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Thursday 3 March 2011

Jaques Bar - A True Hero Of Israel's Creation

Jaques Bar - A Hero Of Israel & WWII


This website is a living memorial to a true hero, Jaques Bar, whose military credits include; The Capture Of Haifa 1948 without which the Israeli State would have never been created foiling the British Plans that forced them to leave, and opened the door to arms and refugees to enter the newly created state. 


The Dnieper River Crossing (Ford Of Tatars) in which Jaques had a large hand in the successful evacuation of 1 to 2 million Soviet troops along with all modern equipment. Escaping a German pincer movement in late July 1941, while Jaques was a captain in Soviet Special Forces serving as an aide to Andre Kirilinko, who was one of Stalin's lieutenants.

Departing Russia in December 1941 after joining the Polish Army  for a job to build a road to China through Burma. Leaving Tajikistan via Afghanistan, arriving in Bombay India where changes in plans had occurred, and he was sent to join Andres' Polish II Corps in Iran.

The Polish Army saw action in Iraq, along with Jaques in putting down the Kurdish uprising in 1942 before heading for Djibouti to relieve the French garrison from the Italians who had encircled it. Escaping in an empty oil tanker with all aboard, only to be sunk off the Saudi Arabian coast and experiencing two days of horror. With the ship burning, and sharks cruising around it, making swimming the few miles to shore not an option, after many had tried, only to be eaten by the sharks. Saved by a British destroyer after this, Jaques joins in the battles in North Africa against Rommel in Tobruk and disarming mines in the Battle of El Alamein of Oct. 23, 1942  - "The End Of The Beginning" - as Churchill stated, upon Montgomery's victory, which was the first against the Germans in WWII.

In August and September 1943 around 5,000 Jews deserted the British Eight Army Polish II Corps while in Palestine prior to their departure to Sicily. These highly trained and experienced men from all areas of the military were the key building blocks for the future Israeli military, enabling it to defeat the Arabs in 1948 and create The State of Israel.

Jaques' mother Laura Imber a Zionist leader in L'vov Poland before the Second World War and (her father an accomplished military engineer in the Austro-Hungarian Empire) the cousin of Naftali Imber who wrote the words to the Israeli National Anthem - Hatikvah. His great focus and zeal was to honor her since he believed that she had perished like most of his family.

Mr. Bar wrote his memoirs in 1988/89 upon the request of his eldest son Yoram to leave some documentation about events that were major and that he had a hand in their outcomes. Seeing his health slipping away along with the falling of the Soviet Union that had set the tone since WWII, Jaques agreed and put down on paper his experiences.

In 1990 prior to his death an attempt was made by his son to get 60 Minutes to do a piece on Israel's creation by interviewing Mr. Bar, to which Don Hewitt stated in a telephone conversation; " we didn't put out the original story about Israel's creation and therefore we have no responsibility in correcting it" making it clear that other powers were at play in preserving the tales that most have grown up with to stick.

Since the advent of the Internet/web the power of the media has been reduced greatly with the fragmented market share that made spinning their versions no longer as possible rather than deal with who, why, when, where and how which should be the first and last focus rather than creating stories and promoting people whose views they prefer for whatever reason than the truth.





Jaques Bar - A true hero
 1913-1990
Above, we have Jaques Bar as a young engineer in 1937 L'vov Poland posing with a book, reflecting as most young men do in any profession their commitment to great achievements in pursuit of their calling, which was to come in a very different manner than he could have ever imagined.

With his unusual life experience that was to come, along with many people who were names that many would have known at those times and afterward, leaves much more to be told about the German Invasion of Russia ( Barbarossa ) and the struggle that all endured.

With all the interest shown, a book is now being planned regarding Mr. Bar's memoirs dealing with great battles, many losses and some memorable triumphs that allowed him to maintain his fighting spirit and sanity, knowing all the time that death was just around the corner, ready to consume him, as millions all around him were.

This story deals with a common man who did extra ordinary things that had a major effect on all at that time from the Dnieper River Crossing, ending with Israel's statehood, without any expectations except to himself, in doing a job well done and keeping his men alive.

Since there is much more to this story to be told requiring many more pages ad a good writer/editor to properly unravel people and events that will change many views and strip the veneer from those who assumed roles that they never played (Gorbachev, Dayan, Ben-Gurion, Golda, Begin, Suez 1956, etc.), and yet spun falsehoods for their own benefit.

