POSH ( he, פו"ש, also Romanized ''Fosh'', an abbreviation for Plugot Sadeh ( he, פלוגות שדה), ''lit.'' Field Companies) was an elite Jewish strike force that served as the commando arm of the

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

during the

1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine The 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, later known as The Great Revolt (''al-Thawra al- Kubra'') or The Great Palestinian Revolt (''Thawrat Filastin al-Kubra''), was a popular nationalist uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine a ...

when the country was under British Mandate control.Palmach: Units and organizational structure
/ref> POSH members were hand-picked by Yitzhak Sadeh, commander of the

Jewish Settlement Police The Jewish Settlement Police (JSP) ( he, משטרת היישובים העבריים, ''Mishteret Ha-Yishuvim Ha-Ivri'yim'') were a division of the Notrim established in Mandatory Palestine in 1936, during the 1936-39 Arab revolt.Levenberg, 1993, ...

. By March 1938, POSH had 1,500 trained fighters divided into 13 regional groups. They were armed with British SMLEs, grenades, rifles and some small arms, and operated in swift raids under

Charles Orde Wingate Major General Orde Charles Wingate, (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944) was a senior British Army officer known for his creation of the Chindit deep-penetration missions in Japanese-held territory during the Burma Campaign of the Second World ...

Special Night Squads The Special Night Squads (SNS) (Hebrew: ''Plagot Ha'Layla Ha'Meyukhadot'', פלוגות הלילה המיוחדות) was a joint British-Jewish counter-insurgency military unit, established by Captain Orde Wingate in Mandatory Palestine in 1938 ...

, taking full advantage of their mobility. POSH was disbanded in 1939 to create a larger force known as the Hish (''Heil Sadeh'', "Field Corps"). During World War II POSH veterans were trained by the British for commando night raids.

References

Further reading