More than 10, 000 persons witnessed tonight an Israeli paratroop assault on a hilly position in the Askelon area as the Jewish State’s crack troops engaged in maneuvers designed to test their battle readiness as well as specialized equipment.
The paratroopers, dropped from the skies and supported by Air Force units, hit the ground on a dead run and immediately organized and deployed to “take” a hill. Light and heavy equipment of all sorts was dropped with them, including guns and vehicles. Medical supplies were lowered to the ground by parachute and helicopters settled on the battle scene to remove the “wounded.”
Afterwards, the guests were informed–for the first time–that it was paratroop units which formed the backbone of Israeli retaliatory raids at against Egypt, Syria and Jordan in recent years. These same units spearheaded Israel’s advance into the Sinai Peninsula and pulled up short of the Suez Canal. Among the guests were several hundred members of a United Jewish Appeal group which will hold the first UJA conference abroad next month in the first such operation in UJA’s 20-year history.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