If you are interested in this historical book which ties up some issues from the current Arab/Israeli conflict, with the visions about its solution that is the only viable one in existence which are: Democracy, Water, Power, Growth, Employment which Mr. Bar wanted to plan and design allowing for endless water/power along with the movement of the Palestinians to Jordan, from a man whose hands helped created that reality, or if you are a military buff whose interests are to know the events in Russia, North Africa, adding much from weapons, tactics, methods, daily life, and thinking, as well as the War to create Israel - contact us - info@jaques-bar.com -  "Many Like Me " - which will be ready by summer of 2011 with e-book and will totally enlighten you. A must reference book from an eye witness and a participant, making this book the only true account of those historical events that have yet to be told as they really occurred.

The confirmation below was done in 1986 to authenticate the plans for the Capture of Haifa which Mr. Jaques Bar planned and led. His wife kept them upon their departure from Israel since she thought that they should be saved as important documents that she personally saw and lived through in 1948. Shula arrived in Palestine in 1935 along with 40 members of her family from Poland with her father David Baum, a leading businessman in Haifa, with many other family members being rabbis and leaders in the Jewish community in Palestine numbering over 2,000 people today.


The spelling of "Jaques" is how he preferred to spell his name, although the pronunciation was the same as Jacques.
The map below is one of the plans drawn by Jaques Bar for the defense of Haifa. These were done upon the discovery by Haganah intelligence of the British Plans to have the Arab forces attack Haifa on the First Seder night April 23, 1948 while celebrating Passover.

With only 400 rifles on hand and an Arab force of about 4,000 Iraqi regulars in the city, and 20,000 Palestinian militia surrounding Haifa, the only course open was to attack first, using all of Jaques' battlefield experiences and know-how in making bombs.

When Jaques discovered that there was some dynamite available, he quickly devised his plans to use 300 tires filled with crashed stone, and rolled them onto the Arab positions. He calculated that they should have the force of artillery to break through the Arab fortifications creating the illusion that these tire bombs were artillery shells, making the Arabs believe that the British had double-crossed them by allowing the Jews to have these weapons. Other explosives and diversions were employed as well that would create panic and confusion, causing the Arabs to flee by small boats to Acres.
This plan above was first of three drawn up April 20, 1948.

Mr. Bar also planned the capture of Lod/Ramla, Beersheva and was instrumental in stopping the Egyptian tank advance on Tel Aviv along with a portion of the road to Jerusalem. His underground activities from 1944 to 1948 are numerous as well.

Bar's engineering works were equal or greater in the preparations made all over Israel with his way of building, using the materials at hand, as well as fortifications and killing zones that enabled the settlements to defend themselves against many more Arab forces who were better armed and led at times by the British.

In 2000 this material including actual archival ones such as the map above which were photocopied and donated to the USHMM in Washington D.C. allowing historians to understand better the events both in Israel, Russian 1941 and North Africa which reflects a very different story than has been promoted by all, focusing on the death camps only, and omitting the hundreds of thousands of Jews who fought the Nazis while most of their families were murdered simply due to their religious beliefs and family's heritage.

Jaques' mother Laura Imber was a university educated lady who graduated in 1908 as well as a Zionist leader in L'vov Poland. Many in Jaques' family were professionals who were targeted by the Nazi SS hit squads upon their arrival in L'vov in late June 1941.

The Germans upon their arrival in L'vov asked all the professionals including Jews/Poles/Ukrainians to report to the soccer stadium where they put a bullet in the back of each person's head, as their first step in their cleansing of all the non-Aryans and Slavs, so that the 1000 Year Reich would rid itself of any and all educated people who could pose a threat, and work to death the remainder to create their Aryan Pure State.

The Germans SS filmed these executions and by December 1941 were played in all major German cinemas showing the German people what they were doing in the East in their name.

The information about the fact that the Germans were not taking prisons on the battlefield, unless the numbers where too great to shoot, reached Jaques within a short time, as well as the fact that the Germans would after interrogation execute all Jewish prisons of war, making capture not an option for himself and the other Jews fighting in the Soviet military.

This personalized nature of the fighting in Russia, led to Jaques' company never taking German prisoners (a policy that the Germans had started), instead allowing his men to kill them on the spot, since being behind enemy lines made taking prisoners not feasible, needing to feed and guard them, which would have put too much pressure on his men who were cold, hungry, sick and constantly fighting the Germans.

The Political Commissar of this regiment was Gorbachev who was one of the 6 along with Jaques who managed to escape back into Russian lines in October 1941, with many others from the regiment dead or joining the partisans and continuing their fight behind enemy lines.

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