastery throughout the 1948 battles, and the building bears shell damage from the fighting.
Biblical Connection
Latrun sits at the entrance to the Ayalon Valley, where Joshua commanded the sun to stand still: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon” (Joshua 10:12). The area is also one of the candidates for the biblical Emmaus, where the risen Jesus appeared to two disciples (Luke 24:13-35). The Trappist monks chose their location deliberately: at the crossroads where the Bible, the Crusaders, and the road to Jerusalem all converge.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Latrun tells the story of the battle for Jerusalem in 1948. Hoshen Tours walks the fortress and tells the story of the soldiers who fought to keep Jerusalem alive. Combine with the Yad LaShiryon tank museum and the Burma Road memorial trail.