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lfast president warfield continued to england where she moored in the river torridge at instow on the north coast of devon there she served as a combined operations training and barracks ship for the royal marines and commandos she provided accommodation for 105 officers and 500 other ranks 21 in july 1943 the british government returned president warfield to us control 21 on may 21 1944 she was commissioned into the us navy as uss president warfield with the pennant number ix 169 in july she served as a station and accommodations ship off omaha beach on the coast of normandy 11 after service in england and on the seine in france she arrived at norfolk virginia july 25 1945 she left active navy service on september 13 was struck from the us naval vessel register on october 11 and was returned to the war shipping administration on november 14 11 she then spent about a year moored in the james river where she was one of many ships laid up as surplus after the end of the war 9 jewish refugees edit after world war ii about 250 000 european jews were living in displaced persons camps in germany and austria zionist organizations began organizing an underground network known as the brichah escape in hebrew which moved thousands of jews from the camps to ports on the mediterranean where ships took them illegally to palestine this was part of the aliyah bet immigration that began after the war 23 at first many made their way to palestine on their own later they received financial and other help from sympathizers around the world the ships were crewed mostly by volunteers from the united states canada and latin america 24 under aliyah bet more than 100 000 people tried to illegally migrate to palestine 25 the british government opposed large scale immigration displaced person camps run by american french and italian officials often turned a blind eye to the situation with only british officials restricting movement in and out of their camps citation needed in 1945 the british government reaffirmed its 1939 policy limiting jewish immigration which it adopted after a quarter of a million european jews arrived fleeing nazism and palestine s arab population rebelled the british government deployed naval and military forces to turn back the refugees more than half of 142 voyages were stopped by british patrols and most intercepted migrants were sent to internment camps in cyprus the atlit detention camp in palestine or to mauritius about 50 000 people ended up in camps more than 1 600 drowned at sea and only a few thousand reached palestine of the 64 vessels that sailed in aliyah bet exodus 1947 was the largest she carried 4 515 passengers 26 the largest ever number of illegal immigrants to palestine the story received much international attention thanks in large part to dispatches from american journalist ruth gruber the incident took place near the end of aliyah bet and toward the end of the british mandate after which britain withdrew from palestine and the state of israel was founded historians say exodus 1947 helped unify the jewish community of palestine and the holocaust survivor refugees in europe as well as significantly deepening international sympathy for the plight of holocaust survivors and rallying support for the idea of a jewish state 27 28 one called the story of the exodus 1947 a spectacular publicity coup for the zionists 29 voyage preparations edit john stanley grauel yaakov oron garbash and aryeh kolomeitzev later kole aboard president warfield before she sailed to europe on november 9 1946 the potomac shipwrecking company of washington d c bought president warfield from the wsa 11 for 8 028 the company was acting for the haganah jewish paramilitary organization and two days later sold her for 40 000 to the weston trading company of new york which was a haganah front organization zionist supporters in baltimore funded her purchase 30 haganah transferred her to mossad lealiyah bet the branch of haganah that ran aliyah bet citation needed haganah spent another 125 000 to 130 000 repairing overhauling and modifying the ship for her voyage to palestine 31 britain had recently announced that it would begin deporting illegal immigrants to cyprus rather than atlit mossad lealiyah bet responded by deciding that migrants should resist capture president warfield was deemed well suited for this because she was relatively fast sturdy enough to not easily capsize made of steel which would help her to withstand ramming and was taller than the royal navy destroyers that would be trying to board her 32 four members of the crew aboard president warfield in baltimore on the right is second officer william bernstein who was killed in july 1947 when the royal navy boarded the ship president warfield was also chosen because of her derelict condition it was risky to put passengers on her and it was felt clarification needed this would either compel the british authorities to let her pass the blockade because