The face of Operation Kadesh: Muni Maroz, one of the first paratroopers in the IDF, passed away

Maroz passed away at the age of 86 in Kibbutz Beit Hachita.

He became known for his detailed descriptions of the difficult moments of fighting against the Egyptians in Operation Kadesh, and as the founder of the "Goren" visual design school at Emek Jezreel College.

"He was a central figure in the kibbutz and especially in cultural and creative life," his acquaintances said of him

Eli Ashkenazi

08/16/2022

Tuesday, August 16, 2022, 4:38 p.m. Updated: 5:05 p.m.

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Maroz, right.

Next to his friend Ariel Sharon (photo: official website, courtesy of Beit Al-Hasita)

Muni Maroz, one of the first paratroopers in the IDF, passed away today (Tuesday) at Kibbutz Beit Al-Hashitya. Maroz parachuted and fought in the Battle of the Mount in Operation Kadesh, and later founded the "Goren" School of Visual Design at Emek Jezreel Academic College.

He was born in 1936 in Tel Aviv. At the age of 15, he arrived at Beit Ha'Hasita along with other boys and girls, trainees of the "Olim Camps" movement. He was educated at Beit Ha'Hasita and in 1954 he enlisted in the IDF and together with some friends from his class volunteered for the 890th Battalion of the Paratroopers.

At that time, Unit 101 joined the battalion and began the initiative of launching retaliatory actions for the infiltration of infiltrators (pedayon) who carried out attacks in the settlements of the Book.

The commanders of Unit 101, Ariel Sharon, Meir Har Zion and others were the commanders in the 890th Battalion and then began to develop and shape the heritage values ​​of the Red Beret Brigade.

Maroz was a member of Company A, which was considered the "flagship" of the paratroopers and took part in many of the operations the paratroopers embarked on in the mid-1950s.

Parliament.

Maroz with Eric and Lily Sharon in the shelter at Beit Al-Hasita where he organized meetings with friends and parties (photo: official website, courtesy of Beit Al-Hasita)

In Operation Kadesh at the end of October 1956, he parachuted with his friends near the Mithala crossing in Sinai and took part in the battles.

In the past, Maroz described to the paratrooper brigade website the difficult battles at the site, and explained that unlike the retaliatory operations that were always carried out under the cover of night - in this battle they had to fight in broad daylight and capture the Mithala crossing, with the Egyptian soldiers in positions in the bunkers on the slope above the crossing.

"The Egyptian battalion that was stationed on one of the two slopes during the previous night and day fired heavy automatic fire on everything that moved in the area, and managed to cause us quite a few casualties and losses. One position with a fortified bunker cast in concrete, which was located at the front of the wadi, stood out especially for the heavy fire that was fired from it Throughout the day. I remember very well the attack of the Egyptian planes on us, when we were exposed in the area without reasonable cover," he described.

"As evening fell at the end of a frustrating day of fighting, the commander of Company A, working for Dizinski, gathered us for a short briefing in which it was made clear to us that we were going out under the cover of darkness to raid those positions, some fortified and some temporary bunkers, which prevented our forces from entering the Mitla Pass. On his side The second of the crossing was captured by another force that entered it during the day. We were divided into squads with a squad commander at the head of each and in other years up to three fighters."

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"And then there was a blood-curdling click: a rifle that does not eject a bullet in an empty cartridge"

In one of his descriptions he shared the experience of the difficult exchange of fire with the Egyptian fighters, and described the bravery shown by some of his comrades in arms in almost impossible conditions.

Maroz was added to the squad of the commander of Company A, Oved Ladzinski and his deputy, Haim Mishleh.

"When it got dark today, we started moving on the side of the cliff that overlooked the wadi, Oved went in the lead, I followed him, and the last Haim succeeded. The squads that went out a little ahead of us already encountered heavy enemy fire that was fired from all sides, especially from that fortified concrete bunker at the front of the wadi. Already at the beginning of the battle we had several Casualties. Under this fire, we advanced as fast as the terrain allowed. Suddenly, a bullet pierced the neck of Haim Mishleh who was following me, killing him on the spot. Both Oved and I saw and understood very well what had happened to us. At this point, Oved and I were left crawling on our stomachs towards the fortified bunker Spits the fire."

