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

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

during the

1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine A popular uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine against the British administration, later known as the Great Revolt, the Great Palestinian Revolt, or the Palestinian Revolution, lasted from 1936 until 1939. The movement sought i ...

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

Yitzhak Sadeh Yitzhak Sadeh (; born Izaak Landoberg, August 10, 1890 – August 20, 1952), was the commander of the Palmach and one of the founders of the Israel Defense Forces at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel. Biography Sadeh was bo ...

, commander of the

Jewish Settlement Police The Jewish Settlement Police (JSP) were a division of the Notrim established in Mandatory Palestine in 1936, during the 1936-39 Arab revolt.Levenberg, 1993, p. 156. History At the end of 1940, the JSP had about 15,000 members. A field arm ...

. 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 commando style 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 ...

's Special Night Squads (SNS), 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

POSH veterans were trained by the British for commando night raids.

Mission

The unit's missions primarily involve anti-guerilla warfare, artillery observer, clandestine operation, combat patrol, commando style raids, counterinsurgency, maneuver warfare, operating in difficult to access terrain, providing security in areas at risk of attack or terrorism, special reconnaissance in difficult to access and dangerous areas, support crowd control and riot control, and other tactical special operations.

Mission

References

Further reading