of the danger or damage britain s international reputation citation needed for months teams of palestinian jews and americans worked on exodus 1947 in order to make it harder for british forces to her take over metal pipes designed to spray out steam and boiling oil were installed around the ship s perimeter lower decks were covered in nets and barbed wire her engine room boiler room wheelhouse and radio room were covered in wire and reinforced to prevent entry by british soldiers 33 president warfield off cape hatteras north carolina in february 1947 on her abortive first attempt to reach france haganah re registered president warfield under the honduran flag of convenience on february 25 1947 she left baltimore for marseille but she ran into bad weather in the virginia capes and then a heavy sea about 75 nautical miles 139 km east of diamond shoals her forward hold began to leak and she radioed the united states coast guard for help the tanker e w sinclair picked up her distress message found president warfield and stood by the coast guard cutter uscgc cherokee arrived to tow her back to safety but the weather eased and president warfield was able to reach norfolk va under her own power 31 after her damage was surveyed in norfolk president warfield spent a fortnight in philadelphia being repaired she then sailed via the azores to porto venere in italy where she was refitted and bunkered in july 1947 she arrived at sète on the south coast of france 34 voyage to palestine edit jewish refugees on a train on their way to sète to embark on president warfield as a packet boat president warfield had been certificated to carry 540 passengers in the war she had been converted to provide berths for 605 troops but more than 4 500 jewish refugees arrived in sète 34 haganah issued them with 2 000 forged passports with visas for colombia with which french immigration officers allowed them to embark on president warfield each passport was used more than once in the same boarding with a crewman collecting them and passing them back to refugees still waiting in the queue haganah secured the immigration officers co operation with bottles of alcohol and a group of jewish young women to keep them occupied 35 according to israeli historian aviva halamish the ship was never meant to sneak out toward the shores of palestine but rather to burst openly through the blockade by dodging and swiftly nipping through beaching herself on a sand bank and letting off her cargo of immigrants at the beach the ship was too large and unusual to go unnoticed even as people began boarding the ship at the port of sète near montpellier a royal air force aircraft circled overhead and a royal navy warship waited a short distance out at sea 32 hms mermaid which shadowed exodus 1947 on the first part of her voyage to palestine president warfield left sète sometime between two and four in the morning of july 11 1947 36 claiming to be bound for istanbul 37 she carried 4 515 refugees including 1 600 men 1 282 women and 1 017 young people and 655 teenagers 34 38 palmach haganah s military wing captain ike aronowicz was her captain 39 and haganah commissioner yossi harel commanded the operation 40 the ship was manned by a crew of some 35 volunteers mostly american jews 41 all aliyah bet ships were renamed with hebrew names designed to inspire and rally the jews of palestine on july 17 mossad lealiyah bet renamed the ship exodus 1947 and in hebrew yetz iat sic tasbaz or yetzi at eiropa tashaz flight from europe 5707 after the biblical jewish exodus from egypt to canaan and the refugees raised a flag with the star of david the name was proposed by israeli politician and military figure moshe sneh who at the time was in charge of illegal migration for the jewish agency the name was later described by israel s second prime minister moshe sharett then shertok as a stroke of genius a name which by itself says more than anything which has ever been written about it 42 hms cheviot which relieved hms mermaid as the ship left port the sloop hms mermaid and raf aircraft shadowed her later the destroyer hms cheviot relieved mermaid 36 each day during the voyage the royal navy ship shadowing her came within hailing distance of exodus 1947 and asked whether she was carrying any migrants to palestine instead of answering the question exodus 1947 responded by playing one of edward elgar s pomp and circumstance marches over her public address system 43 exodus 1947 carried enough supplies to last two weeks passengers were given cooked meals hot drinks soup and one liter of drinking water daily they washed in salt water the ship had only 13 lavatories a british military doctor inspecting the ship after the battle said that it was badly over crowded but that hygiene was satisfactory and the ship appeared well prepared to cope with casualties several babies were born during the week long journey one woman paula abramowitz died in childbirth her infant son died a few weeks later in haifa 44 interception edit