Thoughts on the military and military activities of a diverse nature. Free-ranging and eclectic.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Gonen I.


This is coolbert:

"Gorodish"

A person commenting on the blog entry about the insurbordinate character of Sharon has written:

"but there is no reason to believe General Gonen was the second coming of Henry Halleck or G.K. Warren. Civilian authority must sustain the judgment of the army commander on the spot or relieve him."

We are speaking here about General Shmuel Gonen. Commander of the Israeli Southern Command during the 1973 Yom Kippur/Ramadan war. Commanded the Israeli forces opposite the Egyptians.

[known by the affectionate [??] diminutive of "Gorodish". It seems that most if not all Israeli Generals are known among themselves by some diminutive.] Such as:

Sharon ["Arik"].

Adan ["Bren"].

Mandler [killed in the 1973 war.] ["Albert"].

Tal ["Talik"].

Gonen was the superior officer that General Sharon was reputedly insubordinate to.

It seems that the person of Gonen is very complex. Gonen was NOT a man easily pigeonholed.

As for the plus:

* Fought in four wars for Israel [1948, 1956, 1967, 1973].

* A man of obvious physical courage.

"He served in the Haganah at fourteen, and participated in the battles over Jerusalem in Israel's War of Independence, being wounded five times."

* A man who was an excellent tank commander.

"He was later charged with overseeing the integration of the new Centurion tank into the IDF, and later commanded the first battalion composed of these tanks".

* A man who excelled as a small unit commander, battalion and brigade commander.

* Commanded with distinction the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade in the 1967 war.

[the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade has the reputation as the BEST unit in the Israeli Army for it's size!!]

* Was a strict disciplinarian. Perhaps too much so.

"Throughout his army years, Gonen was not well-liked by his subordinates, who viewed his methods as unjust and Draconian."

* Studied and fought under the great Israeli tank commander, Israel Tal.

Also a man that:

* Did not excel when commanding units in greater size than brigade.

[this is similar to the situation of General John Bell Hood of the CSA. During the American Civil War, Hood was an excellent divisional commander, but a very poor army commander, presiding over the worst Confederate defeat of the war, Franklin!!]

"In March, 1968, Gonen oversaw the failed offensive against the village of Karameh in Jordan , where Yasser Arafat and the PLO had their base."

[this was an above divisional level operation of the Israeli Army.]

* Was felt to be derelict in his duties during the 1973 War.

"He failed to fulfill his duties adequately, and bears much of the responsibility for the dangerous situation in which our troops were caught."

[that particular wiki I am quoting from is incorrect about Bar Lev. Did NOT replace Gonen as commander of the Southern Command. Bar Lev was an "advisor" from the Prime Minister [Meir] who approved and seconded the decisions of Gonen. Gonen could not make any decisions without first getting the approval of Bar Lev.]

* A man who felt betrayed. So much so that he contemplated murder and suicide in response.

"Gonen believed Dayan to be responsible for his disgrace and would tell reporters that he had considered walking into Dayan's office and shooting him."

"his personal assistant, Amir Porat, revealed that Gonen considered assassinating Moshe Dayan after the war, and that he lived in fear that he would somehow 'disappear.'"

[Read here what one person has to say about Gonen and the belief that Gonen was suicidal and bore a huge grudge in the aftermath of the 1973 war.]

"On the eve of the thirtieth anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Israeli newspapers are full of revelations about it. Among them is the disclosure that I saved the life of Moshe Dayan . . . it appears to be true . . . This man, who practically overnight had fallen from the height of glory (as one of the heroes of the 1967 Six Day War) to the depths of ignominy, was in despair. He blamed Dayan for the injustice done to him. In the end he made an appointment with him, planning to shoot him and then himself . . . I talked with him at length. During the whole conversation he toyed with his pistol . . . Therefore I promised to help him getting his side of the story across. He saw that the whole world was not closed to him."

Whoa boy!!!

In his later years [Gonen died a premature death in 1991 at the age of 61] prospected for diamonds in Africa. Probably trying to redeem himself in the eyes of his countrymen.

"left for Africa, where he embarked on various business ventures. He never returned to Israel."

[Israel does have a very large and prosperous diamond cutting and faceting industry. Gonen did desire to redeem himself by striking it rich and making deals for the Israeli diamond industry.]

Gonen has even been portrayed in a sympathetic manner on the stage.

"His tragic life story was the subject of a play, "Gorodish", by Israeli author Hillel Mittelpunkt."

Did not achieve his redemption! Will forever be seen as a "weak sister" when compared to Sharon. Did his life end in tragedy? I think so! Undeservedly so? The jury is out still, at least in my mind!

coolbert.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Based on the previous post & w/o checking, I assumed General Gonen was sound, of average ability and performance, willing to strike hard, keep striking and not be dilatory, with a difficult brilliant subordinate. That Ariel Sharon preceded him at Southern Command or that the Peter principle might apply didn't occur to me. If anything, General Gonen should have been taken away from troops faster. I was wrong.

12:48 PM

 

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