Messing, Julius (Julek)

He was born on the 13th of Adar, 5623 (13.3.1923) in the city of Stanislawow, Poland. As a young man he enlisted in the Polish army, studied at the Armored Corps School, reached the rank of captain and became an authority on armor. While he was in an armored training camp in Volkov, Julius learned that the Jews in Palestine were fighting for their independence; He left behind his career and his wife and in 1948 rushed to Palestine to contribute his knowledge of the war. The commander of the 82nd Tank Battalion heard of his arrival in Israel and began his feverish search for him because of the severe shortage of professionals, but Julius found his way on his own and the battalion’s place arrived. By the end of the first truce, three days remained, and during those days Julius worked tirelessly and prepared the tanks and men for the coming action, all of which he did without knowledge of the language and without knowing the people. Four days after arriving in Israel, the “Operation Danny” began, the purpose of which was to remove the threat to the Tel Aviv area from the Arab Legion forces stationed in Ramle and Lod, and to expand the corridor to Jerusalem. Julius was one of the fighters and occupiers of the Lydda airport and the cities of Ramle and Lod and son of-Shemen, who liberated son of-Shemen from its long siege. On Tuesday, July 10, 1948, while he was leading the attack on Beit-Nabala, he fell in battle and was brought to rest in the military cemetery at Nachalat Yitzhak, where a wife, Shoshana, The heroes of Israel who fell in the War of Independence, and was given the rank of captain in the Israel Defense Forces