hms childers seen from exodus 1947 during the journey the people aboard exodus 1947 prepared to be intercepted the ship was divided into sections crewed by different groups and each practiced resistance sessions 45 her defences were augmented with sandbags around her wheelhouse and chicken wire along her upper decks small arms were issued to key personnel as exodus 1947 neared palestinian territorial waters her royal navy escort was increased to five destroyers and two minesweepers led by the light cruiser hms ajax 46 at about 0200 hrs on july 18 about 20 nautical miles 40 km from the palestinian coast two royal navy destroyers came alongside exodus 1947 one either side converged on her and jammed her between them the destroyer hms childers struck exodus 1947 s port side holing on her saloon deck above the waterline exodus 1947 released her liferafts to fall onto the decks of the two destroyers the destroyers dropped gangways onto exodus 1947 and sent a boarding party of 50 royal marines armed with clubs and tear gas onto the packet boat 47 helmeted members of the royal navy boarding party aboard exodus 1947 passengers and haganah members aboard resisted the marines 48 the second officer an american machal volunteer bill bernstein 49 died from a skull fracture after being clubbed in the wheelhouse two passengers died of gunshot wounds two british sailors were treated afterwards for fractured scapula and one for a head injury and lacerated ear and 146 others were injured 50 about 10 exodus 1947 passengers and crew were treated for mild injuries resulting from the boarding and about 200 were treated for illnesses and maladies unrelated to it 51 close up of exodus 1947 just after her arrival in haifa showing some of the damage she sustained when the two destroyers intercepted her due to the high public profile of exodus 1947 the british government decided to deport the migrants back to france foreign secretary ernest bevin suggested this and the request was relayed to general sir alan cunningham high commissioner for palestine 52 who agreed with the plan after consulting the navy 53 before then intercepted migrants were placed in internment camps on cyprus which was at the time a british colony this new policy was meant to be a signal to both the jewish community and the european countries which assisted immigration that whoever they sent to palestine would be sent back to them not only should it clearly establish the principle of refoulement as applies to a complete shipload of immigrants but it will be most discouraging to the organisers of this traffic if the immigrants end up by returning whence they came 52 repatriation edit attempted return to france edit british troops putting jewish refugees aboard empire rival the royal navy brought exodus 1947 into haifa where her passengers were transferred to three larger and more seaworthy ships for deportation empire rival ocean vigour and runnymede park 54 members of the united nations special committee on palestine unscop witnessed the transfer 55 the three ships left haifa on july 19 for port de bouc near marseille foreign secretary bevin insisted that the french get their ship back as well as its passengers 52 when the ships arrived at port de bouc on august 2 the french government said it would allow disembarkation of the passengers only if it was voluntary on their part haganah agents both on board the ships and using launches with loudspeakers encouraged the passengers not to disembark 56 thus the migrants refused to disembark 54 and the french refused to cooperate with british attempts at forced disembarkation this left the british with the option of returning the passengers to germany realizing that they were not bound for cyprus the migrants conducted a 24 day hunger strike and refused to cooperate with the british authorities media coverage of the contest of wills put pressure on britain to find a solution the matter was reported to the unscop members who had been deliberating in geneva for three weeks the refugees on the ships held firm in difficult conditions rejecting offers of alternative destinations britain concluded that the only option was to send the jews to camps in the british controlled zone of post war germany operation oasis edit the ships went from marseille to hamburg which was then in the british occupation zone britain realized that returning the refugees to camps in germany would elicit a public outcry but germany was the only territory under british control that could immediately accommodate so many people 57 britain s position was summed up by john coulson a diplomat at the british embassy in paris in a message to the foreign office in london in august 1947 you will realize that an announcement of decision to send immigrants back to germany will produce violent hostile outburst in the press our opponents in france and i dare say in other countries have made great play with the fact that these immigrants were bein...
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