Battles of Latrun (1948) 1948
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 24 May 1948 – 18 July 1948 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1948 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | derived from year |
| Location | Palestine | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | 1948 Arab–Israeli War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 31.8384, 34.9808 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battles of Latrun were a series of military engagements between the Israel Defense Forces and the Jordanian Arab Legion on the outskirts of Latrun between 25 May and 18 July 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Latrun takes its name from the monastery close to the junction of two major highways: Jerusalem to Jaffa/Tel Aviv and Gaza to Ramallah. During the British Mandate it became a Palestine Police base with a Tegart fort. The United Nations Resolution 181 placed this area within the proposed Arab state. In May 1948, it was under the control of the Arab Legion. It commanded the only road linking the Yishuv-controlled area of Jerusalem to Israel, giving Latrun strategic importance in the battle for Jerusalem.
Despite assaulting Latrun on five separate occasions, Israel was ultimately unable to capture Latrun and it remained under Jordanian control until the Six-Day War. The battles were such a decisive Jordanian victory that the Israelis decided to construct a bypass surrounding Latrun so as to allow vehicular movement between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, thus avoiding the main road. Regardless, during the Battle for Jerusalem, the Jewish population of Jerusalem could still be supplied by a new road, named the "Burma Road", that bypassed Latrun and was suitable for convoys.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battles of Latrun (1948) (revision 1370603666), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
- Battle of 'Auja 1948
- Battle of Be'erot Yitzhak 1948
- Battle of Beersheba (1948) 1948
- Battle of Gesher 1948
- Battle of Hill 86 1948
- Battle of Jenin (1948) 1948
- Battle of Nirim 1948
- Battle of Nitzanim 1948
- Battle of Yad Mordechai 1948
- Battles of Negba 1948
All 14 battles of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War →
Browse more: battles in Palestine · Asia · Post-1945 battles