Today in 1948, the first operational use of the Davidka was carried out – the ‘Wonder Weapon’ in the Israeli War of Independence.
With the outbreak of the War of Independence, the Jewish community was at a great disadvantage in arms and ammunition, especially heavy weapons – mortars, artillery, armor and aircraft. The British Mandate of Palestine limited the import of arms to the country (and later the UN imposed a comprehensive arms embargo on the Middle East), and the leadership of the community decided to try its luck in the development of homemade mortars. The mission was assigned to David Leibovitz, an industriallist and engineer, who developed the Davidka within a few months – a small and mobile mortar. The Haganah first used Davidka in a counterattack on the Abu Kabir neighborhood in Jaffa, and it was soon discovered that the weapon was inaccurate and ineffective. But weapons had a importance in being especially noisy, in a way that frightened the Arab militias and influanced Moral. The Haganah (and later the IDF) used mortar in this manner also in the battles in Jerusalem and Safed, and today the Mortars are placed as monuments throughout Israel – a symbol of Jewish determination, and a persistence in maximizing potential from every possibility.
Photo Source: Wikipedia
