The sergeants’ bodies. Photo: Wikipedia
the sergeants affair
Netanya, july, 1947
The Irgun sometimes kidnapped British soldiers and threatened to kill them if the British executed Jewish prisoners. This often forestalled a death sentence on captured Irgun fighters. In response to the death sentence imposed on three Irgun fighters captured after the Acco prison break, the Irgun kidnapped British Sergeants Clifford Martin and Mervyn Paice and held them captive. When the British carried out the hangings of the Jewish prisoners, the Irgun executed Martin and Paice and hung their bodies in a tree grove. The attack was condemned throughout the world, including by the Jewish community in Palestine, and sparked British attacks on Jews in Tel Aviv. The Sergeants Affair was effectively the last straw in the British determination to leave Palestine.