"When we reached a distance of ten or twenty meters from the bunker, I crawled and overtook Oved. I informed him that I was moving forward, knowing that we had no SMP and the company needed a SMP. There was no time left for arguments, I quickly crawled and arrived right under the firing slit that stretched along the bunker. While Pulling out a grenade in order to chain it to the bunker's entrance, I heard an employee who also recognized the bunker yelling at me, 'Moni..., I'm throwing a grenade'. Those seconds can never be forgotten. I shouted back to him, "Don't throw, I'm under the bunker." But it was too late. I heard the click of the grenade above my head as it hit the concrete of the bunker and went back down the slope to his desk. The grenade exploded with a tremendous bang, and in its light I saw Oved Ladzynski wounded. What I did not know, but only at the end of the battle, that Oved had been covered by the fall In his body is Yigal Gerber (Pepa) who stumbled upon the scene and was saved only thanks to the resourcefulness of an employee who, just before his death, saved his last strength to save Yigal."

"Then Muni himself threw a grenade into the bunker, shot inside and found eight dead Egyptian soldiers and next to them heavy machine guns with which they fired all day at the paratroopers. He continued his assault on the side of the wadi until he came face to face with an Egyptian soldier. While I was trying to shoot him, a freezing click was heard The blood of an anvil-rifle that cannot find a bullet in an empty cartridge. When I bent down to take the Egyptian soldier's bolt-action rifle, the latter rose up on his knees and wrapped my legs in order to knock me to the ground."

Muni called for the help of his friend Hazi Sade who was nearby and he went with his rifle to the Egyptian soldier.

"At this point in time, the difficult battle in Mithala was basically over," he said.

Meroz on the cover of the magazine "Bamahana" to mark the 30th anniversary of Operation Kadesh.

1986 (photo: official website, in the camp)

Vared, a photographer "in the camp", published a photo of Muni at the end of the day of the battle as he was dusty and holding an Uzi rifle in his hand.

The image called "The Paratroopers" is one of the images most associated with Operation Kadesh.

Maroz said that "Oved Ladzinski, who was killed by my side in the Battle of Mithala, was my friend and respected commander. I loved him and appreciated his qualities as a brave soldier, as a wise commander and as a loyal friend. His death did not leave me for many years. I named my eldest son after the late Oved" After he was released

,

he returned to the penitentiary. In 1958, while working in the cattle industry, while riding a horse, he took control of a security prisoner who had escaped with other prisoners from Shata Prison during a prisoner rebellion that was there.

Later he worked for several years as a chemist and then worked in the kibbutz's metal factory and managed the carpentry of the Beit Hashita.

"He made very beautiful furniture for his friends," said his friend, Hagai Ben-Gurion.

He also worked at "Zitia" - the canning factory of Beit Al-Hasita, and along with his work he made sure to draw figures and production lines on the walls of the factory.

In the shelter near the factory he set up a kind of club for "parliaments" and parties.

Many of his friends from the time of the paratroopers, including the commander Eric Sharon, would visit the place.

Ben-Gurion told about a developed artistic sense and sleight of hand that characterized Muni.

He also noted that "Muni played the accordion and drums and founded an orchestra at the Beit Hashita."

According to him "he was a central figure in the kibbutz and especially in cultural and creative life".

At a certain point he initiated the establishment of a visual design school "Goren" at Emek Jezreel Academic College and managed it for twenty years.

He recruited the best lecturers to the school and Ben-Gurion further noted that "Moni realized then that the field of computers was going to be a major field in the future and he put into use the Macintosh computers that few worked with at the time. His students knew how to work with a Macintosh in an excellent way."

Another hobby of his was photography with 8 millimeter film.

He documented kibbutz life in moments of joy and sadness.

He is also the one who documented the difficult day when nine of the eleven kibbutz members who were killed in the Yom Kippur War were brought to burial.

This film is one of the most associated with that war.

Other hobbies he developed were sculpting in wood and stone, building small models of wooden cars and drawing cartoons.

For a period of time, he drew caricatures of 480 members of the Methodist House and when he finished he presented an exhibition of all the portraits.

This morning he passed away at the age of 86.

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