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From : SamMalone441959
Added: Jun 29, 2009
David Daniel Marcus (22 February 190111 June 1948), commonly known as Mickey Marcus, was a United States Army colonel who assisted Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and who became Israel's first general (Hebrew: Aluf). Marcus is the best known Israeli Machal (the Hebrew acronym for Mitnadvei Chutz Laaretz/"volunteers from outside Israel") soldier. He was portrayed in the 1966 Hollywood movie Cast a Giant Shadow that starred Kirk Douglas as Marcus. After leaving active duty, Marcus continued his Army service as a member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps in the Organized Reserve Corps. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he was recalled to active duty. He served initially as executive officer to the military governor of Hawaii. He was assigned ultimately to Civil Affairs in Washington whose mission was to plan for the establishment of occupation governments after Axis-occupied territories were liberated. Ostensibly to assess civil affairs requirements first hand, he participated in the Battle of Normandy in 1944, joining the first wave of paratroopers jumping into France. Marcus helped draw up the surrender terms for Italy and Germany and became part of the occupation government in Berlin after 1945. During that time, Marcus was placed in charge of planning how to sustain the starving millions in areas liberated by the Allies, and clearing out the Nazi concentration camps. He was subsequently named chief of the War Crimes Division, planning legal and security procedures for the Nuremberg trials. Israeli military career: In 1947, David Ben-Gurion asked Marcus to recruit an American officer to serve as military advisor to the nascent Jewish army, the Haganah. He could not recruit anyone suitable, and Marcus volunteered himself. In 1948, the United States War Department informally acquiesced in Colonel Marcus, still a reservist, undertaking the mission provided Marcus disguised his name and rank to avoid problems with the British Mandate of Palestine. Under the name "Michael Stone", he arrived in Palestine in January 1948, facing the Arab armies surrounding the soon-to-be declared State of Israel. There, he designed a command and control structure for Israel, adapting his war experiences at the early Ranger school established in the Pacific theater to its special needs. He identified Israel's weakest points in the Negev south, and Jerusalem.
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